Huawie - Online Charging System (OCS)

Online Charging System
(OCS)
For the question “What is an Online Charging System?” we can
simply define it as a system allowing a communications
service provider to charge their customers, in real time,
based on service usage. The OCS helps optimize the system by
separating business activities and reducing technical and vendor
dependency and decreasing the time-to-market for new services.
According to the statics in 2007 there are approximately 30
operators worldwide who have stared OCS developments.
The OCS provides billing and accounting functions for carriers

such as service information collection, rating, charging,
promotion, credit control, billing, recharging, payment, and
dunning. With the solution, a carrier can continually manage all
subscribers on one system, regardless of payment type, network
type, or service type.
The Network Diagram
 BMP: Business Manager Point
The core component of the OCS system. This provides a web

service interface for handling the customer services. Using the
interface we can configure information related with customers,
products, offers, charging plans etc. This web interface can be
integrated with other third-party applications such as mobile
applications, web applications as a part of digitization
procedure. The core network operators will be directly used these
services and by wrapping them many more services can be given
to customers.
 CBP: Convergent Billing Point
All the charging and rating functions will be handled. Product

subscription and renewal charges, call/SMS charging, data
usage charges are some of them.
 CRM: Customer Relations Management
A central repository for all customer data (prepaid, postpaid)
 GFEP: General Front End Processor
Use the TCP/IP protocol to communicate with other entities. The

GFEP converts protocols and forwards messages when other
entities communicate with other entities
 GGSN: Gateway GPRS Support Node
A part of the core network that connects GSM-based 3G networks

to the Internet. When subscriber send a request to GGSN, it
analyzes the request and sends the request to the corresponding
CBP.
 HLR: Home Location Register

A central subscriber database. Contains various information
such as the mobile numbers, services, whether the numbers have
been ported to another network and similar information.
 iManager I2000: Network management system
A monitoring tool which collects performance data and alarms of

BMPAPP
 iWEB: Report system
 MSC: Mobile Switching Center
The closest node to a subscriber within the core network. The

MSC connects calls between subscribers by switching the digital
voice packets between network paths
 MMSC: Multimedia Messaging Service Center
A server which store and forward carrier’s MMS.
 RBI: Record Bill Interface
A channel between CBP and billing center
 SCP: Service Control Point

A central database which provides the call access and call control
functions. When voice call is triggered to the SCP through MSC,
the SCP authenticates the incoming right and outgoing right of
the call.
 SMSC: Short Message Service Center
Store, forward, convert and deliver SMS.
 SSP: Service Switching Point
The telephone exchange that initially responds, when a telephone

caller dials a number, by sending a query to SCP to handle the
call.
 SS7: №7 Signaling Network
A set of signaling protocols which allows phone networks to

exchange the information.
 URP: Universal Resource Platform
 USAU: Universal Signaling Access Point
Supports SS7 signaling protocol and provides more powerful

signaling access capability for MSC, HLR and URP
 UVC: Uniform Voucher Center
A system which manages recharge cards, Releasing, locking and

activating cards kind of operations will be handled.
As a software engineer, I have frequently used the BMPAPP and

its related web services interface. There are many web services
which can be used to develop third party applications. Some of
them are querying information, payment related services,
subscriber or product creation related services and batch
processing related ones. The recommended interface is in SOAP
format and we can convert them to REST since it’s been more
popular and commonly used in now a day. For an example let’s
think about a self-care mobile application. The expectation is to
give the users complete control of over many telecom related
services. Using the app, customers can manage their
prepaid/postpaid services, self-activation of SIMs, Package
activation and deactivation and smart payments, along with their
cash wallet and e wallets. Some of the key features are shown
below.
 Data Packages (Check data usage, data pack activation and

data extensions)
 Bill Payments (Check current and outstanding balances,

payment history and usage history)
 Self-activation (Give your details KYC and got registered in)
 Loan services
 Self-planning of packages
 Share Credit
 Help Desk
So, the above services can be obtained by using the BMPAPP web
services. The wrapped native services (directly point to OCS) can
be exposed through an API gateway and these exposed services
can be used to fulfill the customer requirement. The gateway is
used for handling the exposed operations through authorization
and authentication.
So, let’s discuss further on BMPAPP. The main functions are
 Billing configuration
Rules for Rating & Charging and Invoicing are included. Basic
system data, CDR (Call Detail Record) extension, data
synchronization are some of them.
 Task management
Task configuration and monitoring, task execution

 System management
System parameters, Business Entities
 Customer management
Central repository for all customer data
 Product catalogue
A unified product catalog management GUI environment, which

includes offering management, product management, plan
management, product lifecycle and version management
BMPAPP connects to physical databases such as admin, general,

user and CDR. The logs related rating and charging can be used
for tracing and debugging purposes so that we can check the
behaviors are worked expected.
Conclusion
The Online Charging System (OCS) is a uniform charging

platform that helps telecom network carriers to charge voice,
data and multimedia services of fixed, mobile, and data
networks. OCS system can run on GSM network, CDMA network
and TDMA networks. In addition, the system can precisely
realize the credit control to subscribers at a maximum. In this
way, the risk of arrears can be reduced, and the revenue loss of
carriers can be reduced accordingly. So, it’s kind of next
generation network system with charging functions and
enhanced flexibility. The more operators will design their own
OCS systems due to its significantly advance features.

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Online Charging System

The OCS provides billing and accounting functions for carriers

 BMP: Business Manager Point

The core component of the OCS system. This provides a web

 CBP: Convergent Billing Point

All the charging and rating functions will be handled. Product

 CRM: Customer Relations Management

A central repository for all customer data (prepaid, postpaid)

 GFEP: General Front End Processor

Use the TCP/IP protocol to communicate with other entities. The

 GGSN: Gateway GPRS Support Node

A part of the core network that connects GSM-based 3G networks

 HLR: Home Location Register

 iManager I2000: Network management system

A monitoring tool which collects performance data and alarms of

 MSC: Mobile Switching Center

The closest node to a subscriber within the core network. The

 MMSC: Multimedia Messaging Service Center

A server which store and forward carrier’s MMS.

 RBI: Record Bill Interface

A channel between CBP and billing center

 SCP: Service Control Point

 SMSC: Short Message Service Center

Store, forward, convert and deliver SMS.

 SSP: Service Switching Point

The telephone exchange that initially responds, when a telephone

 SS7: №7 Signaling Network

A set of signaling protocols which allows phone networks to

 URP: Universal Resource Platform

 USAU: Universal Signaling Access Point

Supports SS7 signaling protocol and provides more powerful

A system which manages recharge cards, Releasing, locking and

As a software engineer, I have frequently used the BMPAPP and

 Data Packages (Check data usage, data pack activation and

 Bill Payments (Check current and outstanding balances,

So, let’s discuss further on BMPAPP. The main functions are

Task configuration and monitoring, task execution

System parameters, Business Entities

Central repository for all customer data

A unified product catalog management GUI environment, which

BMPAPP connects to physical databases such as admin, general,

The Online Charging System (OCS) is a uniform charging

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