Telco's use many types of software. In addition to the run-of-the-mill
employee applications such as OfficeVisions, PROFS, and the usual trashy
selection of DOS/Win applications, telco's use two types of much more
interesting software:
Customer applications are used by telco personnel to deal with customer
issues, such as billing and service orders. Provisioning applications are
used to deal with the actual phone network itself.
Customer applications include BOSS, CARS, CORD, SOLAR, SOPAD, OSCAR, and
PREMIS. Provisioning applications include FACS, March, April, COSMOS,
Switch and FOMS/FUSA.
Most of what has been written regarding telco software covered provisioning
applications. While much can be done with provisioning applications, you
will soon see the incredible opportunities offered by Customer
Applications. Within the family of Customer Applications you will find the
ability to locate personal information, look up addresses by telephone
number, and modify customer bills.
Experienced dumpster divers will recognize many of the screens shown in
this article.
.------------------------------.
| Part I: Billing Applications |
`------------------------------'
BOSS
~~~~
BOSS (Billing and Order Support System) contains bill and credit
information, equipment information, carrier billing information, customer
contact notes and payment history. BOSS is used in the Central and Eastern
Territories of U.S. West. To login to BOSS, you must enter your a ID, a
two character alphanumeric office code, and a five character password.
BOSS passwords expire after 30 days and cannot be re-used.
BOSS is operated largely with PF keys:
PF1 = ENTRY (Entry Screen)
PF2 = BILL (Entity and Summary Bill)
PF3 = IC (Itemized Calls)
PF4 = OCC (Other Charges and Credits)
PF5 = CSR (Customer Service Record)
PF6 = PREV (Previous Months Bill)
PF7 = NEXT (Next)
PF8 = Note (Notations)
PF9 = ASUM (Adjustments Summary)
PF10 = COMPUTE (Compute)
PF11 = F/B (Forward/Back)
PF2 will bring up the Billing Screen, which will show you the contact names
and telephone numbers for the account you are looking at. The CSBL screen
is completely covered with information, and it is impossible to get
everything out of it without careful study. There are at least two
versions of BOSS in use, this screen is a mix of the two that I am familiar
with:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|CMD MSG COMMAND COMPLETED (I210) |
|(a)303 265 8545 (b)153 (c)NP (d)JAN 16 93 *CSBL (e)LIVE (f)DNV (g)1FR |
|(h)DARIN STOREY (i)PB 0205 (m)RT (q)AC D-00 (t)DEP 0 CN (x)BD N |
|515-D GIRARD BLVD S E (j)R1 0126 (n)ES (r)CT (u)DOI 030492 (y)LCU |
|BOULDER CO 80301 (k)R2 0216 (o)NT C A (s)NOB (v)TAX FSLCF- (z)LCR |
| (l)R3 0224 (p)PPD (w)TAR AJ (A)LAL |
| (B)CI SEARS SUPVSR 2426767 MS SANDI SM POE NLR |
|DAD MICHAEL STOREY 2755595 (C)CBR |
| (D)SSN (E)VL (F)TRT HIST 059511111111 (G)CIV 0290 |
| (H)RCK HIST 000000000000 (I)PAH |
| PREV BL 168.55 CUR BL 116.24 |
| PAY & ADJ PREV BILL PAY AND ADJ CURR BILL |
| DATE T AMOUNT DATE T AMOUNT |
| 1223 01 101.15 |
| (J)010 30.42 |
| 221 9.03 |
| 300 9.39 |
| (K)CCG 48.84 |
| (L)BAL 67.40 |
| (M)TOT 116.24 (N)CUR DUE 116.24 |
| (O)RP (P)NOTATION (Q)TYPE (R)PN (S)ACT (T)FU (U)BD |
| 0193 (V)+ |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Legend:
(a) Telephone number
(b) Customer code
(c) Listing Type (See below)
(d) Most current bill date
(e) Account Status Code (See below)
(f) Alpha code for the serving exchange
(g) Class of service (See below)
(h) Billing name
(i) Pay-By-Date, month and day payment is due
(j) Previous months denial date
(k) Date first collection notice is sent out
(l) Date account will be denied and referred to CMC
(m) Remove from treatment amount
(n) Entity Status (See below)
(o) No Treatment Indicator (See below)
(p) Preferred Payment Date
(q) Account Classification (credit classification)
(r) Carryover Treat History (unimplemented)
(s) Number of bills the customer receives
(t) Total deposit held on the account
(u) Date of Installation
(v) Tax Code
(w) Tax Area Code
(x) Bank Draft
(y) Local Units Used (unimplemented)
(z) Local Usage Units Credited (unimplemented)
(A) Local Usage Units Allowed (unimplemented)
(B) Credit Information
(C) Can Be Reached
(D) Social Security Number
(E) Central Office is Voice Link capable
(F) Treatment History (read right to left)
(G) Credit Information Verified (date CI was last verified)
(H) Returned Check History (read right to left)
(I) Previous Account History
(J) Charges by Entity (charges from AT&T, MCI, etc...)
(K) Current Charges
(L) Balance from the previous bill
(M) Total
(N) Current Due
(O) Responsible Party
(P) Notation
(Q) Type code
(R) Position Number (BOSS user position number)
(S) The action to be taken
(T) Follow-up date
(U) Bill Date
(V) Notation Indicator (+ means there are display pages of notations)
(P means there are permanent notations)
Listing types include:
NP Non-Published
NL or NLIST Non-Listed
<null> Published
Account Status Codes are shown in order of priority. SNP, SUSP, DISC,
OCAx, LEGX and W-OFF codes are highlighted on the screen. Account Service
Codes include:
OCAx Account has been referred to an outside collection agency
LEGX Account has been referred to legal
W-OFF Written OFF FINAL BILL
FIN-R Revised final bill
FIN-I Initial Final Bill
DISC Service has been disconnected
SNP Service has been interrupted for non-payment
SUSP Service has been temporarily suspended at customer request
INIT Initial bill
LIVE Live bill
SCD Select Carrier Denial
Entity Status is used to restrict access to toll services. The three digit
carrier code is listed, followed by the letters S, C or F.
If the NT (No Treatment Indicator) is C, the computer sends out a late
notice on the R2 date. If the NT is T, there is a temporary reprieve and
the computer will not sent out a late notice this month. If the NT is M or
P, late notices are never sent.
PF11 from this screen will take you through the entity CSBL's.
PF5 will show you the customers Current Service Record. The CSR screen
will look something like this:
Legend:
(a) Telephone number
(b) Customer code
(c) Most current bill date
(d) Page number
(e) Billing name
(f) LIST section containing listed name and address
(g) BILL section containing billing name and address
(h) S&E section containing products and service
(i) Date original service was established
(j) Date each service was installed
(k) Last 4 digits of order number that put service online
(l) USOC's representing the products and services on the account
(See below)
(m) Monthly rate for each USOC
(n) Amount billed for USOC total
USOC Codes include:
ESC Three Way Calling
ESF Speed Calling
ESL Speed Calling 8 Code
ESM Call Forwarding
ESX Call Waiting
EVB Busy Call Forward
EVC Busy Call Forward Extended
EVD Delayed Call Forwarding
HM1 Intercom Plus
HMP Intercom Plus
MVCCW Commstar II Call Waiting
PF8 allows you to view the notes the telco is keeping on the customer. This
is not a free-form notes screen, but is instead very structured. Notes are
automatically deleted after two months unless the type code PERM is used.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|CMD MSG |
|303 864 2475 2298 NP 3NOV 10 99 *CSR P 1 2 DNV 1FR |
| |
|BARBARA ANDERSON FOR |
| |
|DATE RP NOTATION USR TYPE PN ACT FU |
|1209 1988 ESTAB FREE 976 BLOCK 12-9-88 LTR PERM |
|0324 BARB SLD CCS DD 3-1 SKJ PSOC |
|0213 NONE NBV CHK |
|0213 BARB LOST BL ND DUPT SNT ASAP. AGRD ML COPY NBV MISC |
| TDA. VRFY BL ADDR |
| |
|RP NOTATION TYPE PN ACT FU BD |
| 1299 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Valid type codes include:
MISC Miscellaneous
CHK Account review or pulled up wrong account
PERM Permanent
PASS Contact Passed Intra Company
MORE More data follows on an additional screen
OTHM Carrier toll and inquiry
OHTD Carrier toll and inquiry
OTHB Non-specific billing question
PSON New connect, order negotiation
CPN New connect, order canceled
QPON New connect, order inquiry
CARS
~~~~
CARS (Customer Access and Retrieval System) is used in the Western
Territories of U.S. West. CARS stores bill and credit information,
equipment information, carrier billing information, customer contact notes
and payment history. CARS user id's are six characters and normally begin
with a 'B' for business. CARS passwords (lockwords, in U.S. West parlance)
are from 4 to either characters and must contain at least one alpha and one
numeric character. CARS passwords expire after 30 days. You will also be
asked for a Project Code (use 'M'), a Group Code (use 'G') and a Position
#. The Position # consists of a pair of two character fields. The first
two characters are the office code and the second two characters identify
the individual employee. The CARS interface is quite similar to the BOSS
interface. The function keys for CARS are:
PF2 will bring up the CSBL (Current Service Bill) screen, which shows you
the "can be reached" numbers and names for the account you are looking at.
PF5 will bring up the Current Service Record (CSR). A CARS CSR screen
resembles a BOSS CSR screen:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|CMD___________________________________________ Q: |
|(a)303 864 2475 (b)2298 72W (c)NOV 10 99 *CCSR* LIVE (d)P00001 COS |
|(e)BARBARA ANDERSON FOR SEA 1FB TAX FSL |
| (f)---LIST |
| NP (NP) ANDERSON, DARRYL B |
| LA 5425 ROWLAND CT |
| (g)---BILL |
| TAR 1700 |
| MCN NXWAC |
| COS 852-9200S |
| BN1 BARBARA ANDERSON FOR |
| BN2 DARRYL B ANDERSON |
| BA1 5425 ROWLAND CT |
| (h)---S&E |
| ENT 000 |
|(i) (j) (qty) (k) (l) (tax codes) |
|02/18/92 05/18/90 1 FB/TN 621-2475/PIC XXX/LPS 42.10 &# |
|02/16/90 05/18/90 1 HSO/TN 621-2475/SLS 2.00 &# |
| 377000 |
|02/16/90 02/16/90 1 TTB/TN 621-2475/SLS 0.00 & |
| 377000 |
|02/16/90 02/16/90 1 9ZR/TN 621-2475/SLS 4.22 |
| 377000 |
|RP-___________NOTE_________________________________________________________ |
|____________________________TYPE_____FLUP_____PN_____ACT_____BD_____USR_____ |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Legend:
(a) Telephone number
(b) Customer code
(c) Most current bill date
(d) Page number
(e) Billing name
(f) LIST section containing listed name and address
(g) BILL section containing billing name and address
(h) S&E section containing products and service
(i) Date original service was established
(j) Date each service was installed
(k) USOC's representing the products and services on the account
(l) Monthly rate for each USOC
Just as with BOSS, PF8 brings up the NOTE screen. The CARS NOTE screen
differs slightly from the BOSS NOTE screen:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|CMD__________________________________________________________ O: |
|303 864 2475 298 NP NOV 10 99 *NOTES* L00001 |
|BARBARA ANDERSON FOR SEA 1FB LC 00 TAX FSLC |
| |
|DATE RP NOTATION USR OFC TYPE PN ACT FU |
|1209 1991 DISCUSS BILL ONLY WITH BARBARA LTR TS1 PERM |
|0324 BARB C015364 DD 030199 |
| SLD CCS SKJ D18 PSOC |
|0213 NONE NBV TS1 CHK |
|0213 BARB LOST BL ND DUPT SNT ASAP. AGRD |
| ML COPY TDA. VRFY BL ADDR NBV TS1 MISC |
| |
|RP NOTATION TYPE PN ACT FU BD |
| 1299 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Valid type codes include: MISC, CHK, PERM and PASS.
.-------------------------------------.
| Part II: Service Order Applications |
`-------------------------------------'
CORD
~~~~
CORD (Customer Order Retrieval and Display) is used in the 206, 503 and 509
NPA's. CORD has three functions:
. Accessing service orders by order number
. Locating order numbers by telephone number
. Locating order numbers by telephone prefix
Let's say you know that an attractive young lady is moving into your
apartment complex but you don't know her apartment number or her telephone
number. Connect to CORD and pull up all of the service orders for the
apartment complex's prefix and scan them until you find one in the
apartment complex on or near the date she moved in. It's much easier if
you have at least a first name.
To use CORD, you will need to know the code for your NPA. 206 is 0, 503 is
5 and 509 is 6.
SOLAR
~~~~~
SOLAR (Service Order Logistics and Reference) is used in Southern 308, 319,
402, 515, 605 and 712. In addition, SOLAR is used in Northern 218, 507,
612 and 701. I do not know of an NPA where SOLAR is used exclusively.
SOLAR has two capabilities:
. Accessing service orders by order number
. Accessing service orders by telephone number
SOPAD
~~~~~
SOPAD (Service Order Provisioning and Distribution) is used in 208, 303
(TNOland), 307, 406, 505, 602, 719 and 801. SOPAD has two capabilities:
. Accessing service orders by order number
. Accessing service orders by telephone numbers
.--------------------------------------.
| Part III: Miscellaneous Applications |
`--------------------------------------'
PREMIS
~~~~~~
PREMIS (Premises Information System) is a geographical database designed by
BellCore and used by various telco's across the country. Using Premis, an
employee can do customer lookups by telephone number (CNA), check for
multiple subscribers at an address (upstairs/downstairs), and view account
status. PREMIS can be used directly, but it is also used by applications
such as SONAR (Service Order Negotiation and Retrieval).
To do successful PREMIS lookups, you will need to be able to encode your
requests in the proper format. This is very difficult unless to do this on
a regular basis. To make matters more difficult, "proper format" differs
from area to area, even within the same RBOC! Particularly difficult are
trailer parks, nursing homes, military bases and indian reservations.
(a) Screen name (Request PREMIS)
(b) Street Address Guide Area (see below)
(c) Address
(d) Location or apartment
(e) Assigned House Number
(f) Community
(g) Destination Address Code
(h) Route and Box
(i) Telephone Number
(j) Line Number
(k) Status
Valid SAGA codes include:
CHY Northern Wyoming
CPR Southern Wyoming
DNV Denver, Colorado
IDO Idaho
MTA Montana
NCO Northern Colorado
SCO Southern Colorado
NMX New Mexico
PNX Phoenix
TSN Tucson
UTA Utah
NE Nebraska
If the PREMIS database was able to understand your query and find the
address information, you will see an output screen that looks like this:
(a) Screen name (Request PREMIS Telephone Category)
(b) Line ID number (Customer's 1st line, 2nd line, etc...)
(c) Street Address Guide Area
(d) Descriptive field
(e) Descriptive address
(f) Exchange
(g) Wire Center
(h) Numbering Plan Area
(i) Resistance Zone
(j) Ringer Equivalence
(k) Rate Zone
(l) Central Office
(m) Local (switch type)
(n) SAT means flow through orders can be negotiated.
ASAT in this field means Saturday installer visits
can be negotiated.
(o) Telephone Features (switch type)
(p) Tax Code
(q) Plant District Code
(r) Remark
(s) Remark Basic
(t) Remark Telephone
(u) Status (see below)
(v) Connect Through
(w) Connected Facilities (service uninterrupted from previous tenant)
(x) Dedicated Inside Plant
(y) Class of Service
(z) Destination Address Code
Valid statuses are:
NON-WORKING Non-working
WORKING Working
PEND-OUT Pre-completion disconnect
SUSPEND Temporary denial for nonpayment
UNKNOWN Unknown
OSCAR
~~~~~
OSCAR (Optical Storage COM Application Replacement) is a application for
archival and retrieval of microfiche files used in customer service. OSCAR
will store the data from BOSS or CARS for up to 30 years. OSCAR is
operated with these PF keys:
PF1 = Main Menu
PF2 = Bill
PF3 = Print Verification Screen (and duplicate bill printing)
PF6 = Previous Bill
PF7 = Next Bill
PF11 = Forward/Backward
The OSCAR Main Menu will look something like this:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|CMD (a) MSG (e) |
| |
| OSCAR/ONLINE |
| MENU |
| |
| TN: (b) CUS: SUF: |
| DATE: (c) PRINT RANGE: (f) FINAL: (g) |
| ACCT CENTER: (d) SUBPEONA: (h) |
| |
| |
| F1=MENU F2=BILL F3=PRINT F4=N/A F5=N/A F6=PREV |
| F7=NEXT F8=N/A F9=N/A F10=N/A F11=F/B F12=N/A |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
(a) Command section
(b) Customer telephone number
(c) Date (MMYY)
(d) Account center (see below)
(e) Message section
(f) Print Range (number of months to print bills for)
(g) Final (Y for final, blank for not final)
(h) Reserved for the Subpeona Compliance Group
Account Center codes are:
CO Colorado and Wyoming
NM New Mexico and Arizona
NO North Dakota and Minnesota
OR Oregon
SO South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa
UT Utah, Idaho, and Montana
WA Washington
PF2 will bring you to the first OSCAR Bill screen, which will look
something like this:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|CMD MSG |
| BILL P 1 S 1 |
| BILL DATE: JUNE 23, 1996 |
| ACCOUNT NUMBER: |
| |
| PAYMENT DUE JUL 12, 1996 |
| 866 W. TNO Ave |
| MERIDIAN CO 80301-0869 |
| AMOUNT DUE $102.88 |
| |
|51 03208172009708711 1227021296 000000000000 000000051409 |
| |
|PAY U S WEST COMMUNICATIONS |
|TOTAL DUE |
| *836229150! |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
PF11 will take you to the next screen of the bill. 'P' will take you to
the next page of the bill. 'P' followed by a number will take you to that
numbered page. PF2 will return you to the first screen of the bill.
Here is a sample of the second screen of a bill:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|CMD MSG |
| BILL P 1 S 2 |
| PAGE 1 |
| BILL DATE: JUN 23, 1996 |
| MERIDIAN, CO 80301-0869 ACCOUNT NUMBER: |
| |
|PREVIOUS BILL PAYMENTS ADJUSTMENTS PASTDUE |
| $30.06 $30.06 $0.00 DISREGARD IF PAID $0.00 |
| |
|THANK YOU FOR YOUR PAYMENT CURRENT CHARGES $102.88 |
| |
| PAYMENT DUE JUL 12, 1996 |
| |
| AMOUNT DUE $102.88 |
| |
|SUMMARY OF CURRENT CHARGES |
| |
| AT&T.............................................................. |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
PF3 will bring you to the Print Verification Screen:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|CMD MSG PRINT SUCCESSFUL, ENTER NEXT COMMAND |
| PRINT |
| |
|303 343 4053 871(a) B DATE: 0696 (b) FORWARD RANGE: (c) |
| |
|NAME: KEVIN MITNICK NO. OF BILLS: (d) |
| |
| ADDRESS VERIFICATION |
|
|L1: 10288 E. 6TH (e)
|L2: AURORA CO
|L3:
|L4:
|ZIP: 80010 3612
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
(a) Customer telephone number and account code
(b) Bill date
(c) Number of months to print bills for
(d) Number of copies to print
(e) Customer address
Press PF1 to return to the Main Menu or PF3 to print duplicate bills for
mailing to the customer address.
Other useful commands within OSCAR are 'F' for finding strings and 'R'
to repeat a find. Use the LOFF command to log off.
.----------------------------------------------.
| Part IV: Relevant Acronyms and Abbreviations |
`----------------------------------------------'
ABIL Adjustment Bill
AC Account Classification
ANI Automatic Number Identification
ARBL As Rendered Bill
ASUM Adjustments Summary
BD Bank Draft
BD Bill Date
BDPP Bank Draft Payment Plan
BEAR Billed Entity As Rendered
BESS Billed Entry Status Screen
BLF Blocking Failure
BO Business Office
BOSS Billing and Order Support System
BP Bill Period
BSC Business Service Center
CAMC Corporate Address Maintenance Center
CARS Customer Access and Retrieval System
CAS Customer Approval System
CBR Can Be Reached
CC Credit Class
CCH Calling Cards Held
CCG Current Charges
CCSR Current Customer Service Record
CI Credit Information
CIF Communications Impaired Fund
CIV Credit Information Verified
CMC Credit Management Center
CN Concession Service
CNA Customer Name and Address
CNC Call Not Completed
CNL Customer Name and Locality
CORD Customer Order Retrieval and Display
COS Customer's Other Service
COSMOS Computer System for Mainframe Operations
CRIS Customer Record Information System
CSBL Current Status Bill Screen
CSR Customer Service Record
CT Carryover Treat History
CTO Cut-Off
DAC Directory Assistance Charges
DAK Denies All Knowledge
DCK Dishonored Check History
DDD Direct Distance Dialing
DEP Deposit
DN Denial Notice
DOI Date Of Installation
DUP Duplicate Billing
ES Entity Status
FACS Facility Administration Control System
FCE Federal Access Charge
FOMS Frame Operations Management System
FRN Franchise Fee
FU Follow-up
FUSA Frame User assignment System Access
HB Held Bill
IC Itemized Calls
INR Incorrect Rate
LAL Local Usage Units Allowed
LCR Local Usage Units Credited
LCU Local Units Used
LDD Long Distance Detail
LDT Legislative Deaf Tax
LPC Late Payment Charge
LPC Loop Provisioning Center
LU Local Usage
MIG Message Investigation Center
MIS Miscellaneous
NOB Number of Bills
NTN New Telephone Number
OCC Other Charges and Credits
OCP Optional Calling Plan
ONI Operator Number Identification
OSCAR Optical Storage COM Application Replacement
OSP Operator Service Provider
OTN Old Telephone Number
MPS Message Processing Service
PADJ Payments and Adjustments
PB Pay By Date
PDN Past Due Notice
PN Position Number
PPD Preferred Payment Date
PREMIS Premisis Information System
PTR Poor Transmission
QTF Query Treatment Follow-up
QTFU Query Treatment Follow-up
RCK Returned Check History
REB Rebill
REF Refuse to Pay
RMKS Remarks
RP Responsible Party
RSB Repair Service Bureau
RSC Repair Service Center
RT Remove from Treatment
RTA Remove from Treatment Amount
S&E Service & Equipment
SAG Street Address Guide
SAGA Street Address Guide Area
TAF Telephone Assistance Fund
TAP Telephone Assistance Plan
TAR Tax Area Code
TCAT Telephone Category
TIM Timing
TOPS Traffic Operator Position System
TRFU Treatment and Follow-Up
TRMT Treatment
UBIC Unbilled Itemized Call
USOC Universal Service Order Code
PAH Previous Account History
PIC/PICX Presubscribed Interexchange Carrier
SCD Selective Carrier Denial
SI Supplemental Input
SOLAR Service Order Logistics and Reference
SONAR Service Order Negotiation and Retrieval
SOPAD Service Order Provisioning and Distribution
USF Universal Service Fund
USOC Universal Service Order Code
UWM Unregulated Wire Maintenance
VL Voice Link
VMS Voice Messaging Service
WC Wire Center
WMC Wire Maintenance Contract
WNO Wrong Number Reached
.-----------------.
| Part V: Credits |
`-----------------'
Thanks to Crimson Flash for the USOC and Line Class Codes which were taken
from his article "The Fine Art of Telephony" in Phrack 40.
Thanks to Major for his dedication to gathering information.
Thanks to DisordeR for his technical assistance in writing this article.
But most of all... thanks to U.S. West for making this all possible.
