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AIF Overview


Amdocs Integration Framework provides a common, uniform and standards-based integration foundation for implementing integrations between Amdocs applications, and integrations between Amdocs applications and non Amdocs applications. 

AIF Characteristics

  • Portable across application servers (WAS & WLS)
  • Integrate / interoperate with Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)s/EAIs
  • Provide protocol – neutral service invocation API
  • Service definition customization and upgrade
  • Leverages standards and pervasive technologies
  • Uses existing integration foundations as much as possible
  • Allows gradual adoption by Amdocs products

 

AIF Architecture

AIF is a cross portfolio foundation platform – there is no UI. It is tightly integrated with other cross portfolio foundations:

  • APM  (Amdocs Process Manager) for composite operations
  • ASC   (Amdocs System Configuration) for system configuration
  • ASM  (Amdocs Security Manager) for security to enable cross portfolio single-sign-on

 

 

AIF Integration with 3rd Party

AIF provides an abstraction layer that enables application code to execute functionality provided by external components or systems in a protocol-independent manner. It supports the following protocols

  • Local Java (POJO)
  • Local & remote EJB (statefull and stateless)
  • SOAP over HTTP (Web services)
  • Tuxedo
  • Asynchronous one way (JMS)

Services are defined in a central Service Repository and are managed via a service management UI

AIF provides data mapping, logging, auditing and monitoring infrastructure independent of the application code. A simulator is provided to facilitate client unit testing. It is monitored by JMX.

 

 

AIF Components

AIF infrastructure components include:

  • Service Repository UI – 
    A central tool for defining, maintaining and storing Amdocs service definitions
         
  • Service Repository
    Holds detailed technical descriptions of services. Service definitions are stored on disk files and deployed to the database for access by the consumer API infrastructure
      
  • Service Consumer
    A protocol-neutral API for invocation of services
        
  • Service Provider
    Code generation tool for exposing services via standard protocols: EJB, JMS, SOAP over HTTP, SOAP over JMS, POJO
        
  • AIF can export its service definitions to any UDDI registry using the published UDDI API. However, it does not provide a UDDI compliant registry
      

 

 

 

Service Repository UI Components

Operation
A business operation is a discreet function that performs a single task. Operations are passed input parameters, and may optionally return output parameters, and faults. An operation corresponds to a Java method

Signature
These are the input, output and faults parameters which are defined for an operation. The signature refers to the names and types of these items, but not to any specific order (parameter ordering is typically required only for RMI protocols).

Interface
A logical grouping of operations. An interface corresponds to a Java class or interface.

Service
Published functionality provided either by an Amdocs application or an external system. A service is an implementation of an interface provided by some service providers. It is a  physical implementation of an interface (e.g. EJB service)

Binding

A physical attribute for an operation of a service;. e.g. EJB bindings define the method name and parameter order

 

The Service Consumer

Consumer application code uses the service consumer API to invoke a service operation. The consumer is unaware of who provides the service, where they are located, or how the service is invoked.

The Consumer supports the following protocols: POJO, EJB, JMS, Web Services and Tuxedo. Logging, auditing and monitoring is performed by the infrastructure. Details about the service are read from the service repository. Physical details (server URL etc) are taken from runtime configuration

The Service Repository

The Service repository defines operations, interfaces and services

Service definitions are defined in XML files, and deployed to a database for access by the service consumer API infrastructure (in CRM, the database table is aif_operation)

Service Definitions are edited using an eclipse plug-in. They can be created manually, by importing EJB interfaces or by importing WSDL.

The Service data model is based on WSDL2.0.

The services repository is fully compatible with 3rd party service repositories or registries via WSDL import/export and Java code (EJB interface)

Service Definition

A Service is physical implementation of an Interface. The Service name is unique within an Interface. Each Interface may have several Services, each representing a physical implementation of the Interface

Binding represents physical attributes of an operation within a Service. Each Operation within the Interface has a corresponding Binding within each Service.

Services are defined in two parts:

  1. Static design-time definition which define the contract, implementation and protocols.
  2. Dynamic run-time deployment configuration, defined in the AIF repository.

The AIF repository stores information such as JNDI names. These names are defined in the central configuration repository (Amdocs System Configurator – ASC)

The run-time configuration data can be changed independently of the AIF repository, giving operational flexibility.

 

AIF Configuration

AIF uses ASC to define its configuration items. AIF configuration includes AIF internal configuration, such as the JDBC connection it requires to access the deployed services, and definition of resources used by services defined in the repository

AIF is typically configured in some common node, and then inherited by the applications that use it:

/amdocsCommon/Aif
/crm/baseConfig/Aif (inherits /amdocsCommon/Aif)

 

 

The AIF Service Lab

The AIF plug-in for Eclipse provides a full blown UI for creating, testing and deploying AIF services.

 
 

02/03/2011 Posted by | Amdocs, Backend, CRM, General, Technology | 8 Comments

Implementing Role Based Authorization


Implementing Role Based Authorization

The three ingredients required to compose an RBA security mechanism are:

  • Controlled operations (functionality)
  • Controlled data
  • User roles (Global, Team, User)

 
A matrix match of all tree components will allow controlling functionality and or controlled data. Both depend on specific data instance (object) and the user role that are evaluated at run-time.

In order to implement RBA one has to identify the functions and data to be controlled, the roles that should be granted access to those functions and data, and the rules that determine when access is granted.

A.   Identifying controlled functionality

For example, let’s assume the following functionality needs to be restricted:

  • View accounts
  • Create opportunities
  • View opportunities
  • View selected tabs in the Opportunity window
  • Change Case status

 

Business functions can be defined in terms of basic operations or UI elements in the CRM application modules. These business functions are defined as Controlled Business Objects.

Restricted Data

Restricting data visibility (for a specific database object), requires identifying that the database table related with that object. The CBO Data Service (JPOMS) controls access when retrieving the data from the CRM database. You do not need to identify application components for the view function.

Restricted Operations

In order to restrict functions (application components) that performs the business operations, certain application elements need to be identified:

  • The UI component and server side code (worker bean, XBean) handle requests to perform the business function
  • The services or processes which performs the business function
  • The status transitions associated with the business function

 

To control the operation of adding team members on the Account Overview page the following application components are identified:

  • The UI component to be controlled for this function is the Team Members tab on the Account Overview page
  • The server side code (worker bean) that handles the operation is com.clarify.isales.team.workerbean.TeamRoleAddWB.

 

Smart Client administrator UI screens allow identifying the application components which perform specific functions related with specific data object.

B.   Identifying the affected data – Controlled Objects

This is the data affected by the controlled operation. For example, filtering accounts data (restricting access to viewing account records), affect the database table bus_org.

The table containing this data represents the controlled object.

When setting up RBA, the controlled objects define the previously defined controlled business operations.

Instance-specific operations

Functionality related with existing data in the database, and which are authorized for some objects and not authorized for other objects, are called instance-specific functions.

  • For the “view opportunity” business function, the opportunity table represents the controlled object.
  • For a “modify forecast item” business function, the frcst_itm table represents the controlled object.

 

Global functions

Certain business functions that do not operate on existing data in the database are called global functions, such as:

  • Create operations, since there is no object instance yet present in the database (I.e create territories or accounts).
  • External call functions that call external systems (such as services and processes that launch third-party software).

 

Global Control Object

Since global functions do not affect existing database data, their related controlled objects are a special object called global. When setting up RBA, these business functions are defined under the default global controlled object.

C.   Grant Access to Controlled Objects – Define Roles

Who should have access to this functionality and what is the context in which authorization is to be applied to the controlled functionality?

RBA use roles to identify who has access to controlled functionality and data.

For example, allowing the members of an account team to view the opportunities under their respective accounts. An account team member has a role and opportunities related with accounts represent the context in which authorization is applied.

Additional conditions that should be used to restrict access

In order to further restrict access to functionality and or data, an expressions or combination of roles are used.

Setting Permissions 

After determining the data to control and the roles, we should set the kind of permission granted to allow roles to access controlled business functions.

For a given role, any one of the following permissions can be assigned to a controlled business function:

  • Grant permission with no condition
  • Do not grant permission at all
  • Grant permission with a condition.

 

Authorization Matrix

Authorization Matrices are the place where you will map controlled business functions to the roles.

It is possible to grant access to roles associated with authorization matrices by assigning permissions to different roles in different authorization matrices. Thus, a sales administrator global role in the Global Roll Matrix (GRM) can have a single permission and a sales manager in an account Team Role Matrix (TRM) may have a different permission for the same business function.

Granting an unconditional permission 

When assigning the ‘Grant’ permission to a role, that role is given a permission to perform the controlled business function. ‘Grant’ permission overrides all other permissions.

Once a user has a Grant permission for a function, that user is permitted to perform that function even if he is not granted permission in any other authorization matrix for that controlled function.


Denying permissions 

 ‘Not Granted Here’ permission

When the ‘Not Granted Here’ permission is assigned to a role, it means that permission is denied for that role with regard to the controlled business function using that authorization matrix.

Not Granted Here means that the function is not given permission by this role here. However it does not mean that users with that role cannot perform the function.

‘Not Granted Here’ is a non-restrictive permission. If the users have permission for this controlled business function under a different role, that Grant permission overrides the ‘Not Granted Here’ permission.

Not granting permission is not the same as denying permission. RBA uses the combination of all matrices to determine the permission for a business function. If any matrix grants permission to a role, that role is allowed to perform that controlled business function even if user also has another role that does not have permission.

Granting a Conditional Permission Using an Expression 

When a role is assigned with ‘Expression’ permission, it grants or withholds permission to the controlled function depending on the result of an evaluated expression.

If the expression evaluates to true, the role is assumed to have ‘Grant’ permission and if the expression evaluates to false, the role is assumed to have ‘Not Granted Here’ permission.

The Smart Client administrator UI provides special UI which allows using a ‘path builder’ to compose the expression.

Example:

Use the expression: 

  • $focus:name=‘Account1’   –  to allow accounts with name ‘Account1’
  • $User:login_name=‘sa’      –  to allow only user ‘sa’

 

                                                                  Path builder to help writing the expression

How Permissions Are Evaluated 

Permissions are evaluated using the user roles, the business function, and the object instance.

Global roles are checked first to see whether the user is assigned any of the global roles that are permitted to perform the function (Global Roles for a user are known by the CRM application when the user logs in). If a user is not assigned any global roles that are permitted for the business function, every TRM and URM are checked for the business function to see if the user is assigned a role with permission for that function.

 Identifying Authorization Matrices

Which authorization matrices should be used to assign permissions to different roles for the controlled functionality?

Assuming we would like allow an opportunity team member (team role) to view accounts associated with opportunities. The authorization matrix used for the opportunity team will be the Opportunity Team Role Matrix. The authorization matrices for different roles must be identified.

An authorization matrix determines which roles have permissions to which business functions. As an example, an authorization matrix for an “Opportunity Owner” authorization domain may specify that the opportunity owner has access to the “view opportunity” business function for that opportunity.

Based on the types of roles used, RBA can use three types of Authorization Matrices:

  • Global Roles Matrix (GRM) for global Roles
  • Team Role Matrix (TRM) for Team Roles
  • User Role Matrix (URM) for User Roles

 

When setting up RBA, a grid-like UI is used to implement the authorization matrices.

When all  RBA settings are ready, they should contain at least one GRM and one or more TRMs and URMs.

When users try to use a controlled business function, RBA uses the combination of all matrices to evaluate if they are permitted to access the controlled functionality.
A user who is granted permission in any one of the matrices has access to that controlled function.

Users not granted permission in any of the matrices are denied access to that controlled function.

Using the Global Role Matrix (GRM) 

The Global Role Matrix (GRM) relates the controlled business functions with the Global Roles.

The GRM is checked first for evaluating permissions when the user logs into the CRM application.

 The GRM is accessed through the following CRM Administrator UI screen:

 

                                                                               Global role Matrix window

Controlled Objects and business functions are added into the matrix using the ‘Controlled Objects’ UI tab. They are added from the global pool of controlled objects defined in the application.

Using the Team Role Matrix (TRM) 

The Team Role Matrix relates controlled objects and functions with Team roles; enabling the function for users in the team with the role specified.

The CRM application already provides several pre-defined TRMs for Account, Opportunity, and Territory objects.

If a user has multiple roles within the same team, the effective permission is the sum of all the permissions granted for that user in that team.

Using the User Role Matrix (URM) 

The User Role Matrix relates controlled objects and functions to user roles; enabling the function for users with the particular role (ex: case owner)

The URM is a special kind of TRM. The only difference between them is that a TRM uses team roles previously defined, while the URM uses roles assigned by the application logic.

The URM is accessed through the following CRM Administrator UI screen:

 

                                                                            User Role Matrix window

Performance Considerations

Enabling Authorization affects the performance of the CRM applications (due to multiple checks for evaluating permissions).

Here are some guidelines for minimizing performance penalty when implementing RBA:

  • Use global roles if possible. Checking permissions for global roles is faster than checking them for team and user roles.
  • Define as few controlled business functions as possible (use combination of functions…).
  • Define as few team roles as needed. If two team roles have exactly the same authorization policy, combine the two roles.
  • Do not duplicate permissions when one role is a superset of another role. Instead, assign user to both roles.

 

Disabling Authorization 

RBA is enabled by default for Amdocs CRM applications. However, you can disable authorization checking using RBA at the following levels:

  • To disable RBA for at the applications level, use the DisableAuthorization configuration item, and set it the ‘1’.
    As a result, RBA will not be active at all for all roles and all functions.
  • To disable RBA for a global role, use the Disable Authorization for this Global Role check box on the Role tab of the Global Role Matrix window in the Administrator UI.

06/05/2010 Posted by | Amdocs, CRM, CRM, General, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Role Base Authorization


Role Base Authorization (RBA) is a security feature for AmdocsCRM smart (and thin) client applications.
It facilitates the setup and administration of an organization’s authorization scheme, without requiring customizing the CRM applications.  With RBA, it is possible to create a security model based on the organization’s structure so that the application can precisely apply security that reflects that model.      

 To implement security using RBA, certain areas of the Amdocs CRM applications functionality that require authorization need to be defined. Additionally, the organization model needs to be mapped to the AmdocsCRM applications.    The organization model is built around what people do, their level of responsibility, the people they work with, the teams they belong to, and the business entities (accounts or cases for example) they work on. RBA collectively refers to these factors are as roles.    A CRM application can be regarded as a combination of data and application functionally that enable accessing that data.
RBA allows managing the intersection between the roles that model the organization and the controlled data.    

A simple RBA scenario defines roles which may roughly correspond to job descriptions, and each role is authorized to work with
different parts of an application.    

        

The figure shows four employees organized into two roles – Account Administrator and Support Administrator.
The Account Administrator role is authorized to work on everything related to Accounts, while the Support Administrator role is authorized to work only on Account Overviews.    

 The advantage of using such Roles to define authorizations is when the organization policy changes, only the authorizations associated with the roles will be changed, and no change at every user level will be necessary.    

Roles are organized into 3 categories:    

  • Global roles provide authorization that spans an entire organization.
    They are equivalent to Privilege Classes used in Classic Client, but a same user may have several global roles and only one Privilege Class
    Global roles are used to authorize access to similar instances of work. You can for example authorize or disable access to all accounts, without specifying which account.
    Global roles are mostly recommended to use. Using Global roles creates the most efficient database queries, hence result with best performance.
     
  • Team roles associate a group of individuals to a business entity, such as an account or an opportunity.
    Team roles can be used to authorize access to a specific instance of work that a selected group of people can work on.
    For example, for sales operations it is common to form teams of people and assign them to work with particular accounts, or within particular territories, or on specific opportunities.
    Using Team Roles, it is then possible to authorize access to those specifics accounts, territories, and opportunities only to the team members of those entities.
    Team Roles are always defined against a domain object, which is the CRM database object representing the data to control, such as account (bus_org), opportunity or territory.
  • User roles refer to special relationships between a user and an object of the application. For example, the Case Owner.
    User roles can be used very much like team roles, to authorize specific instances of work for selected users. With user roles the implementor needs to identify existing relation between a user and an object instance (established by the application logic) and give it a name. When RBA is used to identify a relation, authorization can be applied to it as well as to any other related objects

When RBA checks to see if a logged-on user is authorized to perform a particular task or to access some data, it checks if the user has a global role, team role, or user role that grants permission to perform the task.      

Multiple roles usage
The following figure shows a global role and an example of teams that are authorized to work on the same types of data, but only on the specific instances of that data for which their team is responsible for.  

                   Global and Team Roles Authorization in RBA        

      

      

      

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The diagram above show two account teams: East Region Account Team and West Region Account Team.
Account Administrator role held by John Stevens is authorized to see all accounts.Each team has assigned employees and two associated roles (Account Manager role and Sales Representative role).  

East Region Account team is authorized to work only on the East Region Accounts, while the West Region Account Team is authorized to work only on the West Region Accounts.   

 The boundaries indicate scope of authorization for each role within the team (depends on team role)    


Using RBA in the API (Application Programming Interface)
RBA can be used to control user interface (UI) elements for Thin client or Smart Client applications.
Using RBA, various types of UI controls such as buttons, menu items, text boxes, tabs, etc can be selectively enabled or disabled, made visible or invisible,  based on the user roles.    dditionally, the data shown as a search result can be filtered. Because RBA can be set up to give different permissions to different instances of data, certain user might sometimes see different UI controls on the same page, as different data are being worked on. For example, a user with permission to work on Corporate Accounts might see buttons enabled on Account Overview pages for Corporate Accounts and not on others, based on his roles and permissions.      

 

05/05/2010 Posted by | Amdocs, CRM, CRM, General | 1 Comment

AmdocsCRM Releases: From Clarify 11.5 to AmdocsCRM 8.x


Q: Right now I’m working on Clarify thick Client 11.5.

 I need information like what are new versions available (details on new versions of thick, thin and smart clients) and nomenclature followed to represent a specific version of Client.

How are they differentiated from architecture point of view? Where can I get more information of current updates, releases, versions of Amdocs Client?

If we upgrade from thick to thin or smart client what parameters must be considered like DB used, version of DB and all.

 

Amdocs CRM Releases 

Since Clarify version 11.5, the following versions were introduced: ClarifyCRM 12.1, ClarifyCRM 12.5 and ClarifyCRM 13.1.

 As of ClarifyCRM 13.1, Amdocs changed its name and number to AmdocsCRM 6.0. (That means – both Clarify version 13.1 and AmdocsCRM 6.0 refer to the same release).

 AmdocsCRM 6.0 (Clarify 13.1) was the last version to introduce new functionality for Thin (Web) client).

 AmdocsCRM 7.1 was the first release that offered Smart Client (Java based client).

 However, the first fully matured Smart Client was released on release 7.5 (Italy).

 

The following versions are currently available:

  • AmdocsCRM 7.5.2  Supported clients: Thin (Web) and Smart Client (JNLP)
  • AmdocsCRM 8.0 Supported clients: Thin (Web) and Smart Client (JNLP)

 

As of release 7.5.2, a multi language support was added on the database (Oracle) level. This is not supported by classic client.

Note that since version 11.5 the Classic client releases have not added new functionality provided in both Thin and Smart Clients.

For example, the Customer Interaction Manager (CIM) module (call center agent’s main screens) is not provided out of the box classic client.

Architecturally, Classic client is a fat client which connects either directly to the database (2 tier) or use Tuxedo as an intermediate layer (3 Tier). In both cases, all logic is performed mostly on the client using a Visual Basic 5.0 dialect named ‘ClearBasic’.

Thin client and Smart Client use Java J2EE architecture. This architecture separates the application logic between a server side code (implemented as Java Beans) and client side, implemented as JSP / JavaScript for thin client, and as Java / SWING code for smart client.

 

Supported Platforms:

Server Platform Support

Operating System

  • Solaris 10 patch level: Generic_120011-14 (Sep 07)
  • Win 2003 SP2 current patch
  • HPUX 11iV2 RISC & HPUX 11iV2 Itanium
  • AIX 5.3 TL06 SP1 Patch level: 5300-07-02-0000 (Feb 08)

 

Database

  • Oracle 10gR2 10.2.0.3
  • MSSQL Server 2005 SP2 Standard J2EE Server.

 

JVM/SDK Solaris:

  • WebLogic 9.2 MP1 with Sun Java 2 SDK 5.0 update 12 with the Java HotSpot Client and Server VMs (32-bit)
  • WebLogic 9.2 MP1 with Sun  Java 2 SDK 1.5
  • HP:        WebLogic 9.2 MP1 with HPUX SDK 5.0.08 (32-bit) with Java HotSpot Server VM.
  • IBM:       WebLogic 9.2 MP3 with IBM SDK 5.0 SR5a 32-bit JavaTM.
  • IBM:       WebSphere 6.1.0.9 with IBM 32-bit SDK for Solaris, Java 2 Technology Edition, Version 1.5.
  • IBM:       WebSphere 6.1.0.9 with IBM 32-bit SDK, Java 2 Technology Edition, v1.5.
  • IBM:       WebSphere 6.1.0.9 with HP SDK for J2SE

 

Client Platform Support

  • Classic Client:        Windows Pro XP SP2 & Vista Business Edition
  • Thin Client:            Windows Pro XP SP2 & Vista Business Edition
  • Smart Client:          Windows Pro XP SP2 & Vista Business Edition

 

Browser

  • Classic:                                  N/A
  • Thin:                                    Internet Explorer 7
  • Smart:                                  N/A
  • JRE Classic, Thin, Smart:          1.5_12

  

Upgrading from Classic 11.5 to Smart 8.0

For this upgrade you need to consider the following:

  1. Upgrading your current database to Oracle 10gR2 10.2.0.3 (AmdocsCRM 7.5) or Oracle 11g (AmdocsCRM 8.0).
    This might require possible changes in your data model (for example, moving from ClearCallCenter or ClearSupport modules to the newer Customer Integration Manager data model).
        
  2. Migrating your application logic from Classic Client to Smart Client.
    This requires updating your customized UI from VB to Smart Client SWING, and updating logic from ClearBasic to Java server side and client side.

 

Q: This information is very informative. I do have one somewhat related question on this (note – I’m not very technical on Amdocs CRM):

Since the older version of Clarify 11.x (or AmdocsCRM 6.x) and the latest 8.x version, how much has the underlying data model changed?

My understanding is that Amdocs has not been making significant data model changes (new or modified tables/columns)..etc. Is that true?

Secondly, what exactly (in summary) is this ‘ClearSupport modules’ to ‘Customer Integration Manager’ data model change that you mentioned?
Does Amdocs provide a good packaged upgrade path/solution to move to newer versions?

Thank you in advance.

 

More About AmdocsCRM Releases

AmdocsCRM 6.0 is the same release as ClarifyCRM 13.1 (not Clarify 11.x). Note that between releases 11.x and 13.1 there were several releases, the most significant one was ClarifyCRM 12.5.

 

Upgrade Path from Clarify 11.5 to AmdocsCRM 8.x

Q:  Does Amdocs provide a good packaged upgrade path/solution to move to newer versions?

In order to upgrade from Clarify 11.5 to AmdocsCRM 7.x or 8.x you need to:

  1. Upgrade your existing database software from Oracle 8.X to Oracle 10gR2 10.2.0.3 (AmdocsCRM 7.x) or to Oracle 11 (AmdocsCRM 8.x).
         
  2. Migrate (upgrade) your database scheme (data model) from Clarify 11.5 to AmdocsCRM 7.5. via Clarify 12.5, AmdocsCRM 13.1 and AmdocsCRM 7.1 (full details are provided with each AmdocsCRM release notes which specify the exact migration path).
        
  3. Migrate your customized UI and logic (code) from ClearBasic to Java (server side and client side).

 

Technology Changes

Q: How much has the underlying data model changed from Clarify 11.x to AmdocsCRM 8?

The underlying data model has been significantly enhanced, both for the underlying technology and the provided functionality.

 

Technology Enhancements

New technical features were introduced to enhance performance, sizing etc.

Few Examples:

  • Support larger number of unique records per database table. The old objid primary key mechanism now supports the full 32 bits.
        
  • Additional key named GUID was added to support unique record string id.
         
  • Search field object mechanism was added to enhance performance (the search field allows user defined pop-ups to use be used by reference, in similar fashion to application pop-ups, rather than by value.
        
  • All popup menus are referenced by ref_id rather than by their nominated names.
        
  • Multi-lingual support was added at the database level.
        
  • Ability to define a schema object (table or view) using SQL query.
         
  • The old data dictionary compiling application (ddcomp) was completely rewritten for a much more reliable java code and is now called Schema Manager.
         
  • The licensing scheme was greatly enhanced. You need a proper Amdocs license in order for your J2EE server side code to properly run.
        
  • Most importantly, the server side code exclusively use CBO (Crm Business Objects) to access the data in the database. These CBOs were upgraded to use JPOMS, replacing the old POMS.
        
  • Clarify Process Manager (CPM) was replaced with Amdocs Process Manager (APM). APM provides much more sophisticated functionality, and can work with any other Amdocs products (it is largely used by Ordering).
        
  • Smart Client technology now allows the front end UI to interact simultaneously with several backend applications.
       
    For example: CRM and Ordering.
    In other words: Both CRM and Ordering share e unified desktop front-end UI.

Note that until lately (version 7.5), most these changes impacted the new J2EE technology, but still allowed legacy Classic client to co-operate with the same database. However, Classic legacy code was not updated to take advantage of the newer enhancements.

 

Functional Enhancements

1.     Billing Manager

Since Amdocs acquired Clarify, they decided that the Clarify UI (initially Classic, then Thin/Web, now Smart Client) to be used as a front end UI for all Amdocs Products.

Initially, main efforts were spent for adding UI screens and logic to provide seamless integration with billing functionality. (Billing Manager module, support Amdocs Billing or any other 3rd Party billing).

 

2.     Customer Interaction Manager (CIM)

Although legacy Clarify provided a Call Center module (Clear Call Center), it appeared that the data mode used for CCC (Clear Call Center) was inefficient nor flexible (i.e. – it created a Case record for each interaction).

A completely new data model and supporting UI screens and logic were introduced. The CIM model creates a light Interaction record for each interaction with a customer.

An interaction is NOT a workflow object, but merely a data record that stores the following call related data:  Title, Notes, Direction (outbound, inbound), Channel (800), Media (call, email, or chat). 

Each Interaction is related to one or more TOPICS. A topic is an issue raised by the caller. Each topic is categorized by at least two call reasons (identifiers), a possible, not mandatory, linked related Workflow object (such as Case), and a result code.

 

In practice, each topic may potentially initiate a call center process, such as an Order.

One of the most important CIM features is the ability of the call center agent to handle several interactions simultaneously. Each interaction with a caller is identified by caller’s name. The agent can toggle among several on-line interactions (each has its own different caller) while holding the caller on the line. When switching from one interaction to another, all interaction related data and UI is automatically switched as well and exposed to the agent.

An interaction can be used with an Anonymous Caller as well.

 

3.     Multi Media Integration

AmdocsCRM now supports a sophisticated integration module with external Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) systems. It allows call center agents to accept calls, put calls on hold, transfer calls among them etc.

All IVR control is performed from the agent’s desktop. It also supports alternative media such as conducting a live chat etc. 

The multimedia integration also allows passing IVR parameters automatically to the interaction screen.

 

4.     Ordering Integration

As of release 7.5, ordering module UI and front end logic is integrated with CRM UI. It is possible to initiate an order process directly from CRM interaction screen with a single button click.

 

5.     Enhanced Support Module

There were many enhancements to the support module here is one of them:

 

SLA (Service Level Agreement) Manager

Tracking service level agreements (more on this in a separate post).

 

Role Based Authorization (RBA)

Control UI and backend permitted user activities according to their Global, Group or User Roles.(See more on this in Role Based Authorization).

 

Case Types
Case types are not only 3 keyword identifiers stored with a case record, but a whole definition which allows different screens to popup according to the type of the case.

 

Summary

Yes – in order to support all above changes (and many, many more) Amdocs have added significant enhancements to the underlying data model.

 

ClearSupport Vs Customer Interaction Manager

The ‘ClearSupport’ module is a separate module from ‘Customer Integration Manager ‘(CIM). They use completely different (although compatible) data models.

You should regard the Customer Interaction Manager module as an enhancement to the Support module.

From business process perspective, any customer call starts with the ‘Customer Interaction Manager’ to handle the call (interaction).

An interaction may, or may not, propagate to a process handled by the Support module (i.e. a service call).

For example – if a customer calls to ask a question and immediately get an answer, only Interaction record needs to be created, no Case is created (this is sometimes called ‘Done in One’).

On the other hand, if a customer calls and complaints about a service, or a billing issue, where the issue can not be immediately resolved, a process needs to be initiated to handle the issue. A Case record is then created, and the Support module handles this Case according to its type until the issue is resolved and the Case is closed.

 

04/05/2010 Posted by | Amdocs, BSS, CRM, CRM, General | 4 Comments

NextGen Consulting – IT consulting services


Welcome to NextGen Consulting.

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Our people have hands-on implementation expertise with Clarify Classic Client, AmdocsCRM thin client, and Amdocs CRM Smart Client.

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or contact Yuval Rashelbach at yuval.rashelbach@nextgencon.com

 
 
 

24/02/2010 Posted by | BSS, CRM, General, OSS | 1 Comment