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Overview

This Technical Guide describes the installation, configuration and API usage of the N-Squared Flow Editor (N2FE). N2FE is an extension pack for Oracle’s OCNCC Telecommunications Services Platform.

This N2FE add-on implements a number of additional features targeted at providing a complete, competitive, high-value Toll-Free, Premium, UAN and Tele-Voting call-control environment.

N2FE Components

N2FE offers an elegant, easy-to-use graphical interface designed expressly for Customer Self-Management of OCNCC Toll-Free services. N2FE achieves simplicity and usability for Toll-Free users by hiding internal telephony complexities. It renders control flows in a more natural representation which corresponds to the end-user’s business view.

Additionally, N2FE runs as pure HTML/CSS/JavaScript in any modern web browser, without the need for extension technologies such as the Java VM, Adobe Flash or Citrix Servers.

Example Flow

Key Features

Features include:

In most cases, a logic block in the N2 Toll-Free Flow Editor actually corresponds to several implementation nodes in the underlying OCNCC control plan. For example, the “Business Hours” logic block is constructed behind-the-scenes by combining Time-Of-Day, Day-Of-Week and Day-Of-Year nodes in the OCNCC CPE.

Note that in the N2 Toll-Free Flow Editor, all of the parameters and routing configuration associated with the Toll-Free Flow are visible immediately without needing to open any popup dialogs. This provides great assistance to the user as they navigate the flow.

This simplified layout and editing mechanism also greatly facilitates access on tablets and other portable devices. This User Guide describes the features of the N-Squared Flow Editor web-based interface.

Security and Design

N2FE Architecture

The N2 Toll-Free Flow Editor does not reside on the OCNCC platform. It is installed on a separate server in the DMZ, and implements a strict security filter before passing data requests onto OCNCC via the back-end Database Interface. This is a popular secure web-services architecture which provides strong data protection through a clean and efficient implementation approach.

User Login

Login to the flow editor is through one of the following mechanism:

  1. OCNCC SMF User (username and password)
  2. OCNCC ACS Customer User (customer, username, and password)
  3. OCNCC ACS Service Number (freephone number, and PIN)

On login, N2FE will apply appropriate user restrictions based on the type of login.

  1. For SMS users, only those users with the appropriate SMF user templates configured in the N2FE SMF template list will be able to log in. This allows operators to limit N2FE access based on SMF user templates.
  2. For SMS users, if the user is listed in the SMS -> ACS user mapping list in OCNCC, N2FE will honor these restrictions.
  3. For ACS users, the ACS user will only have access to the ACS customer their user is associated with.

N2FE Operations Structure

This Technical Guide also contains the detailed Specification for the N2FE Flow Structure which is used to represent test flows during the editing process. These Flow Operations are the critical interface point between the server functions and the client functions, and their formal specification is important for external integration points.