Automatic Rate Processing

PURPOSE Xconnect requires a fully automated system for receiving and processing Terminator cost sheets based on set business rules, convert the accepted rates into a standard format that is e-mailed, dumped to an FTP server and/or accessible by Xconnect by ODBC Link. REQUIREMENTS All Terminators send Xconnect e-mails that contain Cost Sheets with varying frequency (daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly/yearly) and with varying formats to XC Rates (). These e-mails contain attachments, mostly in .XLS, but also .XLSX, .CSV and other formats, with information about a Rate or Code change for a specific destination and/or prefix, and will often also indicate effective dates, billing increments, currency and service type. Based on customised templates for each vendor, the proposed system, should identify the supplier and service (if multiple services are offered), the effective start date and whether it’s an Update or Expire all and process and convert the information contained in the attachment within a few minutes. This information is from one of more of the following: a. Email Subject Line b. From address c. Attachment file name d. Body of email New or adjustments to existing templates should be made accessible to XC Rates through a GUI/Web based interface. The conversion process should then check the data for errors or missing information, and if needed alert XC Rates with a required action to manually intervene, e.g. to add a new template or adjust the existing template. If the process is successfully completed, then the results should be validated against the existing rates and business rules to ensure cost increases and code changes are notified with 7 day notice. Some manual adjustment or temporary lifting of restrictions should be possible through a GUI/Web based interface, e.g. to allow an immediate increase if already approved. The Rejected Destination Rate/Dial Code changes should be notified to XC Rates immediately, who will communicate this to the Terminator. Optionally, the system should directly respond to the Terminator with details of the rejected Destination Rate/Dial Code changes, or acknowledge receipt and successful processing of the Rates. The Approved Rates should be communicated to XC Rates in an agreed format by the following methods: 1. E-mail to XC Rates 2. Delivery to FTP Server 3. XConnect to access rates via ODBC Link Finally, the system should log the converted sheets for a Daily Update Report sent to XC Rates by e-mail. XConnect use Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with all data stored in these databases. The solution should support the ability to pull data direct from the converted format using either Native SQL connectivity, ODBC or SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services using ETL).