Challenge

A startup VoIP IXC selling international long distance to wholesale customers wished to implement more robust billing and mediation systems. The client sought help in all facets of this task, including RFP writing, vendor inclusion, RFP scoring, product demonstrations, vendor selections, product implementation, and future configurations. The chosen systems needed to handle double- to triple-digit growth percentages without noticeable degradation. Additional challenges presented themselves in that very few vendors had successfully implemented their products for VoIP services or on IP platforms.

TMNG Global Solution

TMNG used the TMNG Lexicon™ to identify the requirements that needed to be specified in the RFPs. With the client, TMNG scored the RFPs and set up product demonstrations from the most qualified vendors. Once the billing and mediation vendors were chosen, TMNG provided the project managers to coordinate the product implementations. Detailed project plans were created for both projects, and weekly status meetings were conducted.

The client chose to have its employees work alongside TMNG so that knowledge transfer would be an ongoing process. Once the initial work was completed, the employees would be able to maintain and change the processes and configure the products as needed.

The mediation product had to be implemented on various types of IP platforms, including VocalTec, Cisco, Clarent, Lucent, Radius and Excel. Each platform contained numerous network elements. TMNG worked with the client and vendor to identify the intricacies of each platform. The client’s mediation standards were also documented (polling times, formatting, distribution) and implemented for each platform. Using this information, detailed requirements were created. The project plan identified hardware installation and every platform implementation, from requirements to testing to installation.

The billing product was replacing two off-the-shelf components: a rating engine and a financial invoicing application. TMNG worked with the vendor and client to identify the order entry, rating, invoicing, accounts receivable, and reporting requirements to produce an accurate and complete statement of work. The business rules for rating were extremely complex, which caused inadequate performance from the new rating and billing engines. TMNG worked extensively with the client’s development team, the vendor’s DBAs, the vendor’s performance team, and upper level management on both sides to resolve the issues and implement a solution that performed to the client’s specifications.

Benefits to the Client