Education for Telecommunications
Billing and Revenue Assurance Professionals
a GBA Initiative for 2006

Background:

The subject of education for “billing and revenue assurance professionals” has been discussed many times at GBA meetings and a survey of GBA members in 2005 confirmed the generally held view that there is a need for good quality education to be available to people engaged in activities that impact Billing and Revenue Assurance.

A number of training providers have approached the GBA, offering their services but there is no GBA framework currently in place for assessing the quality of the offerings, and no basis for formally “accrediting” the courses or services offered.

The GBA’s Executive Council Meetings held on 7th November 2005 in Frankfurt, and on 31st January in London, both endorsed the establishment of a GBA Education Initiative in 2006 and this paper presents the GBA proposal and invites your comments.

GBA’s Education Initiative Objective:

The GBA will act as a catalyst for defining a programme of “Telecommunications Billing and Revenue Assurance Professional Education Modules” delivered by academic institutions and experts from industry where appropriate. A key objective will be to provide affordable and easy access to relevant modules, possibly facilitated by correspondence / electronic / self-study methods. The GBA will in effect establish a “virtual” Academy facilitating preferential access to the modules and accrediting and/or awarding certificates to participants who successfully complete selected modules.

Proposed Development of the GBA’s Education Initiative:

  1. The GBA will form a small “Professional Education Initiative Working Group” drawn from its existing membership, and invited participants if appropriate.
  2. The working group will create and maintain the education syllabus.
  3. The working group will identify universities (or institutions of similar standing) that already provide courses that would support the syllabus.
  4. The working group identifies industry experts and other sources that could provide material to support the syllabus.
  5. The working group select preferred academic institutions and industry experts that are particularly well equipped to provide specific “Telecommunications Billing and Revenue Assurance Professional Education Modules”.
  6. The working group, co-operate with the academic institutions and industry experts to refine the syllabus, identify appropriate course tutors, and review module material.
  7. The GBA, in conjunction with the academic institutions, accredit and/or award certificates to participants that successfully complete selected modules.
  8. Students, or their sponsoring organisations, provide a revenue stream to the bodies delivering modules and to the GBA.

GBA’s Education Initiative Draft Syllabus:

Modules described in the syllabus below would be:

  • Provided by a combination of university lecturers and “experts” from the industry;
  • Offered at three levels:
    Overview level to give a general appreciation of the subject matter,
    Intermediate level to give a good working knowledge of the subject matter,
    Expert level to give a detailed knowledge and competence in the subject matter
  • Interspersed and supplemented by relevant practical experience provided by operators (where possible depending on the availability of supporting operators).
  • Interspersed and supplemented by practical experience at experienced operators (subject to individual Operators agreeing to facilitate);
  1. Fundamentals of Network Technologies
    Fixed networks
    Cable networks
    Mobile networks, CDMA, 2G, 3G, WiFi
    IP networks
    IMS
    Interconnect and Interoperability
    FMC
    Service provisioning
    Billing
  2. Current and Future Services Delivery
    Voice
    SMS
    Data
    VoIP
    Triple Play
    Location Based Services
    e-wallet
    Content services, content providers and supply chain management
    DRM – access to content, authorisation, distribution rights
  3. Regulation
    National Regulatory Authorities
    Licensing service providers and services
    Universal Service obligations
    Consumer Contract law in relation to Communications Service Providers
    Quality of Service obligations and reporting
    Data protection and data retention legislation
    Billing accuracy legislation

Sarbanes Oxley Requirements and compliance

  1. Billing for Services
    Billing principles
    Data entities and flows required for billing
    Capturing and processing billable event details
    End-to-end process integrity requirements
    Post-paid / pre-paid billing models, balance top-up methods, balance transfers
    Interconnect settlement principles
    TAP protocols
    CODIFI
    CAMEL
    Receivables processing
    Credit and debt management
    Collections management
    Setting appropriate Key Performance Indicators
    Billing performance measurement techniques
    Benchmarking billing performance
  2. Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management
    Revenue Assurance and Fraud definitions
    Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management principles and scope
    Opportunities for revenue leakage and fraud
    Setting appropriate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
    Identifying Key Risk Areas (KRA’s)
    Revenue Assurance measurement techniques
    Reporting on Revenue Assurance and Fraud to achieve performance improvements
    Benchmarking Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management performance
    Establishing Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management as a business function
  3. Organisational Factors
    Typical organisational structures
    Intra business communications media
    Interpersonal skills for effective communication
    Understanding business drivers in order to create effective business cases
    Making Business Cases
    The role and contribution of external agencies, e.g. GBA, TMF, GSMA, TUFF, FIINA, CFCA, etc

Higher education participants could be required to provide a thesis for assessment by a designated board.

Combining Modules to achieve GBA Accredited Professional Education Status

It is recognised that individuals in some business functions may not wish or need to participate in all the modules to become proficient in their role. Therefore it is desirable to permit a selection of modules, and at differing levels of detail, to be taken and be recognised as being sufficient to qualify for GBA Accredited Status.

A possible framework for defining the modules necessary to be proficient in any particular business function is to invite ALL business functions in the GBA operators’ community to specify the modules, and the level of detail, they consider necessary to achieve competence in each particular function, thereby ensuring the interests and views of all function are represented. This approach will allow a majority consensus to be arrived at that accommodates possible regional, business and cultural differences.


GBA’s Education Initiative Action Plan & Timetable

Action / Target Date
  1. Invite participants to form the Education Initiative Working Group
/ March 2006
  1. Agree Action Plan & Timetable
/ March 2006
  1. Review and agree draft syllabus
/ March 2006
  1. Develop GBA business model for funding & revenue generation
/ April 2006
  1. Identify potential sponsors and/or sources of funding
/ April 2006
  1. Identify potential academic institutions
/ May 2006
  1. Identify potential expert contributors from industry
/ May 2006
  1. Formally approach potential institutions & industry contributors
/ May 2006
  1. Confirm/contract with academic institutions & expert contributors
/ June 2006
  1. Training providers develop coursework, advised by GBA Working Group
/ June to
Aug 2006
  1. Develop material to promote & advertise Education Modules
/ July 2006
  1. Run pilot modules
/ Aug 2006
  1. Launch & promote full programme for 2007
/ Sept 2006
  1. Award GBA accreditation of Modules
/ Feb 2007
  1. Plan for ongoing administration & further development
/ Ongoing

David Smith

ABIS & Associates Ltd

Director, GBA

3rd March 2006

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