Business Process Analysis with SOA: A Case Study

Case Study: Carry On Calling 

Carry On Calling (COC) is a UK based company that provides post-paid mobile connections with subsidized line rent. It acts on behalf of major mobile phone network providers and works on a commission basis. It subsidizes the line rent by giving cash-back to its customers. Customers can get a connection directly from the network providers, however, what makes COC's deals appealing is the fact that not only does it provide subsidized connections but also provides free handsets to its customers. Although it started off as a small company, because of its low cost deals, its customer base is growing exponentially resulting in quick expansion of the company. This quick expansion means increased profits but at the same time it brings along a plethora of problems which are hindering company's productivity as well as its targeted growth.

What COC offers to its customers is a post-paid phone contract including free cross-network minutes. COC combines the contract with a specific handset and presents it to prospective customers in the form of a deal. Various deals are available to its customers having different combination of free minutes and handsets.

The net profit earned by COC is calculated by deducting handset's price, which COC purchases from various handset suppliers, from the commission earned. Although the commission provided by the network providers seldom change, it is the price of handsets that changes quite frequently mainly owing to the introduction of new handsets every other month. Other companies are joining the same line of business that get the same percentage of commission from the network providers. So to remain profitable, this puts the entire burden on finding the cheapest handset and then combining it with the most favorable contract in order to make the deal an attractive offer. This requires real time information regarding the commission offered and the price of handsets. 

Current State of Affairs 

The company's main business processes are as follows:

Contract Acquisition Process

A prospective customer gets information about current deals over the telephone or in person. If interested the customer fills in a form that includes name, address details of the past three years, the chosen package and the bank details. If the customer has contacted via telephone, then he is informed by the sales agent that he would be contacted back shortly, however, if in person the customer is asked to wait. The sales agent validates the form and if all the details are correct, the details are forwarded to the relevant network provider (depending upon the chosen package) over the telephone by the agent. While the agent waits over the telephone, the network provider processes the application and informs the agent of the outcome. The outcome could be (a) accepted or (b) rejected. The prospective customer is informed of the decision. If accepted, customer account is created in a client-server based sales application, a handset is allocated, then the customer signs the contract (form) and is given (sent in case of telephone enquiry) the handset, contract details are sent to the relevant network provider and the details from the form are entered in the sales application. In case of (b), the prospective customer is simply informed of the decision. In both cases, the form gets filed at the end.

Where the application is made over the phone, in case the application is successful, the contract is sent to the customer by post for his signature and is filed once received back. In case of a successful application, a request is sent to the accounts department to open customer's account in the accounts module of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

Cash-Back Process

Each month, upon receiving the telephone bill from the network provider, the customer sends a photocopy of the bill to COC. When received by COC, this gets recorded against the customer account in the accounts module of the ERP system for that particular month. COC takes two weeks to send the cash-back to the customer through bank transfer. On the other hand, the network provider deducts the billed amount through direct debit each month.

Commission Claim Process

An invoice, consisting of the owed commission, is first created within the sales module of the ERP system for the past fourteen days and then sent twice a month to the network providers via email. This gets reconciled by the network provider and if there are no discrepancies between the invoiced amount and the network provider's records, the invoiced amount is credited to COC through bank transfer. However, in case of discrepancies, there is an exchange of emails between COC and the network provider until the matter gets resolved.

Stock Management

Each month a price list is sent by different handset suppliers to COC. These price lists and the current deals get reviewed manually by the manager. A profit analysis, including different combinations of deals and handsets, provide basis for ordering different handsets. A purchase order (PO) is created within the ERP system and is sent to the supplier via email. The supplier sends an advanced shipping notice (ASN) stating the estimated delivery date . Once received, the delivery note is filed and the stock is manually updated within the stock management system (ERP). The stock is followed by an invoice from the supplier. The invoice is paid subsequently by COC, relevant journal postings are made and the supplier's account is updated within the accounts module of the ERP system. In case the supplier cannot fulfill the order, same PO is sent to a different supplier and the whole process is repeated.

Deals Management

Network providers send details of their packages. These packages include details such as free minutes, free sms, contract length, validity of the package, line rent, commission and the length of the contract. The manager reviews these packages along with the price of handsets from the price lists. New deals are created or existing ones are updated after performing a profitability analysis. Once created/updated, the sales agents are informed of these deals. Currently the deals are managed using hard copies of packages and price lists.

Business Issues
In the near future, network providers would cease to support manual processing for:

• Contract Acquisition
• Claiming Commission

The new automated processes need to incorporate electronic exchange of XML documents (contracts and invoices) based on schemas specified by the network providers.

New regulations have been imposed by the network providers. This requires keeping track of customers' history so that:

• A declined customer should not be able to re-apply within 3 months.
• A customer already having a contract is unable to apply for another one.