service order - which typically will be automatically populated with the username of the user who is logged in and creating the record. If all is going as it should be, then this user should be acting under the instruction(s) of the Account Manager. The Work Group of that user will also be automatically recorded. There will be a sales date, which is the date on which the service was sold or on which the service was ordered. The customer's account number will be included and a "Provide by" date will be included, which is the date by which the customer wants the service to be available. There will then a "Commit date" which is the date by which the Account Manager has agreed that they can have the service available. The sale will have a contract number associated. The service provider may have to run a credit check on a customer, and whether or not this has been done is recorded along with its result. A record must be kept of whether a discount was given to the customer and the date on which the discount was agreed. 6 Service Provisioning and Activation Table 6.1 Service order. Information Description Service group number Owing to the association between service orders and service groups, a unique number is generated to associate the service order with a service group Product domain number The description that applies to the service group number also applies to the product domain number Service order number This is a unique service order identification number Revision number Market segment The customer's market category is specified here. There are many ways to specify market category, e.g. corporate, wholesale Carrier name Service number (carrier A number which specifies the service that the carrier will provide that is associated with the specified) service order. Of course, the carrier may have its own name for the service that the customer has specified, and this allows a mapping between the service order and the carrier's terminology Customer The customer that has requested the service for which the service or