Using policy-based concepts to provide service oriented accounting management

With service orientation gaining more importance over the last couple of years, new requirements have evolved which are posed on accounting management solutions. Accounting management systems are required to support a wide-range customization of the provided accounting functionality according to customer needs. This includes among others the support of complex-structured, usage-based, customer-individual tariffs as well as the support of increasing dynamics due to change management activities. All in all, an accounting management system is needed which is able to handle the complete service life cycle regarding accounting in a customer- and service-oriented way. Additionally, from a provider's point of view a high automation of management tasks is demanded. This paper analyzes accounting-relevant management processes and presents a management solution based on policy-based concepts to overcome the shortcomings of previously developed solutions.