 business goals like flow-through can allow customers to alter their service packages. Generally, customers contact a call center or use a Web portal to affect such changes. Thus, CSRs enter data in the CRM system, or it is captured in the Web portal and fed to CRM. Once the data is captured, data relevant to billing must be updated in the billing system. These activities can involve a high volume of data and many transactions, making robust integration between billing and CRM - a key transaction Chapter 6 - Integrating the OSS Platform point - critical. In some cases, these functions are even housed in a common application. Linking billing, CRM and Web portals is often a common first step in IIC integration strategies. Order Completion. When the order management and provisioning system confirms that an order has been completed, confirmation should flow- through to the billing system. Add, move, change and disconnect orders all affect a customer's profile and the way it is billed. As mentioned previously, it is critical that new discounts and other factors are applied and that a customer's service information is updated and accurate. Again, linking billing to order management and provisioning is a high priority for many IICs and a key step toward an integrated OSS platform. General Ledger Feed. At the end of a billing cycle, the billing system generates and calculates invoices, factoring and applying revenue from those invoices into various accounting categories (GL Codes). This data must then flow from the billing system into systems, such as the general ledger, that handle financial analysis. Because this is a one-way, cyclical, batch feed, it is generally just a regular file transfer. It does not typically have complex integration requirements. Naturally, a strong linkage between billing and financial analysis systems can be critical to accurate financial reporting and planning. BUSINESS GOAL: SERVICE ASSURANCE FLOW- THROUGH As discussed in Chapter 3, service assurance and pro-active customer care can be key d