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What You Need for Local Calling Area Rating

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  • An understanding of the tariffed rates for the area you are selling local service. You are not required to use this method of rating calls, but you will have to be aware of how the local companies rate to be competitive.

  • Enable Point to Point Rating

    This is an IDI Billing Team Responsibility.

    • Submit a Work Order to have IDI enable this setting: AdminConsole > Business Rules > Backoffice Settings, double-click on Rating and check Point to Point.

  • QTEL9000 tables that must be purchased from CCMI. (Each state where you are offering service requires a separate purchase of two files, currently named urcf.dos and ratf.dos.)  

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    You will need to have the CCMI data files available before you start. You will also need your tariff, a firm idea of how you plan to compete in that location, and the CCMI Q-Tel 9000 Rate Center Files for the state for which you are setting up rates. It may also be helpful to have either the Q-Tel 9000 Rate Center documentation or a link to their online documentation on the Web. For residential rate plans it is usually helpful to have the local phone book for the area you are setting up rate plans (optional).

    Note

    For the Q-Tel 9000 online documentation, visit the CCMI site. Your IDI Billing Solutions' Program Manager can direct you to the location of the documentation. In this document you can find the calling plan listing for the state and OCN you are going to mimic. The descriptions found there may be useful in determining which Local Calling Area call plans you will be using in the IDI solution. (SaaS customers: Obtain user name and password information from your Billing Clerk Team)

    Import the CCMI Data

    1. Submit a Work Order to have the Billing Team import the CCMI urcf.dos and ratf.dos files.

    2. View results in Product Management > Local Calling Areas > Reference table.

  • Establish User Defined Distance Types

    See Distance Types. Distance Types uniquely identify each region combination.

    1. Open AdminConsole > Data Management > Distance Types

    2. Enter names that will be used to identify how to refer to each zone, region, or calling area (for example, Home Region and InterRegion, or Call Area A, Call Area B, and so on).

  • Create Times of Day

    See Time of Day. You will probably want to match the tariffed time of day schedule if you are mirroring those rate plans.

    1. View AdminConsole > Data Management > Time of Day and set up time periods.

  • Enter Revenue Accounting Office (RAO) Codes

    See RAOs.

    1. In Admin Console > Data Management double-click RAOs and enter the RAO codes for the areas you are offering Local Calling Area rating, or your RAO if you are facilities based and have your own switch, from which you will be getting the Local Calling Area usage detail records. The RAO codes are used by the IDI solution to reclassify 100101 call types, from Domestic 1+, to Local. If the appropriate RAO code is missing, the Local Calling Area records will be treated as Domestic 1+.

      RAOtable

    2. When finished entering the codes and descriptions, save and close the table.

  • Assign User Defined Distance Types in the Local Calling Area Reference Table

    See Local Calling Area Reference.

    1. Identify home and inter-regions by State, OCN, Call Plan ID (type of service offering) and Rate Line Reference Number (RLRN - an arbitrary number given by CCMI for regions and/or zones), for your business.

    2. In the Local Calling Area Reference table, right-click the row and select Edit to add the appropriate home and inter-region distance types to the applicable Call Plan/RLRN. It is best to use filters to keep reducing the number of Call Plan choices until you reach the one to be used. Call Plans 1-6 are for Business Service, 7-9 are for Residential, and 10+ are Inbound.

      We use the term home region to denote the region where the call originates. Likewise we will use the term inter-region to denote regions outside the home region. If there are more than one inter-regions, you will want to assign them a user defined distance type. (for example, Call Area B, Call Area C, Upper Westchester, Nassau, East Suffolk, and so on.) Home Region distance type is always assigned to RLRN 0. Usually there are not charges listed in the rate fields. In some cases charges will apply to Home Region calls, and in this case the RLRN will be equal to 1.

    3. If you do not have the call plan for the competing ILEC, compare tariff rates to the CCMI data to help determine Call Plans. One method for residential customers is to compare the call plans in the Local Calling Area Reference table to the local telephone book for the area in which you are setting up the rates.

    4. You may also change the description in the field at the far right of each rate line. By default, the description is as it is in the associated tariff.

      Notes:

      • Any modifications made to the reference table will be saved with each CCMI update. All updates from CCMI append information to current information in the table.

      • Make all your rate changes in Rate Details, not in the Local Calling Area Reference table.

  • Create Rate Plan

    See Rates and Pricing Plans.

    1. Create a Rate Plan Name. Open Product Management > Rates.

    2. Return to the Local Calling Area Reference table and associate the OCN, Call Plan ID and RLRN for your business to the Rate Plan by right clicking on each detail record and choosing Assign.

    3. Select the appropriate Rate Plan from the list of plans.

    4. To modify the tariff rates, right-click the Rate Plan name in the Rates window and select View Rate Details or double-click the Rate Plan. The details have been populated automatically from the Local Calling Area Reference table.  

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    5. Right-click a row and select Edit to change the values. This displays the Rate Details dialog.  

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      RateDetails

    6. After making your changes, click Save.

  • Create a Pricing Plan

    See Working with Pricing Plans.

    1. Create a Pricing Plan and set up criteria or utilize an existing Pricing Plan. Product Management > Product Catalog > Pricing Plan

    2. On the Main tab, select the appropriate Call Plan for which this Pricing Plan will contain rates.  

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      EditPricingPlan

    3. In the Pricing Plan Details, set Usage Type to Local, set the Time Group, assign the Rate Plan you created earlier (see Create Rate Plan) to Leg A, set Initial and Additional Time Increments. Remember that, if necessary, the Time Increments can be modified within Rate Details as well.  

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  • Assign a Pricing Plan with the appropriate call plan designations and rates to your customers' service numbers..