The utilities listed in Table 3-1 contain preconfigured control points that can generate revenue assurance data.

By default, however, those utilities do not generate revenue assurance data. You enable them to do so by changing an entry in their configuration (pin.conf) files. You make the same change in each configuration file.

To enable the utilities listed in Table 3-1 to generate revenue assurance data:

1. Open the utility configuration file in a text editor.

2. Set the enable_ara entry to 1:

   - pin_mta enable_ara 1

   where 1 enables generation of revenue assurance data, and 0 disables generation of revenue assurance data.

3. Save and close the file.

4. Stop and start the Connection Manager (CM). See "Starting and Stopping the BRM System" in BRM System Administrator's Guide.

You enable your custom MTA applications to generate revenue assurance data by adding an entry to its configuration (pin.conf) file. This configuration file must be stored in the directory from which you run the application.

To enable your custom application to generate revenue assurance data:

1. Open your custom application's pin.conf file in a text editor.

2. Add the enable_system_ara entry and set it to 1:

   - pin_mta enable_system_ara 1

   where a value of 1 enables generation of revenue assurance data, and a value of 0 disables it.

3. Save and close the file.

4. Stop and start the Connection Manager (CM).

   See "Starting and Stopping the BRM System" in BRM System Administrator's Guide.

You can configure your custom non-MTA application to generate revenue assurance data when it is run as a custom job in Business Operations Center. To do so, configure your custom application to do this:

1. Perform its custom processes.

2. Call the PCM_OP_PROCESS_AUDIT_CREATE opcode to create the /process_audit/billing object, passing these mandatory input fields in the opcode call:

   • PIN_FLD_ACCOUNT_OBJ
   • PIN_FLD_PROCESS_NAME
   • PIN_FLD_TOTAL_RECORDS
   • PIN_FLD_SUCCESSFUL_RECORDS
   • PIN_FLD_FAILED_RECORDS
3. Ensure that the status of the custom business operations job and your custom application was updated in the /job/boc object. To do so, call the PCM_OP_READ_FLDS opcode with the job ID passed as an argument and read the object's PIN_FLD_STATUS field.

4. If the /job/boc object's PIN_FLD_STATUS field has not been updated, update the field to the appropriate status:

   • 1: The business operations job has been scheduled, but has not started yet.

   • 2: The application has been started.

   • 3: The application completed successfully.

   • 4: The application failed.

   • 5: The business operations job completed successfully.

   • 6: The business operations job failed.

   • 7: The business operations job could not run due to a scheduled blackout period.

   • 8: The business operations job could not run because the system was down.

In addition to the utilities in Table 3-1, the following operations can generate revenue assurance data:

• Bill Now

• Bill on purchase

• Auto-triggered billing

By default, however, these operations do not generate revenue assurance data.

To enable the operations to generate revenue assurance data:

1. Go to BRM_home/sys/data/config.

2. Use the following command to create an editable XML file from the Billing instance of the /config/business_params object:

   pin_bus_params -r BusParamsBilling bus_params_billing.xml

   This command creates an XML file named bus_params_billing.xml.out in your current directory. If you do not want this file in your current directory, specify the path as part of the file name.

3. In bus_params_billing.xml.out, set EnableARA to enabled:

   <EnableARA>enabled</EnableARA>

   Caution:

   BRM uses the XML in this file to overwrite the existing instance of the /config/business_params object. If you delete or modify any other parameters in the file, these changes affect the associated aspects of the BRM configuration.

4. Save and exit the file.

5. Rename the bus_params_billing.xml.out file to bus_params_billing.xml.

6. Use the following command to load your changes into the /config/business_params object:

   pin_bus_params bus_params_billing.xml

   You should run this command from the BRM_home/sys/data/config directory, which includes support files used by the utility. To run it from a different directory, see "pin_bus_params" in BRM Developer's Guide.

7. Read the object with the testnap utility or the Object Browser to verify that all fields are correct.

   For general instructions on using testnap, see "Using the testnap Utility to Test BRM" in BRM Developer's Guide. For information on how to use Object Browser, see "Reading Objects" in BRM Developer's Guide.

8. Stop and restart the CM.

   For more information, see "Starting and Stopping the BRM System" in BRM System Administrator's Guide.

For bill items to work as configured in Revenue Assurance Manager, you must configure item subtypes.

Item subtypes define the different types of charges for item types such as cycle arrears, cycle forward, cycle forward arrears, and so on. For example, cycle forward fees and cycle arrears fees can be included in the recurring subtype and monthly usage in the usage subtype. For more information, see "About Splitting Revenue Assurance Data into Detailed Categories".

Before configuring item subtypes, you must configure bill items. See "Creating Custom Bill Items" in BRM Configuring and Running Billing.

To configure item subtypes:

1. Using a text editor, open the BRM_home/sys/data/pricing/example/config_item_types file.

2. Define your new item subtypes in the ItemType tag.

   Use the item subtype recurring default item subtypes as examples. You can copy and change it as necessary.

   <ItemType precreate="false" type="cumulative" sub_type="recurring">/item/cycle_forward_arrear</ItemType>

   Note:

   Be sure to enter Discount for discount subtypes. Otherwise, Revenue Assurance Center displays the item's data in the Revenue section instead of the Adjustments/Discounts section.

3. In the Storable Class Editor, create the storable class /item/name, where name is the value in the PIN_FLD_TYPE field of /config/item_types.

4. Run the "load_config_item_tags" and "load_config_item_types" utilities in BRM Configuring and Running Billing to configure the item subtypes in the BRM database.

All defined subtypes except discount subtypes are displayed in Revenue Assurance Center in the Charge Type column of the Billing Details screen under the Revenue section. Discount subtypes are displayed in the Adjustments/Discounts section of the Billing Details screen. For more information, see Revenue Assurance Center Help.