Overview of Oracle BRM

BRM is an end-to-end revenue management system for communications and media service providers. When you build your business around BRM, you can more effectively manage the revenue life cycle:

• BRM revenue generation enables you to deliver services with optimal pricing to your customers. With BRM, service plans can be complex, yet you can change them quickly to respond to changing market conditions. BRM customer management tools enable you to continue generating revenue from existing customers by maintaining a positive and proactive relationship.

• BRM revenue capture enables you to rate service usage with a high level of control and responsiveness. The BRM system is integrated with network authentication, authorization, and accounting.

• BRM revenue collection enables you to invoice and bill customers, collect payments, manage accounts receivable (A/R), and collect general ledger (G/L) data.

• BRM revenue analysis enables you to audit processes for revenue leakage, generate business intelligence reports, and set up safeguards for data consistency and high availability. Collecting revenue analysis data helps you adjust your service plans for maximum revenue generation.

BRM Revenue Management Life Cycle:

Setting Up Services.

When you set up your services, you use optional components such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Manager and Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) Manager to capture data about service usage (for example, the number of hours in a customer's dialup session or length of a telephone call).

Defining a Price List. 

You create a price list to define how much to charge for your services. For example, you can charge for wireless telephony or Internet access usage, monthly subscription fees, and setup fees.

Registering Customers.

 Customers register for accounts by calling a customer service representative (CSR) or by using a Web page. A customer typically signs up for one or more services, such as Internet access and email. Customer account data, such as telephone numbers, Internet service logins, and billing information, is stored in the BRM database.

Managing Customers. 

When customer account information changes (for example, if a customer changes the credit card), you use customer management tools to update account information or you can provide Web pages for customers to manage their own accounts.

Authenticating and Authorizing Customer Logins. 

For services where usage can be tracked in real time, BRM uses customer data stored in the BRM database to authenticate the customer's identity and to verify the customer's authorization to use that service.

Rating Service Usage. 

BRM measures service usage and rates it (for example, 10 cents per minute for a wireless call). The charge is added to the customer's account balance.

Billing Customers and Collecting Payments. 

Customers are billed at intervals that you choose (typically every month). You can charge customers to their credit cards directly or send invoices and process payments by checks and other payment methods.

Collecting Customer Usage and Activity Data. 

You use data in the BRM database to report on all facets of your business (for example, revenue generated from each service). As your business grows and changes, you can add pricing and provisioning support for new services.