Collaboration for Customer Order Handling

The IBM(R) WebSphere(R) Business Integration Collaboration for Customer Order Handling manages customer information and order information to streamline order handling activities for the telecommunications industry. The managed information is used to process the order, authenticate and set up the requested service. An order can include a request for a new product or service, or a request to cancel or reconfigure an existing service. This collaboration supports the handling of orders for digital subscriber line (DSL), wireless and Internet data center (IDC) services.

If you use the Customer Order Handling in conjunction with other WebSphere Business Integration for Telecommunications collaborations, their relationships are as follows:

The following diagram shows the relationship of the Customer Order Handling collaboration with other WebSphere Business Integration for Telecommunications collaborations.

Relationship to other IBM CrossWorlds WebSphere Business Integration for Telecommunications collaborations

Position in telecommunications operations map

The Customer Problem Handling collaboration handles operations related to the fulfillment of sales orders within the business domain of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The diagram below shows the position of the collaboration in the enhanced Telecom Operation Map (eTOM) as defined by the TeleManagement Forum (TM Forum).

Position in enhanced Telecommunications Operations Map

Business rules

The following business rules apply to the Customer Order Handling business process:

Process limitations

The Customer Order Handling collaboration does not currently support the following function points:

System assumptions

Like the other WebSphere Business Integration for Telecommunications collaborations, the Customer Order Handling collaboration uses WebSphere MQ Workflow Server and IBM WebSphere InterChange Server. IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapters are used to connect between these two applications, and to other applications that participate in the collaboration.

It is assumed that the following applications also participate in the Customer Order Handling collaboration:

This collaboration uses the collaboration templates listed below:

The system features that are expected to execute this collaboration, including IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapters, are shown in the following diagram:

Customer order handling system assumptions

Use case

This process includes all the functions needed to process a customer order through to submission. The process begins when an customer order is requested or an order problem is reported, and is completed when an order is created.

Actors

The following table shows the actors for this use case:

Use case actors
Actor Description
Call center Customer Service Representative (CSR) A person who is an agent of the "institution" who performs a set of business functions in response to requests communicated over the telephone by clients. The person acting as call center CSR can be busy responding to the telephone and performing sales and/or support activities.
Agent A person who is an agent of the "institution" who performs a set of business functions in response to requests communicated by clients in a branch, retail, or distribution environment. The activity is driven by direct contact with subscribers. Thus the person acting as an Agent can be busy responding to individuals and performing sales and/or support activities.
Account manager An agent of the institution who manages customer accounts, who
has management rights over the customer accounts to create and update them.
Subscriber A person who is acting on his or her own behalf to perform a set of authorized business functions through an intermediary device (Phone-data, Internet).

The subscriber uses guided interactions to perform specific tasks. If support is required, the subscriber may contact the call center.

Course

The following tables describe the main course and the alternate course that may be followed in the Order Handling use case:

Use case description (main course)
# Activity by the actor System activity Reference
M1 Determine search option ( search by order, account or customer )    
M1a Enter order search criteria Find and retrieve order 1
M1b Enter account search criteria Find and retrieve account 2
M1c Enter customer search criteria Find and retrieve customers 4
M2 Enter customer and account data Add customer  
    Add account  
M3   Validate the address for its correctness  
    Determine the service availability at the request address  
  Select item (for purchase, cancellation or reconfiguration    
M4 Enter order Add sales order  
    Add service order for sales order  
M5 Validate order for compliance    
M6 Select processing option Add customer's billing account

 

 
    Update sales order status  
    Update service order status  
M7   Perform customer service configuration and activation  
    Add billable item  

Use case description (alternate course)
# Activity by the actor System activity Reference
1   Find and retrieves customer  
1a Determine validity of order and customer data   M5
1b Modify order, customer, and/or account data Update order, customer and/or account M5
2   Find and retrieve customer  
2a   Find and retrieve orders 3
  Determine validity of customer data   M3
  Modify customer and account data Update customer M3
    Update account  
3 Select order   1a
4 Select customer   2a

The following activity diagram illustrates the Order Handling use case:

Customer Order Handling activity diagram

Note: In the activity diagrams, these shapes are used to identify process activities:

Legend of activities

Business examples

The following business examples show situations where the Order Handling use case is realized.

New customer orders service

This example consists of the following steps:

  1. A new customer calls the Telco service provider and orders the digital subscriber line (DSL) service from the call center CSR.
  2. The CSR attempts to find the customer's name on a customer information system, but does not find the name.
  3. The CSR enters the customer's information and adds the customer to a customer information system.
  4. An order management system verifies the validity of the customer's installation address.
  5. The system investigates the quality of the line (e.g. the speed of upstream and downstream transmissions) in order to determine which services can be provided to the specified address.
  6. The system retrieves a list of services that are available for the address, based on the investigation performed in the previous step.
  7. The CSR selects the DSL service offering from a product catalog system.
  8. The CSR enters the order into a order management system. The CSR arranges for the customer to be billed for the service and for that bill to come to the customer's home.
  9. The CSR submits the order through a order management system.
  10. The order management system sends a notification of the service order to a services configuration and provisioning systems.

Existing customer orders service and places order on hold

This example consists of the following steps:

  1. An existing customer calls the Telco service provider and orders the DSL service from the call center CSR.
  2. The CSR finds the customer on the customer information system.
  3. The CSR verifies that there is no outstanding DSL order for the customer on an order management system.
  4. The CSR verifies that the customer's information on a customer information system is correct.
  5. An order management system verifies the validity of the customer's installation address.
  6. The system investigates the quality of the line (e.g. the speed of upstream and downstream transmissions) in order to determine which services can be provided to the specified address.
  7. The system retrieves a list of services that are available for the address, based on the investigation performed in the previous step.
  8. The CSR selects the DSL service offering from a product catalog system.
  9. The CSR enters the order into a order management system. The CSR arranges for the customer to be billed for the service and for that bill to come to the customer's home.
  10. The customer indicates that she does not wish to proceed with the order at this time, and the CSR places the order on hold in an order management system.

Existing customer orders service on web site and cancels the order

This example consists of the following steps:

  1. An existing customer logs on to the service provider's web site and places an order for a DSL service.
  2. The customer verifies his customer information presented by a customer information system.
  3. The customer verifies that they have no outstanding DSL orders on an order management system.
  4. An order management system verifies the validity of the customer's installation address.
  5. The system investigates the quality of the line (e.g. the speed of upstream and downstream transmissions) in order to determine which services can be provided to the specified address.
  6. The system retrieves a list of services that are available for the address, based on the investigation performed in the previous step.
  7. The customer selects the DSL Service offering from a product catalog system.
  8. The customer enters the order into a order management system. The customer arranges to be billed for the service and for that bill to come to his home.
  9. The customer does not want to proceed, and cancels the order on an order management system.

Existing customer resumes an order that was placed on hold

This example consists of the following steps:

  1. An existing customer calls the Telco service provider and orders the DSL service from the call center CSR.
  2. The CSR finds the customer on a customer information system.
  3. The CSR verifies the customer's information on a customer information system.
  4. The CSR determines that there is a DSL order on hold for the customer and retrieves the order from an order management system.
  5. The CSR enters the order into a order management system. The CSR arranges for the customer to be billed for the service and for that bill to come to the customer's home.
  6. An order management system verifies that the service is available for the customer's address.
  7. The CSR submits the order through a order management system.
  8. The order management system sends a notification of the service order to services configuration and provisioning systems.

Existing customer cancels a service

This example consists of the following steps:

  1. An existing customer calls the Telco service provider call center to cancel their existing DSL service.
  2. The CSR finds and verifies the existence of the DSL account on an account management system.
  3. The CSR determines that there is no outstanding order for the DSL service cancellation from an order management system.
  4. The CSR verifies the customer's information from a customer information system.
  5. The CSR selects the DSL service from an account management system
  6. The CSR enters the service cancellation order on an order management system.
  7. The CSR submits the cancellation order through an order management system.
  8. The order management system sends service cancellation notification to services configuration and provisioning systems.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2002, 2003