What is Telecom BSS/OSS Architect overview

 What is BSS

To start with let's look at what operations a Business Support System would be expected to undertake within a telecommunications company. The term BSS typically covers the business and customer-facing components of an organisation's functionality. This can include;

Product Management – Handling the sale of products, deals or bundles to customers.

Customer Management – This will often encompass the support systems used by customer care agents to maintain and improve customer relationships.

Revenue Management – These systems focus on billing, taking payment and settling customer accounts across the network.

Order Management – These systems work to break down the specific requirements of an order, orchestrate how it will be fulfilled or flag and manage any ongoing issues.

All these systems work together under the umbrella term of a BSS to ensure the telecom can fulfil its customer-facing and business requirements.

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 What is an OSS
An Operational Support System (OSS) on the other hand describes the systems that operators use to manage their communication networks. The systems within an OSS include;

Network Inventory – These systems will manage the infrastructure from which their networks are built and operate on.

Service Provisioning – Preparing and equipping the network and the end users device from the initial connection to ensure it can operate correctly

Network Configuration – This will ensure the network is continually connected and operating with end users.

Fault Management – Detect, diagnose and correct any malfunctions that occur within the telecoms network.
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What is the Difference
The difference between the BSS and OSS can be distinguished as the systems that maintain a telecom's network operations and the systems that maintain the business operations that rely on that network to generate revenue. While the OSS maintains network inventory, management and operations. A BSS will handle Orders, Customer Relationships and Billing management. The two systems will often work closely together, which is why you will often see them grouped together in terms like BSS/OSS, despite them being two separate entities.
In conclusion, the use of OSS and BSS in telecom software development significantly impacts network operations and business management. OSS architecture primarily focuses on network administration, while BSS architecture handles business tasks such as billing and customer management