ETSI TS 102 845 V1.2.1 (2010-08)

User Group; Quality of ICT Services; Requirements for Check-up on Metering and Billing Processes

RTS/USER-00033

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 12-Aug-2010
• Technical Committee: USER - User Group
• Current Stage: 12 - Completion
• Due Date: 25-Aug-2010
• Completion Date: 13-Aug-2010

Standards Content (Sample)

Technical Specification
User Group;
Quality of ICT Services;
Requirements for Check-up on Metering and
Billing Processes
2 ETSI TS 102 845 V1.2.1 (2010-08)

Reference
RTS/USER-00033
Keywords
charging, quality
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3 ETSI TS 102 845 V1.2.1 (2010-08)

Contents
Intellectual Property Rights . 5
Foreword . 5
Introduction . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 References . 6
2.1 Normative references . 6
2.2 Informative references . 6
3 Definitions and abbreviations . 7
3.1 Definitions . 7
3.2 Abbreviations . 9
4 Approach for Checking-up on Metering and Billing . 9
4.1 Billing Integrity Principles . 9
4.2 Process Approach . 9
4.3 Billing Error Rate . 10
5 Implementation Model . 10
6 Prerequisites . 10
6.1 Metering Rules Definition . 10
6.1.1 Definition of Successful and Unsuccessful Status . 10
6.1.2 Definition of Units . 11
6.1.3 Definition of Time . 11
6.1.4 Definition of Duration . 11
6.1.5 Definition of Data Volume . 11
6.1.6 Definition of Classes of Service . 12
6.1.7 Definition of Rounding Methods . 12
6.2 Tariff Information Documentation . 12
6.2.1 Tariff Scope . 12
6.2.2 Taxes Information . 12
6.2.3 Definition of Rounding Methods . 13
6.2.4 Definition of Publishing Modes . 13
7 Checking-up Process . 13
7.1 Process Overview . 14
7.2 Test Campaign Design . 14
7.3 Test Resources Procurement . 15
7.4 Electronic Communications Technical Configuration . 15
7.5 Electronic Communications Generation . 15
7.6 Automated Robots Logs Collection . 16
7.7 Billing Details Collection . 16
7.8 Electronic Communications Rating and Matching . 16
7.9 Balance and Invoices checking . 17
7.10 Reporting . 17
7.11 Billing Error Rate Computation . 17
Annex A (informative): Example of a Stratified Sample of Electronic Communications . 18
A.1 Locations . 19
A.2 Networks . 19
A.3 Offers . 19
A.4 Services . 20
A.5 Durations . 20
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4 ETSI TS 102 845 V1.2.1 (2010-08)
A.6 Volumes . 21
A.7 Spreading . 21
A.8 Additional Variations . 21
Annex B (informative): Case Management & Corrective Actions Enforcement . 22
History . 23

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5 ETSI TS 102 845 V1.2.1 (2010-08)
Intellectual Property Rights
IPRs essential or potentially essential to the present document may have been declared to ETSI. The information
pertaining to these essential IPRs, if any, is publicly available for ETSI members and non-members, and can be found
in ETSI SR 000 314: "Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs); Essential, or potentially Essential, IPRs notified to ETSI in
respect of ETSI standards", which is available from the ETSI Secretariat. Latest updates are available on the ETSI Web
server (http://webapp.etsi.org/IPR/home.asp).
Pursuant to the ETSI IPR Policy, no investigation, including IPR searches, has been carried out by ETSI. No guarantee
can be given as to the existence of other IPRs not referenced in ETSI SR 000 314 (or the updates on the ETSI Web
server) which are, or may be, or may become, essential to the present document.
Foreword
This Technical Specification (TS) has been produced by ETSI User Group (USER).
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) standardization is part of the general standardization activities, and
contributes to policy objectives to improve the competitiveness of European industry, as specified in the Lisbon
strategy. The legal basis for European standardization and standardization policy, including the ICT domain, is
Directive 98/34/EC [i.8]. One of its main elements is the formal recognition of three European Standards Organisations
(ESOs), CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, active in various degrees in the ICT domain. Standards produced by the three
ESOs and resulting from an open consensus building process are by nature voluntary and non binding technical
documents.
The standardization work described in the present document was funded by the European Commission, Enterprise and
Industry Directorate-General, as part of the 2009 ICT Standardization Work Programme and executed by ETSI.
The present document has been produced within the ETSI Special Committee USER GROUP (USER) by the Specialist
Task Force (STF) 375. Several documents provided by European Telecommunications regulatory bodies have been
used to develop the present document. They are detailed in TR 102 847 [i.7].
It is important to understand that Conformity Assessment takes place in the wider environment of accreditation
principles as defined in European Community regulation No 765/2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation and
market surveillance relating to the marketing of products and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 339/93 [i.6].
Introduction
A significant difference rate between theoretical and actual bills has been identified by several parties in the current
metering and billing processes operated by Service Providers.
Several Service Providers, administrations and users associations have intended to reduce this difference rate in
implementing rules in order to make users more confident in the reliability of their bills.
Nevertheless, due to the complexity of this issue and in absence of any available formal standard in this area, the current
practices are hindered by significant limitations. The purpose of the present document is to fulfil the gaps of the current
practices in order to provide a reference that can be used for a continuous and trustworthy checking up on metering and
billing processes. Such a checking is expected to contribute to a continuous quality improvement of metering and
billing processes.
In order to provide evidence that metering and billing verification is conducted according to the present document, it
will be useful for a Service Provider to have its verification process audited by an independent party, that will formally
assess the conformity of its checking-up on metering and billing with the technical specification. The purpose of
TS 102 846 [1] is to define when, how and by whom the conformity assessment audit shall be conducted. Such a
conformity assessment is expected to contribute to an increased trust by Service Providers, customers, regulators and
other stakeholders that metering and billing processes are reasonably monitored.
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6 ETSI TS 102 845 V1.2.1 (2010-08)
1 Scope
The present document has been prepared to provide a model for designing and operating the checking-up on metering
and billing processes of Service Providers.
Because the checking-up approach of the present document is end-to-end (i.e. using a "black box" approach from the
actual electronic communications generation to the checking-up on their billing), it is intended that these requirements
are applicable to the metering and billing of any kind of services offered by the Service Providers.
The goal of the present document is to define a standardized checking process that could be implemented by any
stakeholder and is auditable by a third-party, leading to trustworthy performance indicators about the integrity of billing
issued by a Service Provider.
NOTE: It is important to note that the present document does not provide any model for designing and operating
the metering and billing process itself.
2 References
References are either specific (identified by date of publication and/or edition number or version number) or
non-specific. For specific references, only the cited version applies. For non-specific references, the latest version of the
reference document (including any amendments) applies.
Referenced documents which are not found to be publicly available in the expected location might be found at
http://docbox.etsi.org/Reference.
NOTE: While any hyperlinks included in this clause were valid at the time of publication ETSI cannot guarantee
their long term validity.
2.1 Normative references
The following referenced documents are necessary for the application of the present document.
[1] ETSI TS 102 846: "User Group; Quality of ICT Services; Requirements for Bodies Providing
Conformity Assessment of Checking-up on Metering and Billing Processes".
[2] BIPM: "The International System of Units (SI)", 8th edition.
2.2 Informative references
The following referenced documents are not necessary for the application of the present document but they assist the
user with regard to a particular subject area.
[i.1] ETSI EG 202 057-2: "Speech Processing, Transmission and Quality Aspects (STQ); User related
QoS parameter definitions and measurements; Part 2: Voice telephony, Group 3 fax, modem data
services and SMS".
[i.2] ETSI EG 202 057-3: "Speech Processing, Transmission and Quality Aspects (STQ); User related
QoS parameter definitions and measurements; Part 3: QoS parameters specific to Public Land
Mobile Networks (PLMN)".
[i.3] ETSI EG 202 057-4: "Speech Processing, Transmission and Quality Aspects (STQ); User related
QoS parameter definitions and measurements; Part 4: Internet access".
[i.4] ETSI EG 202 765-2: "Speech Processing, Transmission and Quality Aspects (STQ); QoS and
network performance metrics and measurement methods Part 2: Transmission Quality Indicator
combining Voice Quality Metrics".
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7 ETSI TS 102 845 V1.2.1 (2010-08)
[i.5] ETSI ES 202 765-4: "Speech and multimedia Transmission Quality (STQ); QoS and network
performance metrics and measurement methods; Part 4: Indicators for supervision of Multiplay
services".
[i.6] European Community regulation No 765/2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation and
market surveillance relating to the marketing of products and repealing Regulation (EEC)
No 339/93.
[i.7] ETSI TR 102 847: "User Group; Quality of ICT Services; Standardization and regulation
references in the Metering and Billing area".
[i.8] Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a
procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations.
3 Definitions and abbreviations
3.1 Definitions
For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions apply:
automated robot: remotely operated machine that is able to generate electronic communications according to a
predefined plan and to report about the exact execution of these electronic communications with an appropriate level of
accuracy and traceability
NOTE: Its main functions are:
- electronic communication planning;
- electronic communication execution; and
- electronic communication logging.
billing error rate: for a set of electronic communications, the ratio of the total number of electronic communications
having breached at least one of the billing integrity principles divided by the total number of electronic communications
in the set
Billing Verification Body (BVB): organization that has skills and methods to conduct the checking-up on metering and
billing processes of a Service Provider
NOTE: The Billing Verification Body can be internal (i.e. a department of the Service Provider) or external (i.e. a
specialized company to which the Service Provider has outsourced the check-up on metering and billing).
checking-up on metering and billing: activities used to verify how strongly a Service Provider metering and billing
activities complies with billing integrity principles
billing integrity principles: principles that must be fulfilled to state that the billing activity of a Service Provider is
correct
Call Detail Record (CDR): formatted collection of information about a chargeable event (e.g. time of call set-up,
duration of the call, amount of data transferred, etc.) for use in billing and accounting
continuous: characteristics of an approach that takes into consideration the constantly evolving nature of
communications networks and follows a "back-to-back" principle to verify metering and billing
NOTE: Because metering and billing processes and systems evolve on a continuous basis (incidence and update),
the verification of billing has to evolve accordingly and to check the billing integrity on a similar way.
"Continuous basis" excludes "one shot audit approach" where verification is performed once a year or
once per quarter.
customer: user who is responsible for payment for the electronic communication services
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electronic communication: service that helps people communicate
NOTE: Electronic communication types include but are not limited to voice call, video call, conference call,
email, SMS, MMS, USSD, web access, instant messaging, content download, TV broadcasting, etc.
Electronic communications may involve one or several interconnected networks. An electronic
communication may lead to billing of a financial charge to a Customer of the Service Provider.
independent observer: entity which can evidence two characteristics: independency and externality
NOTE: In the context of the present document, the independency clause means that the entity in charge of
checking has some level of independence from the entity in charge of operating metering and billing
within the Service Provider. The externality means that the checking entity does not have to understand
all the complexity of the information systems and network components involved in the metering and
billing of a Service Provider.
metering and billing: activity, within a Service Provider, which aims at charging a customer either by producing an
invoice or by decreasing a prepaid account
NOTE: Metering and billing usually involve four main types of activity:
- metering is the computation of raw parameters (time, duration, etc.) of electronic communications;
- guiding is the allocation of a specific event to a specific customer;
- rating is the computation of a price of an event according to a rate plan; and
- charging is the imputation of the financial charge to the customer.
metering rules: set of non ambiguous principles set by a Service Provider to define and meter the electronic
communications service it offers to its customers
prerequisites: list of basic principles and statements with regards to metering principles and tariff information that
must be available prior to the implementation of checking-up on metering and billing processes
publishing mode: mean by which billing information is provided to the customer of the Service Provider
NOTE: Publishing mode may include but are not limited to paper invoice, electronic invoices, web sites, Call
Centres, Intelligent Voice Response Units, SMS servers, USSD servers, etc.
Service Provider (SP): organization that provides electronic communications services to users and customers
Stratified Sample of Electronic Communications (SSEC): sample of electronic communications used to conduct the
billing and metering checking process
NOTE: The sample of electronic communications is designed according to statistical method so as to provide a
reasonable evidence that the billing integrity is fulfilled.
tariff information: set of principles defined by a Service Provider to price the electronic communications it offers to its
customers
NOTE: Tariff information includes the definition of unit price (price for a unit billed quantity) and valuation
methods (set of mathematic methods allowing transforming raw quantities into billed quantities).
tariff plan: set of principles defined by a Service Provider to price the electronic communications service it offers to
one customer
NOTE: Tariff plan is a subset of tariff information.
unambiguous: characteristic of a rule that can be understood and checked by a customer by its own means without
having to understand the internality of a Service Provider systems and processes
user: individual, including consumer, or organization using or requesting telecommunications services available on
public or private networks
NOTE: The user may or may not be the person who has subscribed to the provision of the service. Without any
specific addition this word is used to identify the telecommunication user community in general,
e.g. end-users and IT&T managers who use products and services possibly conforming to standards.
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9 ETSI TS 102 845 V1.2.1 (2010-08)
3.2 Abbreviations
For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations apply:
APN Access Point Name
BIPM International Bureau of Weights and Measures/Bureau International des Poids et Mesures
BVB Billing Verification Body
CDR Call Detail Record
DSL Digital Subscriber Line
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
ICT Information and Communications Technology
IN Intelligent Network
MMS Multimedia Message Service
SIM Subscriber Identification Module
SMS Short Message Service
SP Service Provider
SSEC Stratified Sample of Electronic Communications
TV Television
URL Universal Resource Locator
USSD Unstructured Supplementary Service Data
VoIP Voice over IP
VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network
VPN Virtual Private Network
4 Approach for Checking-up on Metering and Billing
4.1 Billing Integrity Principles
By definition, the metering and billing of a Service Provider is correct if it complies with the following five billing
integrity principles:
Principle 1: Electronic communications metering (success status, time, duration, volume, and throughput) is
accurate.
Principle 2: Unsuccessful electronic communications are not billed or are billed at null price.
Principle 3: Each successful electronic communication is billed.
Principle 4: Billed electronic communications are metered and priced in accordance with documented metering
rules and tariff information.
Principle 5: Electronic communication billing information details provided to customers are complete,
sufficient, timely, unambiguous and correct whatever the publishing mode.
4.2 Process Approach
The present document adopts a process approach for providing evidence measured by an Independent Observer
according to a standardized process that a Service Provider complies with the billing integrity principles defined in
clause 4.1.
According to the present document, evidence of compliance of billing integrity principles is based on the actual
generation and verification of the billing of a Stratified Sample of Electronic Communications (SSEC), designed
according to a predefined statistical method and performed on a continuous basis by automated robots.
As a result of the billing and metering checking continuous process, billing and metering checking reports are produced
on a predefined frequency and recorded according to a predefined storage policy.
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10 ETSI TS 102 845 V1.2.1 (2010-08)
4.3 Billing Error Rate
In practice, in the history of telecommunications, no Service Provider has ever fully complied with the principles
defined in clause 4.1. Moreover no industry experts would expect any Service Provider to fully comply in the future
with these principles because of increasing commercial complexity, technical complexity and speed of changes.
For this reason, the approach taken in the present document is to define a standardized approach to verify how close is
one Service Provider of the billing integrity principles defined in clause 4.1. This is achieved by metering a billing error
rate which assesses the percentage of electronic communications that do not comply with the billing integrity principles.
By metering the billing error rate on a continuous basis and according to a standardized and auditable method, Service
Providers will be able to evidence how stron
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