The Institute of Telecommunications Professionals

As telecom companies race to take the cost and complexity out of their next generation networks, they will need to ensure that they do not drive costs and complexity into the service area and, more importantly, their customers.

It is impossible to sell products without being able to offer full support. Service surround enables support to be given in an efficient and customer-friendly way throughout the entire product life cycle while facilitating an ongoing relationship that transcends products1.

Design is what links requirements capture with construction, testing and implementation,and represents the structure, logic and data of the end product. This Unit is in three parts-an introduction to design, a section on design reviews and a network and systems designer's checklist.

Billing within a large telecommunications company has greatly increased in complexity over recent years. This has been brought about by more involved tariffs and the need to compete with other operators in a deregulated industry. This Unit looks at the chargingand- billing process and the fundamental capabilities required to make it work.