You can configure a control plan to be public, private, or global:

• A public control plan is available to and can be used by all customers. You specify whether a control plan is public when you create the control plan.

• A private control plan belongs to and is used by a particular customer only. A control plan that is not public or global is private by default.

• A global control plan is associated with a specific service configured for use in NCC, and applies to all customers who use that service.

  You specify whether a control plan is global when you save the control plan by giving it a name that corresponds to the service to which it applies. Global control plans are automatically assigned to the operator's default customer account.

Control plans are stored in the database when saved and then cached at intervals in the SLC. The cached control plans are used at run-time for service-logic processing. This means that changes to control plans may not be immediately available for service-logic processing. Because new control plans do not exist in the cache already, a new control plan will be loaded into the cache the first time it is required, and so should be available for use immediately.

The control plan update interval may be configurable for some services. For information on configuring the control plan update interval for a service, see the technical guide for that service.

A control plan consists of a control plan structure and control plan data. The structure is the service-logic flowchart (the collection of feature nodes in the control plan and the connections between them). The data is the feature node configuration data that you set after you add feature nodes to a control plan.

You can create multiple control plans that use the same control plan structure, but different feature node configuration data. You might do this when you want to use the same control plan structure for similar services, but base the routing on different session criteria for each service.

When you save a control plan, you specify a name for both the structure and the data. You can save both using the same name. If you want to reuse the control plan structure with a different set of data, then save the control plan structure and data using a different name for each. The system identifies a control plan by the name you give to the control plan data.

When you save a control plan, the version number, compile status, and public status of the control plan is saved with the name. The CPE displays these properties in dialog boxes where you select from a list of control plan names. The syntax is:

name(Vn, compile_status, public_status)

Where:

• name is the name of the control plan

• n is the version number of the control plan

• compile_status is one of the following:

  • S: Successfully saved without errors

  • E: Saved with errors

    Note: Only successfully compiled control plans with a compile status S can be activated for use with a service.

• public_status is the value Public if a control plan structure is public or is based on a public structure. If the control plan is private, this property is not displayed.

For example:

Prepaid_Charging_Service(V2, S, Public)

The following figure shows the Control Plan Editor (CPE) user interface (UI):

Description of the illustration cpecontrolplaneditorscreen_5-0-0-1.jpg

The following sections describe the main areas of the CPE UI.

You set the CPE view preferences for your user ID each time you:

• Change the feature node title style. See Switching Between Feature Node Title Styles for more information.
• Display or hide the grid, or change the grid proportions. See Using the CPE Canvas Grid for more information.
• Display or hide the node inspector panel. See Node Inspector for more information.

The CPE saves the view preferences configuration for your user ID. The next time you access the CPE, the Control Plan Editor window displays using your saved view preferences.

You can configure the CPE view preferences for individual SMS users and ACS users. For more information, see CPE User's Guide.

The Control Plan Editor window displays using the default view preferences if no view preferences have been set for your user. The default view preferences are those configured for the SU user. If no view preferences have been set for the SU user, then the following defaults are used:

• Display feature nodes in the canvas with all view options selected.
• Display the grid and set the grid proportions to 20.
• Display the inspector panel.

To reset your user view preferences to the default view, select Reset to Default View from the View menu.

Note: Selecting Reset to Default View also makes the feature palette visible in the CPE window, and sets the canvas magnification to actual size.

The canvas magnification controls the visual size of feature nodes in the canvas.

To change the canvas magnification, from the View menu select one of the following:

• Actual Size to display CPE canvas at the standard size
• Zoom In to scale up the CPE canvas and decrease the viewing area
• Zoom Out to scale down the CPE canvas and increase the viewing area
• Zoom To Fit to make all feature nodes in the control plan visible on the canvas

Tip: Double click the canvas background to:

• Zoom to fit a control plan that is bigger than the canvas.
• Zoom back to actual size a zoomed out control plan and center the control plan on the double click point.
• Left double click also deselects the currently selected feature nodes. To retain the current selection, right double click.

The CPE canvas grid can help you to align the feature nodes in the canvas whether or not the grid is visible. The grid options control the grid size and behavior:

• To display the grid, select Grid from the View menu.
• To hide the grid, deselect Grid from the View menu.
• To change the grid proportions:
  1. Select Grid granularity from the Tools menu.

     The Snap-To-Grid dialog box appears.

  2. Move the control pointer to change the grid proportion.
  3. Click OK.
• To automatically align feature nodes to the grid, select Snap All To Grid from the Tools menu.
• To resize feature nodes in the canvas so that their height and width are a multiple of the grid size, select Resize All To Grid from the Tools menu.

  For example, if the grid granularity is 50, then all feature nodes in the canvas will be resized so that their heights and widths are the nearest multiple of 50. A node that is currently 61 high and 132 wide will be resized to 50 high and 150 wide.

Tip: Hiding or displaying the grid, or changing the grid proportions, updates the CPE view preferences for your user. For more information, see About Setting and Resetting View Preferences.

Your user information includes your user name, customer name, permission level and session ID. The control plan information includes the names of the current control plan structure and data, the number of feature nodes in the control plan, whether the control plan has been modified, and the date of the last modification. This information may be needed by your technical support person if you encounter any technical issues.

To view user and control plan information, select Properties on the Tools menu or click the Properties icon in the toolbar.

You can work in multiple control plans at the same time. This is useful for comparing control plans or copying and pasting feature nodes from one control plan to another.

To open multiple control plans, you start a new instance of the CPE for each control plan you want to open:

In the CPE, select New Window from the File menu.

To help you find the feature nodes you want to add to a control plan, you can filter which feature nodes are displayed in the feature palette.

To filter which feature nodes are displayed in the feature palette, enter the search criteria in the Search Palette field at the top of the feature palette panel. As you type, the CPE dynamically updates the feature nodes available in each group by matching the entered text against the following data:

• Feature node name

• Feature node fast key

• Feature node configuration parameter names

• Feature node exits

For example, if you enter "vo" in the search field, then the groups in the feature palette will include only those feature nodes with the text "vo" in their name (for example, "voucher type recharge") or in their associated data.

If there are no matching feature nodes in a group, then the feature group will disappear from the feature palette.

Note: The Base group of feature nodes is always available and cannot be filtered.

Tips:

• The number of matching feature nodes in each remaining group is displayed in brackets next to the feature group name.

• To clear the search criteria and restore the unfiltered feature palette, click the icon in the Search Palette field.

To add a feature node to a control plan, do one of the following:

• Drag the feature node icon from the feature group to the canvas.

• Click on the feature node icon in the feature group and then click in the canvas.

The feature node icons on the CPE canvas display the following properties by default:

• The feature node title above each feature node. By default the title includes the feature node number and node name.

• A representative icon image for the feature node.

• The connector lines that connect feature nodes. Connector lines are solid if telephony is active for that branch or dotted if telephony is not active. When the feature node is selected:

  • Red lines indicate input paths.

  • Blue lines indicate exit paths.

• The telephony icon on feature nodes that use telephony capabilities.

• For feature nodes that contain comments, a yellow comment box at the top right corner of the feature node.

• The feature node exits. Each feature node exit has a name. Feature node exits are:

  • Solid if telephony is allowed

  • Hollow if telephony is not allowed

  • Colored red if the exit is unconnected

Except for feature node exits, you can specify which of these properties is displayed. See Modifying Viewable Properties for Feature Nodes.

This figure shows the viewable properties for the Change Pin feature node.

Description of the illustration cpevisiblefeaturenodeproperties_5-0-0.jpg

All feature node icon properties in the CPE canvas are visible by default. See About Viewing Feature Node Properties for more information about the properties.

To change the viewable properties for feature nodes:

From the View menu, select or deselect one or more of the following options:

• All displays all node properties.

• Node Title displays feature node titles above the feature nodes.

• Icons displays the icon images on feature node icons.

• Connections displays the connector lines between feature nodes.

• Telephony displays the telephony icon for feature nodes that have telephony capabilities, and identifies the feature node exits that do not allow telephony. When Telephony is selected, non-telephony exits appear grayed out on feature nodes.

The feature node icons in the CPE canvas can display one of the following node title formats:

• Feature node number and name

• Feature node name only

• Feature node number only

• No title

To change the format of the node title, select Next Node Title Style from the View menu to change to the next format in the list.

To quickly switch to the next node title format, type "N".

Tip: Changing the node title format updates the CPE view preferences for your user. For more information, see About Setting and Resetting View Preferences.

You may want to resize certain feature nodes in the CPE canvas. You can make them bigger so that they are easier to locate and their properties are easier to see. Or you can make them smaller so that you can see more feature nodes on the CPE canvas without scrolling.

To resize a feature node, click and drag the resizing handle in the bottom right of the feature node.

You can copy one or more feature nodes and paste them into the same control plan or into another control plan in a different CPE window. The feature node configurations are also copied.

You can use the standard copy-and-paste keyboard shortcuts or toolbar icons to copy and paste feature nodes. You can also search the CPE canvas for specific feature nodes and then select Select All Found Nodes from the Edit menu to select those feature nodes for copying. For information about searching, see Searching for Feature Nodes in the CPE Canvas.

The exits for a feature node define all the possible routes that the service-logic may take after passing through the feature node. All the exits for a feature node must be connected to another feature node in the control plan. You can connect multiple exits to the same feature node if required. For example, you might connect the Abandoned, Routing Failure, and Abort exits of the Attempt Termination feature node to the same End feature node.

Some feature nodes require an active session with the connected user to perform their function, for example, to play an announcement. These telephony feature nodes will have some exits that support telephony and some, such as the exit for call abandoned, that do not support telephony. You can only connect exits that support telephony to a telephony feature node.

You can configure the number of exits for some feature nodes, such as the Dynamic Switch feature node. Configuring an additional exit allows you to define an additional branch in the service-logic. See Editing Feature Node Exits for more information.

The feature nodes in the CPE canvas incorporate bubble help boxes for each feature node exit. Exits are the dots at the bottom of the feature node icons. The bubble help includes information about the exit branch.

To specify whether to display exit bubble help, select or deselect the Display Node Exit Info option from the Tools menu.

To view exit bubble help, pass the mouse pointer over an exit. Information about the exit connection appears. The text in quotes is the name of the exit. If the feature node has two or more unconnected exits, then the bubble help includes help about connecting all the exits for the feature node.

Description of the illustration cpefeaturenodeexithelp_5-0-0.jpg

You can edit the number of available exits for some feature nodes to provide additional branches in the service-logic.

Note: This option is unavailable for feature nodes that have a fixed number of exits.

To edit the number of exits for a feature node:

1. Select the feature node in the CPE canvas that you want to edit.

2. Do one of the following to open the Edit Node Structure dialog box:

   • Press Alt+Enter.

   • Right-click on the feature node and select Edit Node Exits.

3. The Edit Node Structure dialog box opens.

4. In the Branch field, enter the number of exits the feature node should have or use the arrow buttons to change the number of exits.

5. Click Save.

   The Edit Node Structure dialog box closes and the feature node icon has the configured number of exits.

You connect two feature nodes by dragging a line from an exit on the source feature node to the target feature node.

You can also:

• Simultaneously connect all unconnected exits

• Select the exits to connect

There are two types of feature node connector line:

• Angled connector lines bend around feature nodes where possible instead of crossing over them. This is the default. Angled connector lines are colored when highlighted:

  • Red lines indicate input paths.

  • Blue lines indicate exit paths.

• HV connector lines use a combination of horizontal and vertical lines to connect feature nodes and may cross over other feature nodes. HV connector lines can be black or colored when highlighted.

You can configure the type of connector line to use for SMS users, ACS users, and individual users. For more information, see CPE User's Guide.

Note: The control plan structure is not affected by the type of connector line.

You can delete a single connection or simultaneously delete multiple connections between two feature nodes.

You can search the CPE canvas for feature nodes that are unconfigured or for feature nodes that match you search criteria. An unconfigured feature node is a feature node that meets any of the following conditions:

• It has no incoming connections

• It has one or more exit ports that are not connected to another feature node

• It contains invalid configuration data

• It has not been saved (the feature node is red)

Note: Unconfigured feature nodes are automatically listed in the Issues tab.

Tip: To locate a feature node on the canvas that is listed in the search results, pass the mouse pointer over the feature node name in the search results. The CPE highlights the node in green in the search results and in your control plan on the canvas.

Customer data is data that you or another administrator configure in the ACS UI, such as geography sets and announcements sets.

You should periodically reload customer data from the database to ensure that your control plan feature nodes contain the most current data. If you or another administrator update customer data in the ACS UI while you are working on your control plans, that data is only available after you reload it.

For example, if you updated an announcement set, then reload customer data to make the changes available in the CPE.

To reload customer data, select Reload Customer Data from the Tools menu.

To print a control plan by using the standard dialog for your operating system:

1. Open the control plan to print.

2. From the File menu, select Print and then Sun Dialog.

   The print dialog box for your operating system opens.

   Note: The Sun print dialog defaults to the standard dialog for the current operating system.

3. Configure the printing options as required.

4. Click Print.

To print a control plan by using the postscript dialog:

1. Open the control plan to Print.

2. From the Filemenu, select Print and then Postscript Dialog.

   The Print Control Plan dialog box appears.

3. Configure the printing options as required, noting the following:

   • The print command on a Windows system is "print" where a print command exists. If you have difficulty, see you system administrator.

   • In the Print command options, enter the port of the target printer. The default port is lpt1. If lpt1 is not mapped to the appropriate printer, see your system administrator to set the correct mapping.

   • The margin widths are measured in printer's points, which is approximately 1/72 inch.

   • The Scale field is currently not used.

   • If the Fit to page check box is selected, the control plan is printed in proportion to its appearance on the screen.

4. Click Print.

   Tip: To end a print job after it has started printing, click Cancel in the print progress dialog.

The shortcut keys work from anywhere in the CPE window unless you have clicked in an area of the window where you can enter data, such as in a search field.

Here are the shortcut keys for using the CPE.

You can add these feature nodes to a control plan using the specified shortcut keys.

In the feature node configuration windows, you can navigate around the buttons and fields using the following keyboard shortcuts: