FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention in general relates to automated customizable portal creation for the telco and service provider industries to allow end users at enterprises to make changes to their service packages. The invention uses a portal wizard so that enterprise users need not write any code to provide a full or glanceable application to end users.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Backend systems installed at large service providers like telcos are not designed for direct customer (accountholder) access. Currently, changes to services must carried out be Customer Service Representatives (CSRs), who make the changes to different internal systems on behalf of the customers. Changes to the services are not linear. In many cases in order to provision a new service for a customer, a CSR is required to make changes to more than one backend system to effectively provision the service.

This process is rather cumbersome and slow and requires trained staff. A consumer is dependent on having to contact the service provider (usually over the phone) to get new services or to make changes to existing services. Opening the backend systems directly to the customers poses many security risks and is not a feasible option either.

Large enterprise customers of a service provider may also have their own internal users of the services. It would be advantageous to open the backend systems for service provisioning to these users without compromising security or integrity of the backend data.

Not all customers have the same services or the same privileges, therefore opening the backend systems to expose only an appropriate set of services for each customer is also critical.

Currently, in order to provide portals (e.g. online portals) for modifying or checking account settings requires significant developer time.

SUMMARY

Broadly speaking, the present invention provides a method and a system of automated customizable portal creation where an end user e.g. a user at a service provider can create a portal for the end users at the enterprise to connect to the backend/legacy systems of the service provider so that the end users at the enterprise can make changes to their services without requiring CSR assistance from the service provider.

Preferably, the portal can be created and customized without writing code. Such a customizable portal may have different associated applications. End users at an enterprise customer of the service provider may use the portal and associated applications for making changes to their service packages directly without requiring any help from a CSR of the service provider.

It would be advantageous to provide a method and a system where a non-developer can create customizable portals for interaction with backend systems that are not designed for direct customer access.

Unlike prior art methods the present invention may connect to different backend system like the OSS, BSS, Billing System and Provisioning Systems of service provides so that the end users can make changes to their service offerings without requiring CSR assistance.

The backend systems at service providers are not designed for direct customer access and therefore having an intermediate layer in the form of the portal and associated applications enables the customers (e.g. end users at an enterprise) to make changes to their service packages.

The system may be installed on a remote server that may be accessible over a network e.g. Internet or LAN (Local Area Network). In one embodiment a server may be a standalone computer that is connected to the internet or other network while in others embodiments it may refer to a set of networked computing devices.

In one embodiment a Wizard for portal and application creation may be provided as a graphical user interface (GUI) that may enable a user to create or modify a customizable portal without having to write any code.

In one embodiment an API Layer may be provided that is responsible for connecting to the backend systems and acquiring/writing information to these systems when users make changes to their service packages.

In one embodiment a Security Layer may be provided to be responsible for managing the access control of the different groups of users.

In one embodiment a created portal may further comprise of full applications and Glanceable applications which results from the user manipulations of the Wizard for portal and application creation. In this disclosure the term Glanceable may refer to applications that are designed to show only a summary of the information in a visual way to the end user. And the term Full Application may refer to applications that are designed to show detailed information to the end user.

“Glanceables” may refer to applications that are designed to show only a summary of the information in a visual way to the end user e.g. using a graph with given color schemes, or icons, or emojis or other symbols so that the user can easily understand the summarized information.

“Full Applications” may refer to applications that are designed to show detailed information to the end user.

The Glanceables and Full Applications may be implemented as web widgets. A web widget is a small stand-alone software application usually with a limited set of functionality that can be installed and executed within a web page. A web widget usually occupies a portion of a webpage and does something useful with information fetched from other websites and displayed in the said place. A mobile web widget has the same purpose and function as a web widget, but it is made for use on a mobile device such as mobile phone or tablet.

The Portal may be created by user(s) at the service provider and the enterprise users can configure what has been given to them as apps and Glanceables but they may not be able to create new apps.

In another embodiment any user(s) of the system may be able to create the Portal and associated Full apps and Glanceables.

In one embodiment a group of users who may be responsible for portal and application creation may use a desktop or any other device e.g. a tablet, or a SmartTV or the like where a browser and associated technologies may be installed to access the Wizard for portal creation.

In one embodiment a group of end users of the portal itself may use a desktop, a tablet, a SmartPhone or any other device e.g. a SmartTV or the like where a browser and associated technologies may be installed to access the portal in order to make changes to their service packages.

Thus different portals could be created, each customized for different enterprise customers based on the different sets of services that the enterprise may have chosen from the portfolio of the services that the service provider may have to offer. Thus a portal may be customized to be restricted to apps that only allow for changes to the services that the enterprise customer uses.

For example the service provider may offer landline telephony services, wireless telephony services, cable TV and internet services. A first enterprise customer who may have opted to use landline telephony services and internet services will have a customized portal where the end users can make changes to their landline service package and internet service package. Such a customizable portal with its associated applications can be advantageously created by using the systems and methods of this invention without having to write any code.

According to a first aspect of the invention, a system is provided enabling creation of a portal to telecommunications services managed by an enterprise user on behalf of accountholders of the enterprise. The system includes a first layer providing access to at least a business support system, an operational support system, a provisioning system, a home location register, and a billing system. The system also includes a second layer providing access to a wizard interface programmed for: creating a portal by the enterprise user with an application enabled to selectively access and/or modify data and settings accessible through a security layer from the first layer; and publishing the portal. The system also includes a third layer providing access to the portal by an accountholder of the enterprise after publishing. The application is: a glanceable application showing the data or settings in a summary visual fashion; or a full application showing the data or settings in a detailed fashion.

The application (whether glanceable or full) may be a web widget.

The wizard may be programmed to allow customization of the portal for the enterprise.

Preferably, the telecommunications services include at least one of telephony, wireless telephony, cable TV or internet service.

The portal may use a JSON. The creating step may include:creating a JSON for the portal;receiving a label of the application;receiving a selection of the application type, whether glanceable or full;receiving a selection of a visualization method; andreceiving a REST API URL for data access.

The creating step may further include:receiving custom visual properties of the application.

The creating step may further include:receiving security settings of the application.

Preferably, the security settings include user privileges for at least one accountholder and at least one enterprise user.

The publishing step may further include:receiving a command to save the application; andreceiving a command to preview the application.

Preferably, the data access connects to at least one data source in the first physical or logical layer.

Preferably, the data source has a data model which is parsed to determine its structure and relationships.

The creating step may further include selecting fields of data to be displayed. Preferably, the application displays a subset of the available data fields. The subset may be based on the user privileges defined for the application.

The glanceable application preferably includes at least one graphical, icon, emoji or symbolic element. The creating step may further include setting a color scheme of the element.

