Open Source RA Initiative at talkRA

A recent debate on talkRA turned to open Source Tools for RA. Check this thread.

I must confess I had to read up on Open Source Software as I have never really bothered to find out how it works.

Why would an initiative to create an open source RA Tool work? What would be required for it?

I liked the principles of OSS set out at this page and I think if the initiative to develop an open source tool follows them, it would have a good chance of succeeding.

Free Redistribution: No restrictions with regard to selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. No requirements for a royalty or other fee for such sale. This is the heart of the matter.

Source Code: Include source code and allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form. Deliberately obfuscated source code is not allowed. This is the heart of the heart of the heart of the matter.

Derived Works: Must allow modifications and derived works. This is the heart of the heart of the heart of the heart of the heart of the matter. OK, enough with the hearts.

Integrity of the Author's Source Code: The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of "patch files" with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time.

No Discrimination against Persons or Groups: The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons. Even Rob Mattison should be free to use it or participate in its development, even if he will, in due course, start his own OSS initiative and call it Global Revenue Open Source System (GROSS) and you will not be allowed to participate in it in case you are participating in another OSS initiative!

No Discrimination against Fields of Endeavor: The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. It should be open for use not just in telco revenue assurance, insurance, banking, utilities...heck, if you can find a way to make pizza with the system, feel free.

Distribution of License: The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed. Hence no need for execution of an additional license by those parties.

License Must Not Be Specific to a Product: The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a particular software distribution. Micro$oft bundling tactics (or variations of the same) are not welcome here.

License Must Not Restrict Other Software: Take note, BILL GAT€$.

License Must Be Technology-Neutral: No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface. Oh, so you like Oracle and hate MS-SQL (like me). Keep it to yourself.

Would RA tool vendors support such an initiative? Are RA managers generally accustomed to “mainstream” tools provided by established players and what would it take for them to shift their mindset? Have we built a community of masochists who are used to paying an arm and a leg to put in place proprietary systems that may be rendered obsolete even before we commission them, not because vendors are bandits but because we are all in free-fall? Probably RA people’s mindset is not fixed – one of the qualities of a good RA manager is being open-minded, judiciously applying the correct and cost-effective tool or procedure to achieve maximum impact.

I will not pretend I have all the answers to this but one answer I know: the answer is out there, with all the people doing good work in RA community. Even more answers will come from work done by researchers like Güera Romo, industry commentators like Tony Poulos and Eric Priezkalns. Hecklers like me also have an important role to play.

The bulk of the answers, I suspect,  will come from that guy struggling with unbilled usage, all manner of fraud, stolen recharge-vouchers, corrupted switch records, a mediation system that works today and goes on holiday tomorrow, a telco industry in frenzied innovation mode. In the final analysis, he wants a solution that is adaptive to situations, easy to deploy and configure. This man on the street is really a VIP in the case of open source. Will the open source tool be the panacea to all RA problems? No. In my view, it should not even attempt to do so. But it may just provide cost-effective, agile, realistic and usable tools whose design and development runs true to the concept of 1+1=3.

UPDATE:

I have just revisited talkRA and already there is a work-space to host the Open Source Revenue Assurance! Get the word out. And bring your ideas to the table.