vs. Configuration Packages, Frameworks and Toolkits, and End-to-End Solutions The Ultimate Guide to Building and Delivering OSS/BSS 4. Evaluating OSS Solutions and Vendors Common Pitfalls 5. Evaluating the Applications 6. Building the OSS Platform 6.1 Tackling Implementation and Configuration 7. The Web Portal's Role in OSS B2B Wholesale Portals Account Creation and Maintenance Transactions Ordering Transactions Trouble Ticketing Transactions Billing Transactions Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Portals Building Effective Web Portals 9. Implementation and Architecture Case Studies Chapter 6 - Integrating the OSS Platform Common Integration Objectives Order Flow-Through Service Assurance Flow-Through Integrated Customer View Data Synchronization 2. The Integrated OSS Platform 3. Who Owns The Data? 4. What Are The Transactions That Flow Among Systems? 4.1 Sales Force Automation Transactions Web-Based Care Transactions Order Management and Provisioning Transactions 5. Billing Transactions 6. Business Goal: Service Assurance Flow-Through Network Monitoring Transactions Customer Relationship Management Transactions 7. Web-Based Care Transactions 7.1 Billing Transactions 8. Business Goal: Deriving Integrated Business Intelligence 9. Why Is Integration So Difficult? Application Package Flexibility 9.2 Process and Data Assumptions 10. Application Programming Interfaces 10.1 Product Catalog Integration Table of Contents 11. Business-to-Business Integration 12. Integration Technologies 12.1 Getting to the Data 12.2 Integration Techniques 12.3 Point-to-Point Integration 12.4 Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) 13. EAI Functional Components 14. Other EAI Components 15. EAI Vs. Point-to-Point 15.1 What Connectors are Available? 15.2 Where Do I Manage Workflow? 15.3 What Kind of Skills Do I Need to Deploy EAI? 15.4 Is Enterprise Application Integration Possible? 16. How Much Time Does Integration Require? 17. Integration Approaches and Phased Implementation 18. Integration Case Studies 18.1 Sales Force Automation to Order Manag