SIM Self-Administration (FT-2002.027)
About this document
Scope
This document provides background information as well as a functional description of the FT-2002.027 SIM Self-Administration standard feature. The described feature is supported from the release version 4.0 onwards.
Note
SIM Self-Administration is a standard feature and does not require a special license.
This feature is part of the SIM Card Self-Administration functionality with number FN-2002.
Feature Availability
Feature Version | Available from | Summary of changes |
|---|---|---|
v1 | CMP Release 4.0 | Initial release |
Feature overview
Goals
The aim of the SIM Self-Administration feature is to describe SIM Self-administration capabilities provided by the CMP.
Out of scope
Display of EDRs for a group of SIM Cards
Changing of IP Addresses with a Dynamic Allocation
Changing the Roaming Profile of SIM Cards that have a Zone Price Plan with a dedicated Roaming Profile
Preconditions and Assumptions
Voice usage is only displayed in cases where the Voice feature is enabled on the CMP instance.
Functionality of the feature
SIM Grid
In the SIM Cards module of the Enterprise Portal the object grid, i.e. the list of objects is referred to as the SIM Grid. This listing of SIM Cards provides details on each SIM, which can be divided into the following areas:
Identifying elements
Billing Status information
Data Session information
Price Plan information
Service information
Activation information
Groups information
Device information
APN information
Custom Attributes (only available if the corresponding feature is enabled)
Changing SIM Attributes
The Enterprise Portal monitors and manages the SIM Cards of Accounts and Sub-Accounts and allows Users to manage SIM attributes.
It is possible to change the following settings for one or many SIMs:
Active Price Plan (permanent or temporary change until next Billing Cycle)
Network Status
Billing Status
assignment to SIM-Groups
APN Group
Service Profile
Roaming Profile
static IP-Address in case applicable (SIM uses static APN)
assignment of Security Profiles (IMEI and MSISDN White/Blacklists)
Assignment of Tags
Changing SIM Account assignment
Assign SIM Card(s) to another Account within the Account Hierarchy (Account - Subs-Account).
CMP may restrict which SIM settings can be changed at different points in the SIM lifecycle.
SIM Card Details
The SIM Details section displays the most important properties of the SIM Card grouped into Basic SIM Information and SIM Product Settings. Some of these properties are already displayed in the SIM Grid.
EDRs
EDR (Event Data Records) is the smallest unit of information that the CMP produces. Depending on the Price Plan, information about the use of the services is stored at short intervals. Since a stable session can take hours, the EDR can be used for more detailed analysis within a session.
CMP allows Users to access EDRs per SIM Cards in the Reporting unit of the Enterprise Portal. The functionality will allow to display EDRs only for one selected SIM Card, not for a group of SIM Cards, i.e. the query is limited to a single SIM Cards.
The Event Data Records contain information about the event such as
event time and type,
source,
APN and IP address,
duration,
in, out, and total bytes,
etc.
CDRs
CDRs (Call Data Records) are recorded when a session ends. The information contained in a CDR is used to calculate the cost for all rated services used by a SIM Card.
CMP allows Users to access CDRs per SIM Cards in the SIM Extended Details section of the Enterprise Portal. The functionality will allow to display CDRs only for one selected SIM Card.
The Call Data Records contain information about the event such as
event time,
report type,
messages/duration/data volume,
costs,
Price Plan information,
etc.
Usage Trend
The Usage Trend diagram displays a graphical representation of the selected SIM Card's usage over the specified time period. Currently, usage of the following services can be displayed:
Data
SMS MO
SMS MT
Voice MO
Voice MT
Monthly/BC Usage Trend
The Monthly Usage Trend diagram displays a graphical representation of the selected SIM Card's usage over a longer time period such as a year or multiple years. The diagram can also display the usage split by country for a selected time period.
Monthly Usage/BC Usage on the Root level displays usage in the current month (e.g. 2022-09), whilst on the Account or Customer level it displays usage in the current Billing Cycle (e.g. 2022-09-04 - 2022-10-03).
Currently, usage of the following services can be displayed:
Data
SMS MO
SMS MT
Voice MO
Voice MT
Price Plan Change
Price Plans define the prices and rates for network usage that are applied in subscriber contracts with a Price Plan.
Depending on the contract with the operator, Enterprise Users can change the SIM Card Price Plan in the Enterprise Portal. Price Plan Change Rules, which determine which Price Plan changes are allowed at which time, are configured on CSP level in the Resource Manager.
The changing of Price Plans is possible in every Billing Status, except for Retired, which only allows Price Plan changes if the current Price Plan is Prepaid.
Price Plan changes can be set to be temporary, i.e. only effective until the end of the Billing Cycle. In case of a temporary Price Plan change, the SIM will return to its Base Price Plan with the next Billing Cycle.
Price Plan and Service Profile Restrictions
To prevent SIM Price Plan changes that result in services being assigned to the SIM, restrictions can be configured in the CMP. In order to change a Price Plan from one with voice services to one without voice services, the Service Profile must first be changed to one without voice services.
Network Status Change
The Network Status of a SIM Card refers to its permission to engage in data, SMS, or voice sessions over any mobile network. CMP allows Users that possess the appropriate access rights to modify the Network Status of the SIM Cards.
SIM Network Status | ||
|---|---|---|
Status | Description | Transitions to |
ACTIVE | A SIM state indicating that the IMSI flag is set to ACTIVE in HLR and therefore the SIM can attach to the Network. The transition to and from this state is usually triggered automatically from the SIM lifecycle changes. It can also be triggered manually when the SIM Billing Status is In-Testing, Billing Ready or In-Billing. | INACTIVE |
INACTIVE | A SIM state indicating that the IMSI flag is set to INACTIVE in HLR and therefore the SIM cannot attach to the Network. The transition to and from this state is usually triggered automatically from the SIM lifecycle changes. It can also be triggered manually when the SIM Billing Status is In-Testing, Billing Ready or In-Billing. | ACTIVE |
Billing Status Change
Depending on the contract with the operators, CMP allows Enterprise Users to change the Billing Status of their SIM Cards.
Changing the Billing Status of a SIM Card in CMP is possible both via manual transitions and also transitions that are triggered automatically by CMP, when specific events occur (e.g. test quota expired). The SIM Billing Status can be changed manually using the Enterprise Portal GUI or API.
The Billing Status of a SIM Card can also be changed by using Automation Rules. To change the Billing Status through automation an Automation Rule (e.g. Data Usage - Billing Cycle) has to be combined with the Action ‘Change SIM Billing Status’. In this case, once the threshold of the rule is met, the Billing Status of all the related SIM Cards will be changed to the Billing Status defined by the Action.
SIM Suspension Limitation
CMP allows to configure limitations regarding the suspension of SIM Cards.
A SIM Suspension Period can be configured on Account level, which defines how many days a SIM can remain in Suspended state before transitioning to the next predefined status. The maximum length of the suspension period is 120 days.
Furthermore, the transition to Billing Status SUSPENDED is only allowed if there was no other suspension during the preconfigured timespan of X (e.g. 365) days, which indicates how long the time period needs to be between two manual suspensions. If the X, which is configurable per CMP instance, is set to 0, there is no limitation to the number of suspensions.
APN Change
An Access Point Name (APN) provides a SIM with the information needed to make a connection between a mobile network and the public internet. In the CMP, Service Providers can bundle one or many APNs into groups (i.e. APN Groups), which are virtual entities that contain one or many APNs of any kind, i.e. there can be multiple static and/or dynamic APNs within an APN Group.
CMP allows Users with the appropriate access rights to change the APN assigned to the SIM Card. By changing the assigned APN to a SIM Card, the behavior of a SIM Card can be fundamentally changed, as APNs can serve as a control for access to private networks or for specific IP Address allocation strategies.
Service Profile Change
To simplify allocation of APN services to SIM Cards, the CMP offers ready made Service Profiles to choose from. Service Profiles define the set of services a SIM is authorized to use when it connects to the network. Changing the Service Profile assigned to the SIM Card will modify what services can be used by the SIM.
Service Profile and Price Plan Restrictions
To prevent SIM Service Profile changes that result in services being enabled without an appropriate Price Plan being assigned to the SIM, restrictions can be configured. In order to change a Service Profile from one without voice services to one with voice services, the Price Plan has to be changed first to one with appropriate voice charging.
Static IP Address Change
IP Addresses are allocated to a SIM when the APN Group containing a static APN is assigned to a SIM. One IP Address is allocated from the associated IP Pool for each static APN. The SIM Card fixed IP Address Change feature allows users to change the Static IP Address assigned to the selected SIM Card. The successful change of a Static IP is immediately applied to the SIM.
Note that this management option is only available for IP addresses with a Static Allocation, and not available for IP addresses with a Dynamic Allocation.
Exporting SIM Cards
CMP provides Users multiple options to export the content of the SIM Grid either into a CSV or an XLS file, which can subsequently be used in Excel or loaded into other applications. Users have the option to export either all SIM Cards that match the defined filter criteria or only a selection of them. Depending on the context level, different export options are available.
SIM Cards can only be exported page by page from the SIM Grid when exporting all SIM Cards that match the filter criteria in CSP context. The same option is available in Account context as well.
In order to support exporting a large number of SIM Cards, CMP enables Users to trigger the creation of an asynchronous report based on the current filter criteria when exporting the content of the SIM Grid. The created report is sent to the email address of the User (who triggered the export) and is also available for download in the Reports module of the Enterprise Portal.
Note that the option to export the SIM Grid content as an asynchronous report is only available in Account context.
The export files can also be used as input for the Batch Update function.
Batch Update
Batch Update allows Users to change the properties of larger amounts of SIM Cards at once (e.g. change the APN and Service Profile for 200 SIM Cards) by exporting the content of the SIM Grid and overwriting the needed information in the export file. Any updated fields related to a predefined resource (IMSI, APN, Service Profile, etc.) must correspond to a resource that already exists within the CMP and be available to the User’s Account level.
The updated file has to be then imported to CMP to carry out the batch update.
Note that the Batch Update option is only available for Account Users and not for Users on the Root level.
Search and Filter SIM Cards
Searching for SIM Cards
Users can populate the SIM Grid with a single or multiple specific SIM Cards using the SIM Cards search and filter menu bar.
SIM Cards can be searched using key identifiers or a generic text search. The SIM key identifiers, such as ICCID, IMSI, MSISDN, or EID* can be used to search for SIM Cards in Value, List, or Range search modes. Note that EID is only available in case the eSIM feature is licensed on the CMP instance.
The main search field can be used to enter any text or number, and the SIM Grid will show all SIMs with similar information. Note that using the generic search field to search for attributes covered by dedicated filters is not possible. The only exception is the Active Price Plan, as the related filter is not available on the Root level.
Using Filters
Accounts with many SIM Cards may apply filters to reduce the number of SIM Cards displayed in the SIM Grid. The dropdown list of the selected filter can be opened to view values for each filter, and Users can also perform a value search.
CMP allows to filter SIMs by such as Type, Billing Status, Active Price Plan, Account, Customer, etc.
Stored Queries
Custom filter combinations, i.e., queries, can be saved and called up for later use. Stored Queries are created at the Context level rather than the User level, which means that other Users with access to the same Context can see and use queries saved by other Users.
Roaming Profile Change
The concept of Roaming Profiles encompasses the permissions a SIM has to operate on Networks other than its Home Subscriber Network. A SIM cannot connect to a Mobile Network that is not authorized by its Roaming Profile. Controlling the allowed roaming networks allows the subscriber costs to be controlled as well.
The SIM Card Roaming Profile Change feature allows Users to change the assigned Roaming Profile for one or multiple SIM Cards. Only Roaming Profiles assigned by the Service Provider to the SIM's Account are available for selection.
Note that Roaming Profile Change is only available for SIM Cards with a Network Price Plan or a Zone Price Plan that includes a shared Roaming Profile configuration.
MSISDN Change
The SIM Card MSISDN Change feature allows Users to change the assigned MSISDN for one or multiple SIM Cards.
SIM Card Usage
Usage Counters
The usage of each network service for each SIM Card is monitored from multiple perspectives known as Scope Types (e.g., Overall, Zone, Country). Each Scope Type's current value is constantly updated to reflect the most recent usage. When the SIM uses any of the counted Scope Types or Services, each line in the Usage Counters appears automatically.
Usage Counters can be filtered by Period, Service, and Scope Type.
Usage Trends
Usage Trend provides Users with a quick visual overview of data, SMS, or voice usage over a specified time period. The timeframe for viewing Usage Trends can be changed.
BC Usage
Billing Cycle Usage provides the User with an overview of data, SMS, or voice usage over a longer time period, such as the last 6, 9, 12, or 24 Billing Cycles. The usage of a specific Billing Cycle can be subdivided by country.
Pool Usage
CMP enables Enterprise Users to react in a timely manner to avoid overusage and undesirable costs by creating Pool-related rules that automate cost control measures and adding or removing SIMs from Pools by providing information on the current status of all Pools.
Usage details of each Home Zone and Non-Home Zone Pool are shown in a list and as charts.
Users can create Pool Rules for the Price Plan and the corresponding Service Type (e.g., data, SMS MO) from the list of Home Zone Pools.
Note that Pool Rule creation is only available for Home Zone Pools.