This guideline outlines the strategy and activities required to complete the implementation of Varibill successfully.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Assumptions and Constraints

Assumptions

  1. A Varibill account is setup and accessible.
  2. Source Systems track usage of products and services.
  3. The Source System has an API or other method of communication (SSH, Database, etc.) available to extract read-only data


Constraints

  1. Implementation may be affected by employees’ normal workload which may prevent them from completing the initial setup, training with and using the new application.


System Architecture



Minimum Hardware and Software Requirements

  1. The actual hardware and software requirements will depend on the size and scale of the Customers’ requirements. The design decision regarding hardware and software falls outside of the scope of this implementation. 
  2. All third party software, except where specifically noted, must be installed, configured and maintained by the client and falls outside of the scope of this implementation.
  3. The client will be responsible for licencing of all 3rd party software required.
  4. All third party software must be on a version supported by the vendor.
  5. All third party software with which Varibill must integrate must have a vendor provided API available.
  6. The client is also responsible for the license, setup and monitoring of business continuity and disaster recovery.
  7. Varibill requires SMTP functionality, and as such will implement an SMTP server for the delivery of email. The client can elect to have the Varibill SMTP server directly deliver the email to the destinations, with consideration given to SPF, DKIM and the requisite firewall policies to ensure the proper flow of emails. The client can also elect to have the Varibill SMTP server relay the emails to a smart host, over an unauthenticated, port 25 connection. In this case the client is responsible to ensure that the proper IP filtering, relay permissions and firewall rules are implemented for the smart host relaying to work properly. Varibill prefers to directly deliver emails, for simplicity. 


Implementation Steps

  1. Consultation to understand the requirements of the Source Collector, including the products/services that should be collected as well as the method of billing for these products/services.
  2. Development of the Source Collector.
  3. Testing of Source Collector.
  4. Sample data extract using the Source Collector.
  5. Implementation of the Source Collector.
  6. Training, if required 


Implementation Approach

Varibill follows an “instant-on” implementation methodology. Once project scope items 1 have been completed the Source Collector will start importing billing data at the scheduled time. The date of Production implementation is dependent on the type of information imported by the Source Collector.


Billing data will be imported into Pre-Production (if available) up to the point that the Source Collector is implemented in Production.



Implementation Tasks

  1. Source Analysis - Product and Billing methodology
    • Review products to be collected per source.
  2. Provision Source Collector Server
    • Source Collector Server. (Preferred if required)  
    • Ensure the Varibill API is reachable via the API URL.  
    • Ensure Source System hostname and port is accessible from the Source Collector server. 
    • Varibill requires relay permission via an SMTP server. Configure your SMTP settings to allow system notifications to be sent from Varibill. This SMTP server should allow anonymous connections on port 25 and should not require SSL or TLS. The SMTP server should allow message relay from the Varibill host server. The required allowances should be made for SPF, DKIM and other protection mechanisms. 
  3. Provide Remote Access 
    • Provide the Varibill technical team with remote access, including a read-only username and non-expiring password, in order to complete the required setup. 
  4. Install additional Software required
    • JDK (if applicable)
      • Download and install the latest version of the Java Development Kit on the Source Collector server (Available here)
  5. Setup Source Collector on Varibill
  6. Design and Develop the Source Collector
  7.  Extract sample data
    • Client sign-off on extract of subset data collected using the developed Source Collector  
  8. Implement Source Collector
  9.  Schedule the execution of the Source Collector according to requirements.
  10. Pre-Production Dry run
    • Confirm that all the billing data is imported correctly
    • Terminate contract services, if required.
    • Update product codes, if required.  
  11. Configure the Source Collector to import billing data into the Production environment.
  12. Import Historic Data (optional).
  13. Document the Source Collector and related processes.
  14. Training - on Source Collector and related processes.

 

Acceptance Criteria

A successful implementation can be seen as one where:

  1. A Source Collector has been configured and accurately imports data into a Pre-Production / Production environment.
    • Varibill has collected all usage-data for the period <<>> to <<>>.
    • Varibill has collected all products expected to be collected for the billing period specified.
    • Varibill has collected at the correct unit of measure per product.
    • Varibill has collected the correct quantity and dates provisioned.
    • The record ID is collected in an acceptable format.
    • Authorised users can configure Source Collectors via Varibill.
    • Authorised users can view imported billing data using Varibill