Introduction to Phone Number Portability Messaging

This chapter provides an overview of the Phone Number Portability message based product, referred to here as Number Portability.

Number Portability is a mechanism by which consumers can keep their telephone numbers when they switch between telecommunication service providers, move from one physical location to another or change their services. The concept is driven by regulatory authorities working to jump start competition, citing that consumers are more interested in moving between service providers when they can keep their telephone numbers. Number Portability is widely cited as a key driver for the explosive growth in the US competitive long distance market.

The Number Portability message-based application uses iMessage Studio, Event Manager, and Adapters. The application uses XML as the message payload to communicate between two service providers using a Business-to-Business protocol that is common in the telecommunications industry.

It illustrates the messaging and event management features of the Oracle Service Delivery Platform (OSDP or SDP) in Oracle CRM Applications 11i. This is a CRM feature.

Number Portability Allows Fast Configuring

The Number Portability product allows consultants to:

• Implement the product quickly by configuring an XML message DTD in the application

• Be able to assign the different nodes of the XML message to an Oracle data source, an SQL query or a stored procedure.

• Nest SQL queries

For example, to get list of depts and all emps in each dept in an XML message can be performed by doing the following:

1. Writing two queries in the Number Portability application

2. Configuring the message in the supplied GUI with no coding at all

Advanced Queueing in Number Portability will use XML messages as a standard format for communication between the database and external system adapters.

What are External Adapters?

External adapters are Java programs running "listening" to the following:

• Database pipe for commands to perform

• Advanced Queuing (AQ) for messages to process (in multiple threads)

The commands are sent in XML format to the method, performControlMessageProcessing. This allows for a dynamic number of parameters to be passed to the adapter.

For example, to start an adapter up with a default of three threads for performance, the STARTUP command could be as follows:

<COMMAND>
   <MESSAGE_CODE>STARTUP</MESSAGE_CODE>
   <INITIAL_THREADS>5</INITIAL_THREADS>
</COMMAND>

This gives more control and flexibility to you if you need to customize adapters. You can also define your own commands. You are not restricted in any way when parsing XML messages.

See Also: PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference "Oracle Number Portability 11i User's Guide" for information on the user interface and iMessage Studio. Implementing Oracle SDP Number Portability

Terms Used in This Chapter

The following defines terms used in this chapter:

• NPAC.Number Portability Administration Center

• NRC. Number Registration Center. Another name for NPAC.

• SDP. Oracle Service Delivery Platform (SDP)

Requirements for Building a Phone Number Portability Application

To build a Number Portability application, you need the following:

• Oracle Applications 11i

• Oracle SDP Number Portability 11i Release 2

• Oracle8i