a user's spending limit and notifications generated when charges reach a specific percentage of the spending limit. IP-based services have a differ- ent rating model compared to normal voice based services. Current rating solutions are expected to integrate with existing network environments and enhance the framework to support real-time rating capabilities of complex and converged service offerings. 62. Planning management: Every telecom company has a set of product and ser- vice planning activities that can lead to change. Planning management solu- tions are used to handle planning operations and change management. These solutions provide the necessary orchestration between planning duties and network engineering activities. It maintains work flows for proper execution of planned activities. Planning solutions interface with financial control in order to authorize the expenditure required to purchase the required resources for execution of plan. There can be interactions with third party modules and supplier mod- ules to communicate the plan to meet business needs. It also supports project management of building projects in the initial planning phases. 63. Supply chain management: These applications deal with daily production and distribution in the supply chain. For proper production the demand has to be forecasted and inventory for production needs to be planned. Supply chain management solutions work on historical data to understand the product demand and provide valuable inputs to the operator preparing the production plan. In the distribution framework the orders planned by the customers at the telecom retail stores and outlets need to be considered in developing the warehousing plan for direct store and warehouse distribution. Another important factor in supply chain management is transportation. Transportation drives both production and distribution costs. Transportation costs to source the inventory required for production can be high if the mate- rial requirements are not properly communicated to the s