Section 6 : Chapter 1

5. GIGO (garbage in–garbage out) – The typical telecom

network is both extremely complicated and far from com-
prehensively managed. This means that no matter how
hard we try, there are many questions where no accurate
answer is possible. If the network operations area and oth-
er operational systems do not accurately capture events as
they occur, there is no way a revenue assurance analyst will
be able to decipher them.

Not only is it difficult to determine exactly what you need from

the operational systems, it is sometimes impossible to obtain infor-
mation from those systems when you need it. The reasons for this
include:
1. The operational system is overworked (capacity) – Many
operational systems (especially Network, Billing and Me-
diation) are so overworked to begin with, it is unthinkable
to allow revenue assurance analysts access to them (adding
that much more overhead onto the system).
2. The operational system is not designed to allow this kind
of access (accessibility) – Most operational systems are
designed to be operational. This means any reporting capa-
bilities they do have (if any) will be highly limited.
3. The operational system cannot provide the information –
In many cases, the operational systems do not have the
information required. The analyst must look elsewhere to
find the desired information.
4. Additional programming is required to use the informa-
tion – In all but the simplest cases, analysts will not find
answers by simply pulling out a few numbers from the sys-
tem. Additional programming steps are required to make
the information useful.
5. The information requires comparison across several oper-
ational systems – In a large number of revenue assurance
cases, information is needed, not from any one system, but
from many systems. This information is collected, collat-
ed, compared, and summarized.

Defining Information Requirements

The first step to creating a revenue assurance system is to determine

exactly what information is needed from what systems. At this level
of analysis, the job is not very difficult. Examples include needing

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