Automated multiagent-based interoperator billing and payment system (ambibpsy)

Abstract

Different operators offering telecommunication services cannot operate in isolation. They have to depend on each other in order to provide all inclusive telecommunication services to their customers. A part from offering services to their customers, operators offer interconnect services to each other. These interconnect services are charged. The current billing and payment for interconnect services is semi automatic. This has resulted in delay of bill and payment processing, prolonged period for settlement of billing and payment disputes. In order to address the above problems, we intended to develop the automated multiagent-based interoperator billing and payment system (AMBIBPSY) which should have the following main functionalities: • To receive and transform raw CDR from the POI into a formart suitable for bill generation. • To generate, store and deliver bill to the distant operator. • To receive, reconcile and store the received bill from the distant operator. • To generate and store voucher against the received bill from the distant operator. • To effect the payment against the reconciled voucher. AMBIBPSY system has been developed using four agents to enable it accomplish the above functionalities. The four agents include: CollectionAgent, BillingAgent, PaymentAgent and BankingAgent. The multiagent system approach to this study is due to the distributed nature of points of interconnection from which the call detail records are captured. The use of agents has reduced the complexity of the system during development and when the system will require expansion afterwards. Each agent has been built successfully including all the roles it should play. CollectionAgent is used to receive and transform raw CDR from the POI into a formart suitable for bill generation. BillingAgent is used to generate, store and deliver bill to the distant operator. PaymentAgent is used to generate and store voucher against the received bill from the distant operator. BankingAgent is used to effect the payment against the reconciled voucher by implementing EFT. The system is able to generate and send bill to the distant operator. Voucher generation and transmission to the distant operator has been accomplished successfully. Electronic fund transfer between the banking agents has been successful. The success of this study is a relief to telecommunication operators in handling inter-operator billing and payment. Automatic billing and payment processing makes the process faster due to reduction of human errors. Electronic fund transfer reduces the cost of fund transfer processing in terms of time and money.