Exploring SAP Convergent Mediation

The utilization of the Cloud Service product generates usage data records for various services across multiple technical systems. Cloud Service usage is collected from diverse technical systems, enhanced, and checked for subsequent rating processes.

SAP Convergent Mediation powered by Digital Route provides an open workflow engine that allows for quick adaptation of deployed solutions, featuring a powerful and flexible scripting language and full self-sufficiency with the Development Tool Kit. Additionally, it supports the implementation of new functionality and any type of external interface.

Task: Set up a workflow to gather usage events from the source and send Chargeable Items to SAP Convergent Charging.

Procedure:

• Establish a batch workflow with the agent types listed below.
• Configure the agents to decode and organize the events for charging.
• The workflow should be set up to generate corresponding Chargeable Items for forwarding to SAP Convergent Charging.

The figure illustrates a basic SAP Convergent Mediation batch workflow. The various components, or "agents," serve different functions. A "batch" refers to a collection of events, typically within a file, to be rated and charged. Each agent carries out distinct processing steps. The end-point, known as "Forwarding," is referred to as an Interworkflow, and it routes the processed events to a subsequent "real-time" workflow where they will ultimately be transmitted as Chargeable Items to SAP Convergent Charging.

There are multiple design components including creating a workflow, configuring the agents, and establishing an SAP Convergent Charging forwarding workflow. Additionally, the agents will need to be configured.

Step (1): Select the agents:

• Drag the following agents one by one from the agents onto the canvas area:
• Disk Collection: collects files from a local disk.
• Decoder: decodes the input file.
• Analysis: applies business rules.
• Encoder: encodes the output data.
• Interworkflow: forwards the data to next workflow.

Step (2): Drag the routes:

• Connect the agents so that the agents can send the data to the next agent.
• (From collection to processing to forwarding.)

Step (3): Configure the agents: Configure each agent with the parameters specified in the business case.

Next in the sequence is a real-time workflow. It receives the events (original UDR) from the batch workflow and introduces these into a real-time flow.

• The Interworkflow agent IWF Collection handles the receiving of events.
• The Analysis agent Process must contain business logic to transfer the valid information from the event to a corresponding field in the CCCycle UDR.
• The Aggregation agent Process_CC keeps track of the sessions in order to know to which request an answer belongs. This is key for the CCCycle UDR to operate.
• The SAP Convergent Charging agent SAP_CC takes care of the communication with SAP Convergent Charging.

The CCCycle UDR is the main communication object. At a high level, a CCCycle is made of two parts: Request and Response.

Request

This needs to be populated by the workflow, and details the type of operation that SAP Convergent Charging needs to operate (regular rating, estimation of the price, and so on).

Response

This part is populated by the Agent when SAP Convergent Charging answers. It can be a regular result (rating result, estimate result, and so on), or a CCException UDR. The CCException UDR may describe a technical error (dispatchers are unreachable for example), or a functional error (the customer was not provisioned for example)

In addition, it contains a "freefield" which can be used to store, for example, the original UDR that leads to the rating process (a webservice UDR, a diameter cycle UDR) and that needs to be updated with the response.

Step (4): Specific SAP Convergent Charging workflow:

• SAP Convergent Charging requires an on-line connection, sending request/response in real-time.
• IWF_Collection receives batch data from previous workflow and introduces them as real-time events.
• Process maps the events a to a CCCycle UDR.
• Process_CC creates a session to send the request to SAP Convergent Charging and receive the response. This function is key to track the event and correlate the response to correct session.
• SAP_CC handles the communication with SAP Convergent Charging.
• ECS_Handler handles exceptions from SAP Convergent Charging in a different workflow.

The Interworkflow collection agent is configured to understand from where the incoming events arrive, and introduces them into the real-time flow.

The Aggregation agent contains business logic that tracks the sessions in order to know to which request a corresponding answer belongs.

The SAP Convergent Charging agent is configured to handle the connection with the SAP Convergent Charging server. The SAP Convergent Charging agent is returned with a list of Dispatcher IP addresses that will be used by the SAP Convergent Charging agent at runtime.

Step (5): Configure the agents: Configure each agent with the parameters specified in the business case.

The UDR that is put in the "request" field of the CCCycle UDR defines the type of operation to be executed in SAP Convergent Charging. For reference, most of the wrapped API comes from the method of the AsyncStatefulServiceClient in SAP Convergent Charging.

When the sequence of SAP Convergent Mediation workflows executes, usage events are captured from the source and send as chargeable items to SAP Convergent Charging. SAP Convergent Charging answers with a Purchase Order UDR. The purchase order has a status that contains the amount paid.

This in turn results in a BIT to be generated for SAP Convergent Invoicing.

In addition to the ChargeUDR, there are the following rating operations:

• EstimateChargeUDR and BlankChargeUDR
• CheckLimitUDR
• SessionStartUDR, SessionUpdateUDR, SessionStopUDR

Real-time agent used for the deferred rating in B2B Cases.

The cost per event will not be determined until the end of the month, after the total volume of events has been collected. The deferred rating process involves the following steps:

• Step (1): SAP Convergent Mediation sends the Chargeable Items to SAP Convergent Charging where they are not rated online.
• Step (2): Chargeable items are enriched with master data in SAP Convergent Charging and sent to SAP Convergent Invoicing for storing as a Consumption Item.
• Step (3): Consumption Items are held there waiting to be rated.
• Step (4): At the end of the month all consumption items are sent in batch to SAP Convergent Charging for rating.
• Step (5): Billable Items (BITs) are loaded to SAP Convergent Invoicing.
• Step (6): SAP Convergent Invoicing uses the billable items for billing and invoicing to generate the invoice.