Allegro Mediation Setup
This section covers the Mediation setup required for usage processing with Allegro. Mediation refers to a phase in usage processing that covers the ingestion of the usage records before it runs through the engine for rating/discounting needs.
Key features
- Configure one or more usage source platforms for client deployment.
- Allow usage sources from client applications, third-party applications, or network elements.
- Support push and pull mechanisms for usage record ingestion.
- Support file interfaces and, in the future, API, queue, and database query interfaces, each requiring simple setup.
- Support position-based or delimited TXT or CSV files; XML files require a pre-processor added during onboarding.
- Allow the source platform to provide a unique record ID or let users select two or more attributes to uniquely identify records.
- Support various file transfer protocols, including AWS S3, SFTP, or other copy platforms.
- Support files with multiple record structures, such as header, detail, detail sub-records, and trailer.
- Accept any number and format of raw usage data files, eliminating the need for client-side pre-processing.
- Support usage record types for postpaid, pre-rated, prepaid, and future prepaid-AAA or OCS.
- Map files in various formats to harmonize data with the Allegro Usage container model for processing.
- Allow source platforms to provide a unique identifier or let users select multiple fields to uniquely identify records.
- Add custom records to store any raw usage data.
- Automatically create tables for each record type and file format using mapping configuration.
- Store raw data to audit what was received, from where, when, and in what format.
- Set up a rules engine for filter rules to exclude records.
- Set up a rules engine for enrichment rules to modify or populate attributes, such as date format changes or flexible attributes based on other values or static data mapping.
- (Future, depending on client priority) Add aggregation rules to combine similar usage records.
- (Future, depending on client priority) Add splitting rules to divide a single usage record for different purposes, such as splitting multi-year financial credit records by year or for different accounts like wholesale and retail rating
- Usage Source Platform
- Aria Allegro allows any number of source applications, network elements, or 3rd party applications to feed raw usage data. These are called Usage Source Platforms. A client can supply usage from different applications or network elements in various formats. This removes the client's responsibility to harmonize formats and sources, reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
- Mapping
- This section allows you to configure the file mapping for now.
- Rules
- This section covers usage mediation rules configurable for each source platform. Currently, implementing these rules requires simple coding for a rules engine. We plan to use a tool that allows rule setup in a human-readable format, which can then be compiled into the micro-service. Performance analysis shows that compiling rules as part of the micro-service yields the best performance.