n functions, allowing the customers to design and configure their own services online. With intelligent features the portal is ready to do business with him or her as an individual, as an entire organization, or as a subset of a larger organization. Again, based on business intelligence about the customer, the portal should suggest logical services and personalize the ordering experience, offering up-sell and cross-sell messages or prompts. As mentioned earlier, the B2C portal will also support some functions similar to those of B2B portals, such as: Ordering - The portal should perform all order types electronically, including new, move, add, change, disconnect, suspend and cancel service orders. - It should allow customers to view installation availability and reserve appointments online. - It should provide views of facility options with the ability to reserve specific facilities or services (e.g., telephone numbers, IP addresses or even ports on a switch). Customer care - The portal should incorporate EBPP functions, allowing customers to view and pay bills online. It is also important to support interim billing, which lets customers view bills in near real time and make unscheduled payments. - Customers should be able to use the portal to resolve bill disputes. - Customers should be able to issue trouble tickets and view job status. - The portal should offer online help for products and services, providing high-level trouble diagnostics and online help with instructions for using a service. - Ideally, the portal will also let the customer view repair schedules and reserve specific times. Chapter 5 - The Enterprise OSS Platform 8.6 Building Effective Web Portals As with any element of an OSS platform, the IIC always has the option to build or buy. With Web portals, either choice will leave the IIC with plenty of options. For example, some mature CRM applications, such as Siebel and Clarify, are moving into the eCRM space. In addition there are eCRM pure plays, such as Cygent, in which an IIC could invest. For