GRAPA's social networking manager talks about revenue assurance professional Olusolape Daji, and how being a good revenue assurance pro is like being a good parent.

The big news this summer has been the release of the last Harry Potter movie. Like Harry Potter, we as revenue assurance professionals have the power to decide if we are going to hide behind old technology and complain "I can't do it," or learn new skills and meet the challenge. GRAPA president Rob Mattison discusses how to access the resources required to become an effective revenue assurance wizard.

"The revenue assurance discipline, and the standards provided by GRAPA, provide the revenue assurance professional with a comprehensive set of templates that make it possible to assure any type or level of revenue assurance risk, with a simple set of tools," says GRAPA president Rob Mattison. Learn how CEOs can use revenue assurance to their benefit.

In the second installment of The Beginner's Guide to Revenue Assurance, Rob Mattison tackles the question why do telecoms need revenue assurance at all? "Managers are finding that the methods used in the past, in order to establish control over the accounting, sales, marketing and operational environments simply cannot keep up with today's breakneck pace. The old controls are simply failing." Rob discusses the four symptoms that indicate things are getting out of control, the three key decisions that must be made and four disciplines that drive the revenue assurance process.

It's back to basics as Rob Mattison takes another look at the definition of revenue assurance. "It seems that Revenue Assurance (as promoted by GRAPA at least) is becoming more and more a “top of mind” issue for a lot of C Level executives and even telecoms board members. One of the unfortunate side effects of this renewed attention, is that the first thing we have to do is undo a lot of the confusion, chaos and misinformation that so many people have been spouting." Rob clarifies the definition of revenue assurance for 2011.

Partner or Privateer? While most of us are fascinated by the lives of legendary pirates, real pirates are not so romantic. GRAPA's Rob Mattison discusses what happens when a partnership turns into piracy, using Canadian owned Research in Motion as an example. (Margin) Pirates of the Canadians

Rob Mattison introduces the new Revenue Assurance Foundations training and certification programs being launched in 2011. The Revenue Assurance Foundations program is the third in the series of what we call our core curriculum for revenue assurance professionals. The core curriculum is an intense five day crash course in the fundamentals of the practice of professional revenue assurance as advocated by the GRAPA standards.

GRAPA President Rob Mattison reflects on the great strides forward made in 2010 and discusses the plans in place for 2011 for GRAPA and RA Academy that will keep the momentum rolling.

Find out what is in store for GRAPA in 2011. "Over the past year, we have been conducting an exhaustive set of benchmarks and surveys with revenue assurance professionals and CFO’s, and the opinions that they voice are pretty much unanimous." Find out what you can expect as the GRAPA team puts the final details in place for the new and much improved curriculum.