Billing Scope and TM Forum Alignment
This page clarifies what tSM Billing covers, how advanced calculation can be integrated using ocs.io, and how the solution aligns with TM Forum APIs.
1. tSM Billing Scope
It is optimized for periodic invoice processing based on service runtime data and history.
Core capabilities:
- monthly billing based on active services and historical changes in selected period,
- prorated charge calculation when service activity covers only part of billing period,
- generation of multiple billing document types (invoice and corrective document patterns),
- billing document line composition and totals with VAT/currency reference data,
- invoice rendering/output, print, and customer dispatch workflows.
This provides dependable recurring invoice generation with full billing UI and workflow handling directly in tSM.
2. Advanced Calculation Through ocs.io
For advanced use cases, tSM can integrate ocs.io as the calculation/rating engine. The full UI, document handling, and operational workflows remain in tSM.
Typical advanced calculation capabilities:
- online charging and near-real-time usage charging,
- CDR-driven charging/rating at higher transaction scale,
- complex tariff and usage-based charge computation.
3. TM Forum API Alignment
| Domain | TM Forum API | Alignment in tSM/partner model |
|---|---|---|
| Customer bill lifecycle | TMF678 Customer Bill Management | Core billing documents map to customer bill lifecycle and retrieval patterns. |
| Billing account and receivables context | TMF666 Account Management | Billing/account references align with account hierarchy and receivables ownership. |
| Payment interactions | TMF676 Payment Management | Payment posting/refund notifications align with payment API patterns, typically in advanced integrations. |
| Usage feed and charging input | TMF635 Usage Management / TMF767 Usage Consumption Management | Usage/CDR-based charging is usually handled by partner charging components. |
| Balance/consumption visibility | TMF677 Usage Consumption Management | Consumption and balance views align with advanced charging exposure patterns. |
Pragmatic rule in projects:
- use tSM entities as operational system of record for invoice billing,
- expose TMF contracts at integration boundaries,
- keep full billing UI/workflow in tSM and call ocs.io for advanced calculation when needed.
4. Source Notes
This page uses TM Forum and industry reference sources: