Importance

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Abstract

Telecommunications or similar bills are prepared on diskette in an optimal format for further processing, display, and analysis on popularly-available, inexpensive personal computers. A telecommunications carrier provides, for participating customers, appropriately selected billing records at the stage in the carrier's ordinary billing process after the carrier has completed all billing activities except actually printing a paper bill. This ensures that the information ultimately supplied on diskette will exactly correspond to that on the paper bill. In a first step, preferably performed on a large computer, the records are sorted, edited and reformatted into an optimal organization for further processing on a personal computer. In addition, a variety of preprocessed summary reports and graphs are prepared for rapid retrieval on the customer's computer. In a second step, preferably performed on a network of smaller computers, the reorganized records and summary reports for each customer are separated, compressed, and recorded on diskettes compatible with each customer's personal computer. A user application program on the customer's computer displays and analyzes the billing information supplied on diskette, including the billing records, preprocessed summary reports and graphs, and prepares new summary reports on demand.

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First Claim