Policies

Introduction

Policies define how the OCS will perform rating. A policy consists of both a Policy Types (also called Policy Classes) and Policies. A Policy refers to a specific Policy Type which defines the software logic for how the policy executes. The Policy itself provides hooks and configuration data to the Policy Type.

Policy Types are available system-wide and while pluggable are not configurable through the HTTP API at this stage.

A Policy consists of:

• A policy name and ID to allow the policy to be referred to.
• A reference to the Policy Type which defines what sort of policy it is.
• The Policy Type provides core software logic for the policy.
• The Policy may also provide a set of custom hooks to enhance the underlying policy.
• The Policy may also have a set of configuration data to define how the policy Type show perform its rating.

The same type of policy Type may be used multiple times within the OCS - e.g. allowing the OCS to provide Business and Consumer type wallets.

The following policy Types are available within the OCS as part of the default installation.

Policy Selection

Policy selection is driven by the policy selector expression engine. Each policy may be given a selector expression which can consider the wallet, the rating request and the policy information to determine if it should be applied to the rating request.

For example, a policy selector may be defined to only apply if the rating context is 100, or 440. A policy selector may be defined to only apply to wallets with the annotation @Group=Prepaid. The flexibility of this approach means that within the OCS engine many policies may be defined, and their application depends on the context of the request.

Built-in Policies

Location Based Rating Policy

This policy Type is used to select a rate sheet based on a rating group, event time and the source & destination of the requested rating.

Policies that implement this policy type must provide the following configuration:

1. Check the rating group (if it exists) matches the rating request.
2. Find the best match for source and destination location (supporting missing source and/or destination locations if appropriate).
3. Return to the engine with rating rule details if match was found.

If a match isn’t found the policy will not be engaged in the rating request.

Rate Table Schedule

Rate tables often should take effect from a specific date/time in the future, so should be scheduled prior. The schedule is stored per policy in an array. Each array element is an object with the following details:

For more information on rate tables see the rate sheet documentation.

Specific Location Policy

The specific location policy Type allows systems to manipulate rating based on the source or destination location of a request.

This policy Type allows for such services as:

• Home locations: Users calling from a home location get a reduced charge
• Restricted locations: Users may use a system within a location or set of locations.

When applied, policies of this Type will alter the buckets available during rating by either adding or removing any bucket which has a Specific Location annotation and the location(s) listed in the annotation do not match the source/destination location identified by the rating request.

No configuration parameters are required for the specific location policy Type.

Allow Overdraft Policy

An overdraft policy using this Type can be applied to a wallet or globally to allow associated wallets to go into overdraft when a rating event charges a wallet.

This policy Type works by adding a temporary bucket to the list of buckets used for a rating event. This bucket is added to the bottom of the bucket cascade list and has the same unit type as the unit being rated.

The bucket will be configured with the Unlimited Value annotation which will allow the bucket to be charged to the extent necessary to allow the debit to succeed.

This policy Type requires the following configuration:

Static Rating Configuration Policy

The static rating configuration policy is used to specify rating and reservation configuration for debit and session reservation requests. The following configuration can be added to this policy:

• Bucket cascade logic to apply.
• Unit conversion logic to apply.
• For Reservations, the unit quanta to reserve in.
• For Reservations, the maximum reservation that may be granted.
• For Reservations, the default reservation amount that will be granted, if a unit request includes no unit amount.
• For Reservations, the maximum validity period a reservation will be held for, before being released.

An instance of this policy, if configured to be used, should specify all the above - it is not possible to apply part of the configuration to a rating request even if the configuration itself does not expressly include other information. E.g. If only a balance cascade is defined, the maximum validity period is also defined.

This policy Type requires the following configuration: