PIN Management in Arrow Telecom's ArrowBilling
This How to describes basic principles of PIN based authentication of callers. It describes creation, activation and management of PIN accounts. Arrow Telecom's  ArrowBilling provides enchanced features for PIN generation and management. It is possible to generate any number of random PINs, assign Serial numbers, modify rate and do other tasks with them. Below is a detailed procedure covering most of the cases.

Table of Contents

Authentication Modes

Depending on the application and equipment, various PIN/password schemes may be implemented. Most commonly used authentication methods are described below:

Calling Cards

Typical Calling card application requires the user to enter PIN number. Usually it is a numeric code consisting of 9-14 digits. Some NASs (for example Quintum Tenor) treat PIN as username and password, both being the same. If this is the case, please select "Password: Same as ID" option when generating accounts. A very useful feature for Calling Card applications is Card Serial Number. This number can be used to identify cards when the have been printed and PIN (Account ID) is covered with protective scracth pad. In this case operator can use Serial to find and manipulate Account without revealing PIN. The system also provides tools for managing PINs based on Serial numbers.

Softphones

Softphone applications typically require username and password. If this is the case, please select "Password: Random" when generating accounts.

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Before You Generate

  • Serial number generation feature is not enabled by default. To enable it, please go to Tools > Options, search for Calling Card and check Use Serial Numbers for Accounts checkbox. Scroll below and and press the Modify button.
  • Make sure that there is at least a Rate table created which can be used by newly generated PINs.
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Mass PIN Generation

Arrow Billing is able to create large batches of random PINs through predefined settings by users. To create a batch of PINs, go to the section Batch Operations and choose Account PINs subsection (if it is not displayed by default). The page Generate Account PINs will appear.

Available options are described here:
  • Account Group - Identifier of the batch. Each new generated batch represents a new Account Group. Please use a descriptive name. It will be easier to find this group later if a good name is chosen. Default is "PINYYYYMMDD-NNNNNNNNNNN" where YYYYMMDD represents date of generation and NNNNNNNNN is a random number.
  • Account Group Description - descriptive name of the Account Group. This is for comments. Default is "PINs generated YYYYMMDD by USER" where YYYYMMDD represents date of generation and USER is username of person who generated these PINs.
  • Number of Accounts - Total Number of PINs to generate in this batch.
  • Credit Amount - Initial amount or credit of the PIN.
  • Rate Table - Rate table attached to the amount (you will be able to change it later).
  • Expiration Date - Account validity date. Maximum duration is 10 years from current date (you will be able to change it later).
  • Number of PIN digits - Number of digits in PIN code
  • Prefix digits - First digits of PIN. All PINs will start with number(s) specified here. For example, if you choose prefix 786, PINs will look like: 786002385, 786350129, 786398401, 786728096 and so on.
  • Password:
    • Same as ID - password generated will always be same as PIN itself. Choose this setting for Quintum Tenor gateways and for softphones without CHAP-based passwords when using Gnugk gatekeeper.
    • Random - random digits at specified length. Use this for softphones with CHAP-based passwords.
    • Fixed value - Fixed value of password, equals for all accounts in the batch.
  • Serial:
    • Generate - enable serial number generation for Card Accounts (note that it is not enabled by default - see above)
    • Start At - first Serial Number in the Batch. The system suggests next available number. You may change it, but you should not use a smaller number than recommended as it may cause duplicate serial number error.
Press the button Generate. Account generation will be scheduled. Depending on speed and load of the system and number of PINs it may take various time intervals to create batch.

Notes:
  1. All PINs generated are disabled by default. You will need to manually enable them in order to make calls. Please see below for configuration.
  2. The system checks uniqueness of each PIN, so no duplicated PIN will ever occur. If the system database is full of accounts and the system encounters more that 100 or 50% (whichever occurs first) duplicate account attempts, the generation will be stopped at that point. Therefore please choose long PINs if you have a large number of them.
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Configuration of generated PINs

Each new batch created will appear as new Account Group. To manipulate accounts, please go to the section Account Groups. Select the desired group by clicking on its name. You can view accounts in the group by clicking on the link View Accounts of the respective Account Group.

Renaming Options

  • Group Name - change group name if desired
  • Description - change group description if desired
Press the button Rename after modification.

Batch Operations on Accounts in the Group

  • Change Status - Enable/Disable group. NOTE! You must enable accounts before they can make calls. Following options are available:
    • Do not Change - Keep the existing status of the accounts.
    • Enable - allow all acounts to make calls, activate.
    • Disable - deny all account from making calls, deactivate.
    • Available for self reg - Make account be available for users registering online (see separate document on this).
  • Change Rate Table - change the rate table applied to the accounts. Leave "Do Not Change" if you do not want to change it.
  • Make web username/password same as Account ID/password - create web access username and password same as Account username and password respectively. It will automatically enable web access for all accounts.
  • Change Company - change Company assigned to all accounts. Leave "Do Not Change" if you do not want to change it.
  • Change Agent - change Agent assigned to all accounts. Leave "Do Not Change" if you do not want to change it.
  • Change Expiration Date - change the last date on which the account can be used. Following are the options:
    • Do not Change - leaves default
    • Fixed Date - sets fixed date
    • From First Use - sets fixed number of days from first use (first successful call) of this account. Various values between 3 days and 3 years are available.
  • Change Authentication Type - changes authentication type of accounts. Use with caution. Modification will affect all accounts and may cause accounts to be non-functional if authentication type is wrong.
  • Change Recurring Service - attach service recurring charges to account.
Click on Edit Account Group to apply changes.

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Managing series of PINs

It is possible to manage some settings of PIN groups based on Serial number. For example, you can enable/disable accounts within range 1000-2000. It makes the way of distribution of PINs easier and more secure. You can ship PINs disabled to your sales agents and enable them by ranges as they are paid or delivered to sales. To manage series, please go to Batch Operations > Serial Numbers. Enter the starting and ending range of Serial Number and hit Search. The system will display number of PINs found with breakdown of enabled/disabled accounts. Available options are following:
  • Change Status - Enable/Disable group. NOTE! You must enable accounts before they can make calls. Following options are available:
    • Do not Change - Keep the existing status of the accounts.
    • Enable - allow all acounts to make calls, activate.
    • Disable - deny all account from making calls, deactivate.
    • Available for self reg - Make account be available for users registering online (see separate document on this).
  • Change Rate Table - change rate table applied to accounts. Leave "Do Not Change" if you do not want to change it.
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Preparing PINs for exporting and printing

Arrow Billing allows to save PINs into spreadsheet format which can be delivered for later printing. To save, please take following steps:
  1. Click on Account Groups.
  2. Find the group name and click on the column View Accounts.
  3. Click on the icon Save (floppy) - file will be saved or opened with your default spreadsheet application.
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