Advanced interface for ERP systems
What should actually be the Self-Service platform? First of all it should allow information to be presented from various data sources. Typically operators connect their Billing and CRM systems, but very often Self-Service platforms provide an interface for the end user to document management systems, loyalty systems or even ERP systems.
A very important issue here of course is the security of the whole solution, not only at the level of access to the system – which can be protected by certificates, tokens or other strong authentication methods, but also at the level of data synchronization between internal systems and portal which usually resides in the DMZ area. Business Process Management systems with an underlying layer of Business Integration components are very helpful in dealing with this problem. Alternatively dedicated data synchronization “plug-ins” for particular systems can be used.
Another question arise concerning functionality of the system itself. Must-have features are related to account browsing, electronic bill presentment and payment, trouble ticketing and service management – which in combination with the business process management environment provides an automated tool for self provisioning of services by end-users. Such functionality significantly reduces the time required to enable new services providing actually faster time-to-market for the operators. Another nice feature – which is often a deciding factor when selecting self-service solution vendor, is the analytical capabilities of the solution. Simple reports showing account costs, the most expensive calls etc. are already standard features in most of the solutions. The real advantage comes with the ability to analyze spending and propose changes to services in order to cut costs or to report in context of user defined cost center hierarchy (for business customers) – especially if such a hierarchy can be freely defined outside regular billable accounts in the billing systems.
Functionality is one thing – but for most of the CIOs another important issue comes with the system’s architecture. Self Service systems often are “The Business Card” of the operator – so adaptabilty of the solution, customization of look & feel and integration with the operator’s external web portals, often managed by Content Managemet Systems, are the ‘must haves’ for such systems. Luckily technology comes in handy in such cases. Java Server Faces, released recently by SUN, allows to create industry supported Model-View-Controller based architecture with the usage of XML and XSLT transformations it allows even operator himself to modify look&feel of the applications. Finally compliance with Portlet technology allows to seamlessly integrate the Self Service solution with J2EE compliant Portal server – at the same time taking care about single-sing-on and other security issues.