Quarantine

Quarantine

The Quarantine function is used to review and resolve any billing issues encountered by BMS and the Billing and Rating engine during the Rating, Billing and Invoicing process. Issues may arise for many reasons, such as missing service information, incorrect rating data, or issues with the service usage file received from your upstream service provider. The Billing and Rating engine places these records into Quarantine for manual intervention. Once the issue is resolved, the records can be re-processed through the billing and rating engine to place the associated charges on to the required account’s invoice.

Throughout the billing cycle, and particularly around the bill run, you should regularly review Quarantine to resolve billing issues placed into Quarantine to ensure your account’s invoices contain all the appropriate charges. Records in quarantine may result in missing or incorrect charges on your invoices, and lead to missing revenue.

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Note that this section outlines the system actions performed to resolve billing issues identified by the Billing and Rating engine. It does not describe the business processes involved in determining the required action to resolve each issue.

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The quarantine issues are categorised into broad two categories: BMS and Rating. BMS quarantine is separated into three types: Telephony BMS, Data BMS, and Misc BMS.

BMS Quarantine

The Telephony BMS, Data BMS and Misc BMS quarantine pages list issues identified during the supplier file mediation process for your telephony services, data services, and miscellaneous service charges respectively (see the

Immediate Invoices

In addition to the invoices automatically created by the Billing and Rating engine, the system allows you to create ad-hoc or immediate invoices. Immediate invoices can contain any pending cardlines held against the account, which may include cardlines created by the Billing and Rating engine for charges associated with services, product purchases, and ad hoc charges created manually. See the Unallocated Cardlines and Immediate Invoices section on page 40 for more details.

Batch Mediation System (BMS) section on page 24). These issues will only appear if you receive service files (e.g. CDRs, usage feeds etc) directly from your supplier. If you are reselling services through an Emersion Wholesale Service Provider, you may not see any BMS quarantine issues.

BMS Quarantine Reasons

The following table lists all BMS Quarantine reasons and the recommended action for each:

Quarantine Reason	Description	Recommended Action
Bucketer Called on Records With Rated Records	A duplicate usage fault	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to rectify
Could not process all Accounts	An account was not able to be processed.	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to rectify
Duplicate Usage Fault	The record received from the supplier satisfies the criteria for a duplicate record	Write Off
Fatal Exception Thrown	Internal Error	Emersion to rectify the cause and cleanse the CDR
Incorrect Duration Fault	Incorrect usage duration found in the record Emersion maintains an internal exception list that determines which usage items can have 0 duration (e.g. SMS) - usage items not in the exception list are put into quarantine	If you believe the usage should be charged, the internal exception list may need to be updated Submit an Emersion Support Ticket or Write Off
Mismatched Service Account Fault	Service is in the system but is not owned by you	Write Off and make a claim with your service supplier
No Accounts to Bill	Service is in the system but is not owned by you	Write Off and make a claim with your service supplier
No Package Available	The service is assigned to a Package ID that does not exist in the system.	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to rectify
No Tariff Found	The billing system is unable to allocate a tariff to apply the charge	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to add the missing tariff and then cleanse
No Valid Package Period	The service exists in the system but the Package Period is outside the usage date	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to change the package periods and then cleanse
No Valid Service Sub Period	The service exists in the system but the Service Period is outside the usage date	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to change the service periods and then cleanse.
No Valid Service Subscription Period	The service exists in the system but the Service Period is outside the usage date	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to change the service periods and then cleanse.
Non Existent Service Fault	Service usage data has been received from the supplier that contains charges but the Service could not be located in the system	Add the Service to the appropriate account and then cleanse
Non Existent Tariff Key Fault	The billing system is unable to allocate a tariff to the usage to apply a charge	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to add the missing tariff and then cleanse
Obsolete Usage Fault	The usage is in excess of the service supplier’s back billing threshold (usually 180 days)	Write Off and make a claim with your service supplier
Product Does Not Exist	Product is not found for the miscellaneous charge received from the supplier	Add the Product in the system and then cleanse
Unmatched Withdrawal Fault	A Withdrawal record cannot be matched to the original CDR	Investigate with supplier then Cleanse or Write Off

To View BMS Quarantine Records

1. Select Billing > Quarantine from the Menu. The Quarantine page will appear showing the BMS Usage Telephony Quarantine page by default.
2. To view quarantine information for your telephony services, select the Telephony BMS tab. The BMS Usage Telephony Quarantine page will appear.
3. To view quarantine information for your data services, select the Data BMS tab. The BMS Usage Data Quarantine page will appear.
4. To view quarantine information for miscellaneous service charges (e.g. telephony products etc), select the Misc BMS tab. The BMS Usage Misc Quarantine page will appear.

The Telephony BMS, Data BMS and Misc BMS quarantine pages all look the same and operate in the same manner.

Search

You can locate BMS quarantine records by using the Search function. The following fields can be used to search for records:

• Quarantine ID the system generated quarantine record ID
• Batch number the system generated batch file number
• Carrier Name the service supplier
• Date Filtering No Date Filtering, Date Updated, or Date Released
• From allows date selection per the Date Filtering option via a Calendar tool
• To allows date selection per the Date Filtering option via a Calendar tool
• Service Identifier the service’s unique identifier, such as the phone number
• Batch File name as received from the supplier
• Carrier File Type dependant on the Carrier Name option selected
• Tariff Key the tariff key of the usage record
• Status All, Quarantine, Cleansed, Completed, Withdrawn, Write off, or Pending
• Quarantine Reason see the BMS Quarantine Reasons table above.

To Process records in BMS Quarantine

1. After reviewing the quarantine records and determining the required action, locate the required records in the list on the BMS Usage Telephony Quarantine page, the BMS Usage Data Quarantine BMS page, or the Usage Telephony Quarantine page. Use the search fields as required.
2. Tick the check box beside each required record in the list.

To select all records on the current page of the list, tick the check box in the column heading row. All recorded will be ticked.

1. Select the required action to update the selected records in the Update To drop list, which is located below the list of records.

The Actions and their results are as follows:

Action	Result
Cleansed	You or the Emersion Billing Operations team have made the necessary changes in the system to resolve the issue. The record will be marked as ready to be re-processed by the billing and rating engine, which will place the charge on the appropriate account’s invoice.
Action Pending	Places the item into a pending status. This can be used to mark the record as being actioned where it may take a few days for you to resolve the issue.
Write off	The record will be flagged in the system as not billed and ignored by the billing and rating engine. These records will appear in the write off report.
Quarantined	Leaves the record in the list for further investigation.

1. Click the Submit button. The system will update the selected records and display a message at the top of the page showing the records have been updated.

Rating Quarantine

Rating quarantine lists all rating, billing and invoicing issues identified by the Billing and Rating engine other than those identified during the supplier file mediation process by the BMS process.

Rating Quarantine Reasons and Error Codes

The following table lists all Rating Quarantine reasons and the recommended action for each:

Quarantine Reason	Description	Recommended Action
Invalid Service Type	The Service Type is not set correctly for the usage data received from the supplier	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to rectify
Missing Service Subscription	Service exists in the system but the Service Subscription is missing	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to rectify
Invalid Package Period	The service exists in the system but the Package Period is outside the usage date	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to change the package periods and then cleanse
Invalid Rounding Type	The underlying Service Plan setup is incorrect	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to rectify
Rating Failed – Unknown Reason	Internal Issue	Emersion to rectify the cause and cleanse
Invalid Carrier Cost	A missing or invalid carrier cost is found in the record where one should exist	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to rectify
Invalid Usage Hierarchy	Internal Issue	Emersion to rectify the cause and cleanse
Missing Rate Card	A Rate card has not been allocated to Service Plan	Add a Rate Card to the required service plan and then cleanse If you need to backdate the usage, submit an Emersion Support Ticket to assist
Missing Rate	Although the Rate Card exists in the system, no rate is found for this tariff	Add a Rate Card to the appropriate Service Plan and then cleanse
Invalid Rate	An error has been detected in the rate configuration.	Review the rate card configuration If required, submit an Emersion Support Ticket to assist
Bolting Failed – Unknown Reason	Internal Issue	Emersion to rectify the cause and cleanse
Invalid Bolt On	Bolt on type is not valid for the Service Plan	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to rectify
Invalid Bolt On Subscription	Bolt on subscription exists in the system but the bolt on has been removed	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to rectify
Invalid Bolt On – Markup Set On Underlying Rate	Internal Issue	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to rectify
Charging Failed – Unknown Reason	Internal Issue	Emersion to rectify the cause and cleanse
Invalid Charging Attribute	An invalid charging attribute was detected	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to rectify
Invalid Charging Attribute – Mark-up Set on Underlying Rate	Internal Issue	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to rectify
Invoicing Failed – Unknown Reason	Internal Issue	Emersion to rectify the cause and cleanse
Invalid Cap Attribute	The Plan Cap has not been set however the Rate Card has capped tariffs	Add the required Cap amount to the Plan and then cleanse
Invalid MaxType Cap Attribute – Mark-up Set on Underlying Rate	Internal Issue	Submit an Emersion Support Ticket to rectify
Invalid MaxType Cap Attribute	Mismatched cap type was detected (e.g. tariff is in seconds but the Cap type is KB)	Correctly set the Cap Max type attribute and then cleanse

To View Rating Quarantine Records

1. Select Billing > Quarantine from the Menu. The Quarantine page will appear.
2. Click the Rating tab on the Quarantine page. The Rating Quarantine page will appear.

Note that the page may take a few moments to appear.

Search

You can locate Rating quarantine records by using the Search function. The following fields can be used to search for records:

• Quarantine ID the system generated quarantine record ID
• Service Identifier the service’s unique identifier, such as the phone number
• Call Date From allows date selection via a Calendar tool
• Call Date To allows date selection via a Calendar tool
• Batch File Number the system generated batch file number
• Batch File name as received from the supplier
• Tariff Key the tariff key of the usage record
• Status see the Rating Quarantine Reasons table above

To Cleanse Records in Rating Quarantine

Once you, or the Emersion Billing Operations team, have made the necessary changes in the system to resolve the issue, the Rating Quarantine record must be updated as cleansed so it is marked as ready to be re-processed by the billing and rating engine, which will place the charge on the appropriate account’s invoice.

1. After reviewing the quarantine records and correcting the issues, locate the required records in the list on the Rating Quarantine page. Use the search fields as required.
2. Tick the check box beside each required quarantine record in the list.

To select all records on the current page of the list, tick the check box in the column heading row. All recorded will be ticked.

1. Click the Cleanse button. The system will update the selected records and display a message at the top of the page showing the records have been cleansed.

The records will now be ready to be re-processed by the billing and rating engine.