EDR Generator

EDR Generator (EDRGen) is Ascertain’s event generation solution.  It is a fully featured system allowing business users to generate Event Detail Records in a wide variety of formats.  It can create test event records in binary or text formats to mimic the behaviour of switches, SMSCs and other network elements so that Revenue Assurance and IT can test new software releases, new systems and new tariffs thoroughly.

EDRGen can operate as a standalone component, generating records for purposes like mediation testing.  Just as commonly, it is used in combination with Ascertain Rater and Ascertain Matcher in a solution called Ascertain Test Event Management (TEM).

Features and Benefits

Ascertain EDRGen allows users to avoid the intricacy of file formats which are typically complex, usually non-ASCII and can contain variable as well as fixed length records.  The EDRGen approach reduces reliance on scarce IT resource and in particular on limited knowledge of certain EDR formats.

Features include:

• enabling business users to create sets of test records, without the need to understand the complexity of the record formats.  Different sets can be combined to create larger test plans
• creating test plans which are run on a regular basis – for example, every day, or first working day of the month.  Operators will often run the same batch every day to prove that no unexpected changes (either software or reference data) have affected mediation, rating or billing.  This is excellent for assuring change management processes
• allowing test plans to run on an ad-hoc basis – for example, a comprehensive set of records for testing a new tariff
• generating large volumes of records easily - EDRGen takes lists of A numbers and B numbers, along with start times and durations, and generates combinations of them. Start times and durations may be specified as lists, as increments or as random variables within a range.  This allows realistic patterns of records to be built up quickly
• generating invalid records - to test error-handling capabilities in mediation or rating

Test Call Generators may also be incorporated as part of the TEM solution allowing comprehensive coverage of network metering.

Screenshots

Complex custom record structures can be defined and populated to create realistic EDR files.  These files can be passed to, or collected by, mediation, rating or billing systems.