1. Controlling Telecommunications Data Quality with Test Invoices

2. Folie 2 Stakeholder interests in Test Invoices High qualityinvoicingprocess! Preventlossofincome, Guaranteecustomersatisfaction. Telecommunications Company Write thecorrectinvoices! Every invoicepositionisjustified - and Noinvoiciepositionisomitted. IT division Write theinvoicescorrect! Every invoicepositionispricedasspecified. System Billing Team Even whenweassumethat QA discovers all functionaldefects: Ifthepatchingprocessisdefective, QA did not testwhatisrunning on the live system. Ifthecustomerdataisalreadywrong in CRM, Billing worksunderwrongpremises. Ifthe CRM-Billing interfaceismalfunctioning, billingtests will not reflectreality. Why Quality Assurance aloneisnosolution Currently, we send out toomanywronginvoices! The knownproblem

4. Hotfix Patch (normal)

5. Repeat Transfer or Data Migration

6. Repeat Rating (in severecases)

8. After eachdatatransfercycle,

9. A Rating process will beexecuted

10. Afterwards, testinvoicesaregenerated

11. After testinvoicesareapproved

12. The final invoicesaregeneratedEvery month 01.xx. 31.xx Patchday CRM-Billing Transfer Rating Test Invoice CRM-Billing Transfer Rating Test Invoice Live Billing Live Billing

14. Generated in CRM sincethe last patch

16. Defectsthatoccurred in previousreleasecycles

17. Critical businessareas such ashighprioritycustomersToguaranteesustainedresults: And

18. Orthogonal Design for Test InvoicePlanning Smart groupingcanguaranteefullcoverageatoftenlessthan 100 scenarios. Reduction Designed Experiments createthe optimal strategy: As „get all“ databasequeriesreturn a hugesetaffectedcustomers, thedataneedstobefiltered. OrthogonallyDesigned Experiments (DOE) servethispurpose.

19. Resultsof Test Invoices The followingare all real, anonymizeddatatakenfrom a real project. Test invoices in yourcompany will produce different resultsfollowingsimilarpatterns. Real UseCases Thereisusuallyonecategoryofcausesresulting in a majorityof all problems. Pareto Principle: Onemainpointofinterest

20. Resultsoftestinvoices Youmaywonderhow a companywith 27% defectiveinvoicescansurvive? After defectivesarebroughttothetable, issuesneedtobecategorizedandprioritized. Onlyproblemsresulting in loss (ofmoneyorreputation) will bescopedforimprovement. A differencebetweendefectiveandproblematic Companies without Data Quality Controltypicallysufferapproximately 10-25% defectivedata. Ruleof Thumb

21. Root causesfordefectives Improvingtheresultofthe IT systemoutputdepends on theoverallprocess. This must includefinding out whysystemsareemployed in thewrongfashion. The solutionmay just be proper trainingforthe Call Center staff! Processquality Problems causedbywronguseoftechonologyneedtobehandled different than classic „defects“. Not everyproblemiscausedbyfunctionaldefects

22. Real worldexamplesofinvoiceproblems A usecase was wronglyduplicated in the CRM: Customers paytwiceforthe same service. Double booking

23. Real worldexamplesofinvoiceproblems Whenthiscustomerchangedtheirproduct, a chargedservicingposition was lost. Service loss in changerequest

24. Real worldexamplesofinvoiceproblems Valencia isn‘t in Germany… Thiscustomerwon‘treceivetheirmail! Country Code Onepersongetsthe title in the same line, The other in a newline: why? Inconsistentnamehandling Same person, twonames! Name change? Doesitstrikeanyoneelseasoddthatyoupaypostalservice „per day“ and not „per letter“? Daily postalservicecharge

25. Summary Ifyouneverusedtestinvoices, chancesareyoursare also 25% defective! Top 1 : Test invoicesareworthwriting! Test invoicesshouldbe a clearlydefinedprocessthatisappliedfrequently. Top 2 : Clear processdefinitionsandschedule! Itmight just bethatbillingcannoteveninfluencethemajorityofdefects! Top 3 : Invoicesaren‘t just aboutbilling! Inconsistentpricesandinvoicetextsare a marketingtopic, not an IT topic. Top 4 : Business sideinvolvement. Ifthemajorityofdefectsarecausedbymisusingthe CRM, the CC agentsneedto do theirpart! Top 5 : Customer Care / Sales involvement. A singletestinvoicerun will only cover currentissues: New topicsarisemonthly! Top 6 : ContinuousImprovement Folie 12

26. Folie 13 Thankyouforwatching