Wholesale: Products & Services

Open Product/Process CR PC101402-1 Detail

Description Of Change

Project Meetings

White-Qwest described the CR and asked Eschelon if Qwest could close the CR. Stichter-Eschelon stated that, during the January CMP Meeting, she had asked if Service Managers would have access to the Billmate information. White-Qwest stated that he had phoned Stichter-Eschelon a week following the January meeting to discuss this issue. He stated that Qwest Service Managers would have access to Billmate information and that Qwest Billing Representatives could add Qwest Service Managers onto calls when CLECs were disputing bills. Masztaler-Qwest stated that Billing Representatives were the CLECs first contact with billing disputes and they would have access to Billmate. If requested, Qwest’s Service Management teams would partner with the Billing Representatives to resolve billing issues. Kriebel-Qwest agreed with this description. Stichter-Eschelon stated that the CR could be closed.

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01-15-03 - CMP Meeting

White-Qwest asked Eschelon if they had had an opportunity to exercise the new process. Stichter-Eschelon asked if Service Managers had access to BillMate. White-Qwest stated that he would check to see if the Service Managers had access to the system and call Stichter off-line. Stichter-Eschelon stated that it was fine with Eschelon if only the Billing Representatives have access to BillMate. CR moved to CLEC Test.

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12/18/02 - CMP Monthly Product/Process Meeting

Kriebel-Qwest described the CR and presented Qwest’s response. White-Qwest proposed that the CR be placed into development status and the Qwest distribute a Level 1 notification to announce the change. The attendees agreed. The CR was moved into Development status.

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11/20/02 - CMP Monthly Product/Process Meeting

Stichter-Eschelon presented the CR. She stated that Eschelon uses Bilmate but the Qwest billing representatives do not, and cannot understand Eschelon’s concerns because they cannot look at the same screen Eschelon looks at. Sear-Qwest asked what Stichter meant by her statement in the CR about “blank spaces.” Stichter-Eschelon stated that this referred to columns in Billmate that were not populated. She stated that the billing representatives could not see these blank fields and Eschelon thought these columns ought to be populated. Schultz-Qwest asked if Eschelon had submitted CRs to address the issue of blank columns. Stichter-Eschelon stated that they had two active CRs out on this issue. Pardee-AT&T asked that this request be expanded to include CRIS and CABS/IABS billing. Burson-Qwest stated that this expansion would require a huge effort and asked Pardee-AT&T to clarify her request. Pardee-AT&T stated that she would like to leave the Eschelon CR as it was currently submitted. Johnson-Eschelon stated that she was concerned about Sear-Qwest’s comment that the Qwest representatives would be unable to assist Eschelon if there was missing information on the bill. Sear-Qwest stated that requests for additional information to be included on the bill should be sent through CMP. Schultz-Qwest stated that if there is additional information needed on the bill it should be requested with a systems CR. Stichter-Eschelon asked if she could ask the billing representatives for additional information in another form, like a spreadsheet. Burson-Qwest stated that she could. Stichter-Eschelon stated that the language in the description of change section the referenced blank or missing columns could be removed. The CR status was updated to Presented.

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CLEC Change Request Clarification Meeting 8:30 AM (Mountain Time) / Tuesday October 22, 2002

1-877-550-8686 2213337# PC101402-1; BillMate access and training for Qwest billing representatives, billing managers and service managers

Attendees Matt White – CRPM Kathy Stichter – Eschelon Carl Sear – Qwest Mark Gonzales – Qwest Paul Diamond – Qwest

Introduction of Attendees White-Qwest welcomed all attendees and asked Stichter to review the request.

Review Requested (Description of) Change Stichter-Eschelon stated that Eschelon uses BillMate files to validate charges, determine amounts to dispute and to determine amounts to submit for payment to Qwest. She explained that Qwest employees do not have access to or training for our BillMate files and that causes confusion between Eschelon and Qwest when trying to reconcile disputes. She continued that when Eschelon calls Qwest asking to have all columns populated in BillMate, or when Eschelon questions rates in anticipation of a potential dispute, or when there is a question as to the charges on the bill, Qwest always asks for examples from Eschelon because the billing representatives can not see what Eschelon sees. She concluded that this creates significant work for Eschelon as Qwest billing figures never match Eschelon billing figures. Eschelon requests that Qwest provide access and training to its employees that interact with Eschelon.

Confirm Areas and Products Impacted White-Qwest asked meeting attendees if the Qwest Service, Account and Billing representatives were the only Qwest representatives impacted. The attendees agreed. Sear-Qwest clarified that there was no system involved and that the bill Stichter was referring to was a file sent to Eschelon.

Confirm Right Personnel Involved White-Qwest asked meeting attendees if the appropriate Qwest personnel were involved. Diamond-Qwest stated that Qwest may need to involve someone from billing after further review of the request and its impacts. Diamond-Qwest asked whom Stichter was dealing with within Qwest. Stichter-Eschelon stated that Eschelon dealt primarily with Terry Clooke, Vicky Keller and Scott Martin in regards to these issues.

Identify/Confirm CLEC’s Expectation White-Qwest asked Stichter if Eschelon's expectation was that all Qwest billing and service representatives who dealt with Eschelon would have access to and be trained on BillMate. Stichter-Eschelon agreed.

Identify and Dependant Systems Change Requests White-Qwest asked the attendees if they were aware of any other CRs related to this request. The attendees stated that there were none.

Establish Action Plan White-Qwest asked attendees if there were any further questions. There were none. White-Qwest stated that the next step was for Eschelon to present the CR at the November Monthly Product/Process Meeting and thanked all attendees for attending the meeting.

CenturyLink Response

RESPONSE For Review by CLEC Community and Discussion at the December 18, 2002, CMP Product/Process Meeting

Bonnie Johnson Eschelon Communications

SUBJECT: Qwest’s Change Request Response - CR #PC101402-1

This is a preliminary response regarding Eschelon CR PC101402-1.

Qwest will arrange for training and access to BillMate ASCII bill files by the Qwest Billing Centers upon request of individual CLEC’s, for the purpose of reconciling bills and disputes. CLEC’s can contact Carl Sear, 303-965-4465, to make the request, with an expected implementation time frame of 60-90 days.

If the volume of requests becomes such that technical restraints become an issue, Qwest will open a change request through CMP.

Qwest recommends this CR be updated to Development status.

Sincerely,

Carl Sear Process Specialist Qwest