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.

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).

The following business rules apply to the Customer Order Handling business process:
- The sale of certain products may require pre-qualification of the subscriber
- Orders may be submitted only if validation is obtained
- Customers who use using the process via the Web do not require the Customer search
activity since the customer identity must be entered in order to sign on to the web site
The Customer Order Handling collaboration does not currently support the following
function points:
- Preparing price estimates and SLA
- Developing order plans
- Performing credit checking
- Requesting customer deposits
- Notifying customer
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:
- Sales order management system (such as Siebel)
- Product catalog management system (such as Siebel)
- Provisioning system (such as MetaSolv)
- Customer management system (such as Siebel)
- Account management system (such as Portal Infranet)
- Supplier/partner order handling system (such as NightFire)
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:

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.
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. |
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:

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

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:
- A new customer calls the Telco service provider and orders the digital subscriber line
(DSL) service from the call center CSR.
- The CSR attempts to find the customer's name on a customer information system, but does
not find the name.
- The CSR enters the customer's information and adds the customer to a customer
information system.
- An order management system verifies the validity of the customer's installation address.
- 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.
- The system retrieves a list of services that are available for the address, based on the
investigation performed in the previous step.
- The CSR selects the DSL service offering from a product catalog system.
- 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.
- The CSR submits the order through a order management system.
- 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:
- An existing customer calls the Telco service provider and orders the DSL service from
the call center CSR.
- The CSR finds the customer on the customer information system.
- The CSR verifies that there is no outstanding DSL order for the customer on an order
management system.
- The CSR verifies that the customer's information on a customer information system is
correct.
- An order management system verifies the validity of the customer's installation address.
- 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.
- The system retrieves a list of services that are available for the address, based on the
investigation performed in the previous step.
- The CSR selects the DSL service offering from a product catalog system.
- 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.
- 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:
- An existing customer logs on to the service provider's web site and places an order for
a DSL service.
- The customer verifies his customer information presented by a customer information
system.
- The customer verifies that they have no outstanding DSL orders on an order management
system.
- An order management system verifies the validity of the customer's installation address.
- 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.
- The system retrieves a list of services that are available for the address, based on the
investigation performed in the previous step.
- The customer selects the DSL Service offering from a product catalog system.
- 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.
- 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:
- An existing customer calls the Telco service provider and orders the DSL service from
the call center CSR.
- The CSR finds the customer on a customer information system.
- The CSR verifies the customer's information on a customer information system.
- The CSR determines that there is a DSL order on hold for the customer and retrieves the
order from an order management system.
- 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.
- An order management system verifies that the service is available for the customer's
address.
- The CSR submits the order through a order management system.
- 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:
- An existing customer calls the Telco service provider call center to cancel their
existing DSL service.
- The CSR finds and verifies the existence of the DSL account on an account management
system.
- The CSR determines that there is no outstanding order for the DSL service cancellation
from an order management system.
- The CSR verifies the customer's information from a customer information system.
- The CSR selects the DSL service from an account management system
- The CSR enters the service cancellation order on an order management system.
- The CSR submits the cancellation order through an order management system.
- The order management system sends service cancellation notification to services
configuration and provisioning systems.


