Collaboration for Customer Problem Handling

The IBM WebSphere Business Integration Collaboration for Customer Problem Handling manages the handling of problems reported by a customer to a telecommunications company, including problems associated with sales orders, services and billing. This collaboration provides the facility to track progress or completion in resolving customer problems.

If you use Customer Problem 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 Problem Handling collaboration with other WebSphere Business Integration for Telecommunications collaborations.

Relationship with other WebSphere Business Integration for Telecommunications collaborations

Position in telecommunications operations map

The Customer Problem Handling collaboration handles operations related to customer problems 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).

Customer ProblemPosition in enhanced Telecommunications Operations Map

Process limitations

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

System assumptions

Like the other WebSphere Business Integration for Telecommunications collaborations, the Customer Problem 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 Problem Handling collaboration:

This collaboration uses the following collaboration templates:

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

    Customer Problem Handling collaboration system assumptions

Use case

This process involves the handling of order and billing problems reported by the customer. The process begins when a customer reports a problem, and is completed when the problem is resolved.

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 telecommunications provider 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.
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 activity is driven by guided interactions to perform specific tasks. If support is required, they may contact the Call Center.

Course

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

Use case description (main course)
# Activity by the actor System activity Reference
M1 Determine search option (search by problem record, account or customer)    
M1a Enter problem record search criteria Find and retrieve problem record 1
M1b Enter account search criteria Find and retrieve account 2
M1c Enter customer search criteria Find and retrieve customers 3
M2 Enter customer data Add customer  
M3 Enter problem record Add problem record  
M4   Identify problem type  
    Perform customer order handling or customer billing and receivable process  
M5   Update problem record  
M6 Provide updates to customer until problem resolved Close problem record  

Use case description (alternate course)
# Activity by the actor System activity Reference
1   Find and retrieves customer  
1a Determine validity of problem record and customer data   M4
1b Modify problem record and/or customer data Update problem record and update customer M4
2   Find and retrieve customer  
2a   Find and retrieve problem records 4
  Determine validity of customer data   M3
  Modify customer data Update customer data M3
3 Select customer   2a
4 Select problem record   1a

The following activity diagram illustrates the Customer Problem Handling use case:

Customer Problem Handling use case

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 Customer Problem Handling use case is realized.

Handle a customer problem

This example consists of the following steps:

  1. A customer reports a problem to the CSR.
  2. The CSR validates customer information using a customer information system.
  3. The CSR submits the problem report in a problem management system.
  4. The problem management system handles the problem based on the established processes for the specific problem type.

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