Sending Furnish Charging Information

You can configure Call Control Framework (CCF) to send Furnish Charging Information (FCI) operations at specific points during call handling. CCF sends FCI operations to instruct the Mobile Switching Center (MSC), or service switching point (SSF), to add charging information to the call data record (CDR) for a call.

You can configure CCF to send FCI operations in one or more of the following situations:
  • In response to every ApplyChargingReport operation.
  • With every Connect or Continue operation.
  • With every ReleaseCall operation.

You can also configure CCF to send FCI operations in separate TCAP messages, if required.

Configuring CCF to send FCI operations involves the following:
  • Configuring when to send FCI operations by answering FCI create_config.info questions during engine configuration.
  • Adding the ASN.1 library definition for the MATRIXX FCI data in the asn1_dictionary_base_xml_sed.extra file.
  • Adding a custom MDC to hold the FCI fields.
  • Configuring selective updates on the CAMEL Gateway SCCP output interface to populate the FCI fields in the custom MDC with the required data. For example, you can configure FCI fields to hold the call-time consumed so far.
Note: CCF supports sending FCI operations for calls using the CAP protocol or the CS1 INAP protocol.

Voice Service Configuration

During engine configuration, you can enable sending FCI operations on a per voice charging service basis. You can configure one or more of the following options:
  • Send FCI before Connect or Continue operations.
  • Send FCI before ReleaseCall operations.
  • Send FCI after ApplyChargingReport operations.
  • Send FCI operations in separate messages.

In addition, for CAP calls, you can configure whether the voice charging service appends the FCI appendFreeFormatData parameter to the FCI operation. By default the existing free format data is overwritten each time CCF sends a new FCI operation.

Overriding FCI Configuration

You can enable FCI options or override existing FCI configuration for a call or a service using normalizers or selective updates to set the MtxTcapMsg.RatingMsg.ServiceInfo.VcsInfo.FciFlags parameter. The FciFlags value overrides the configuration set in the create_config.info file.

Set FciFlags to:
  • 1 — To send FCI with Connect or Continue operations.
  • 2 — To send FCI with ReleaseCall operations.
  • 4 — To send FCI after ApplyChargingReport operations.
  • 8 — To send FCI in a separate TCAP message.
  • 32 — (For CAP calls only.) To set the FCI appendFreeFormatData parameter to 1 for append (by default the free format data is overwritten).
You set more than one FCI option by summing the option values. For example, to send FCI with ReleaseCall operations and also after ApplyChargingReport operations, set FciFlags to 6 (2 + 4).
Note: CCF can send FCI operations using non-standard message sequences, for example, to:
  • Send FCI operations after ApplyChargingReport operations even when a pre-arranged end is assumed on the TCAP dialog.
  • Arm o/tDisconnect for leg 1 and leg 2 event detection points as interrupted.
For information, see the discussion about configuring CCF to use alternative message sequences.