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About Us
The Global Revenue Assurance
Professional Association, Inc. (GRAPA) is a not-for-profit
corporation, incorporated in Illinois, USA, in 2007. The association
is run by volunteers who are interested in the promotion of
professional standards in the telecommunication revenue assurance
industry. All team members volunteer their time and expertise.
Download the New GRAPA Brochure
Please refer all legal correspondence
to:
GRAPA
102 Greenview Road
Oakwood Hills, IL 60013, USA
Alternate locations: Germany and China
What is GRAPA and what are the goals of the organization?
GRAPA is an organization created to
support the development, promotion and professionalization of the
practice of revenue assurance and fraud management at carriers and
other communications service providers around the world. The main
purpose of the organization is to:
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Provide a common
venue where revenue assurance professionals can network,
share ideas and develop a consensus on the practice of their
profession
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Serve as an agent
of consensus development and standardization
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Work to improve the
status, competency, credibility and value of revenue
assurance professionals to their employers, clients and
customers.
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How does GRAPA
achieve these objectives?
Membership
GRAPA has been organized in order to best accomplish the objectives
that have been set forth. Since the first and more critical
objective of GRAPA is the development of consensus across the entire
industry, GRAPA membership has been opened to ALL revenue assurance
professionals, free of charge. The only requirements for membership
are that the person register with valid name and phone number, and
that they provide verification that they are in fact working as
revenue assurance professionals. (The only criteria for rejection of
a candidate are people who misrepresent themselves regarding their
identity, intention or applicability).
By making it very easy to join GRAPA,
with no immediate cost, we are able to generate a large base upon
which our consensus can be built.
Independence and Impartiality
In order to be an effective agent of consensus development, the
GRAPA organization MUST BE independent of special interest groups.
It must represent all carriers and service providers (not just the
very large carriers, not just the wireless providers) and it must
represent the interests of all support professionals (software,
hardware and consulting) without bias.
For this reason, GRAPA accepts no
membership, funding or sponsorship from any organization (This
includes carriers, hardware, software and consulting companies)
Funding
Since GRAPA accepts no contributions for its activity, it must have
some way of financing the effort. The decision was made that GRAPA
would be funding through two means:
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Charging for the certification of
GRAPA members
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Charging for training people in
the principles, guidelines and other consensus based
information gathered by the GRAPA organization.
GRAPA
Committees and the work that we do
The
major work of GRAPA is performed by different committees.
Committees are groups of volunteers from within the GRAPA
membership who volunteer a portion of their time to address the
different functions that GRAPA performs.
GRAPA
committee membership and chairmanship is typically assigned
based upon a minimum skills/experience level, and a willingness
to invest the time.
GRAPA
currently supports the following committees:
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Regional Membership – Each region has its own regional
committee and regional chairperson. The job of these
committees is the promote membership and knowledge of GRAPA
in their region and to provide for regional feedback about
how GRAPA can better serve professionals in that area.
Within GRAPA, the world consists of the following regions
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Africa
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Middle East
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Eastern Europe
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Western Europe
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North America
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Central America
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South America
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Southeast Asia
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Northern Asia
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Forum Support – GRAPA is a truly global organization, and
with members all over the world, it is impossible to arrange
for convenient times for real time dialog and meetings.
GRAPA therefore relies heavily upon its FORUMS for
discussion and consensus development. Forums and managed by
FORUM moderators who are responsible for their integrity and
usefulness. GRAPA current supports forums for:
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Standards – The GRAPA standards committee is heavily
involved in the process of developing, publishing and
generating consensus for the GRAPA standards. This is the
largest and most active committee at this time.
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Benchmarks – The benchmarks committee is responsible for the
development, promotion and execution of benchmarks amongst
the membership. Benchmarks provide GRAPA with the
verification and credibility for the claimed consensus and
compliance to its standards, principles and policies.
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Certification – the certification committee is responsible
for the development and execution of the GRAPA certification
program. This program will provide professionals with a
badly needed, impartial method for the establishment of
credentials, credibility and increased value in the
marketplace.
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The
work of these committees is supported by our core staff of
officers (3) and administrative assistants (3).
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What are the GRAPA
standards?
The
GRAPA Standards are a proposed set of guidelines for the
practice of revenue assurance and fraud management by revenue
assurance professionals around the world. The stated objectives
for the creation of these standards are as follows:
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To create a common vocabulary for
the discussion and sharing of knowledge, standard practices
and best practices in the execution of revenue assurance and
fraud management responsibilities.
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To create a common framework and
structure for the organization of revenue assurance and
fraud management tasks, roles and responsibilities, in order
to expedite and professionalize the organization, diagnosis
and management of revenue assurance and fraud management
activities.
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To develop a set of operational
principles and a code of ethics for the practice of revenue
assurance and fraud management that members will agree to.
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To develop a common checklist of
tasks, functions and KPIs that revenue assurance and fraud
management professionals can share and utilize in order to
improve their effectiveness and efficiency.
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Standards Chairperson
and Co-Chairs
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Mohammad Azam- Standards
Chairperson
Revenue Assurance Manager- Pakistan Mobile
Telecom Ltd, Pakistan
Recognized Telecom
Business expert having vast and diversified
experience of telecom industry with proven track
record in Revenue Assurance, Interconnect,
Business Planning & Analysis, Budgeting &
Forecasting, Merger & Acquisition, Financial
Analysis, Corporate Reporting & Planning,
Commercial Planning & Policies, Business
Performance Analysis and Regulatory Affairs.
Currently
appointed as Manager Revenue Assurance and
Interconnect for Ufone (Pakistan Mobile Telecom
Ltd) second largest Cellular Mobile Operator in
Pakistan with more than 16 millions subscribers.
Responsible for Managing Revenue Assurance,
Compliance to Regulatory Requirement,
Interconnect Billing & Settlement and
Implementation of Interconnect Agreements.
With a First Class
Master Degrees in Business Administration with
distinguish, Mohammad is combining his
experience in the Telecom business with his
education to enhance is rising career.
GRAPA
Username: riyarz
GRAPA Email
Adddress:
TBA
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Standards Co-Chairperson
Needed |
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Standards Co-Chairperson
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How does GRAPA work?
While
training and certification can help underwrite the cost of GRAPA
activities, the main body of work to be accomplished by the
organization must be done by members themselves on a volunteer
basis. This too is done in order to guarantee that all areas are
represented in the process, and that no undo influence can be
exerted. The main work of the GRAPA organization is done by
committees. These committees consist of volunteers from the
membership who have agreed to take on different tasks. Because
these committee members are volunteers, their scope and depth of
commitment are kept to a minimum (from 4 hour per month, at the
low end, to 4 hours per week, at the high end).
The
current core administrative staff that supports GRAPA, includes
3 officers (Rob Mattison, President, Brigitte Mattison, Vice
President and Carola Rusch, Operations Manager) and 2
administrative staff (Laura Knigge, Web and Marketing, and Chris
Yesulis, Website, Forum, and Database Management.) This team
works in order to help organize and provide support for the
different GRAPA committees in the pursuit of their objectives.
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Membership Committees
The heart
of GRAPA are the membership committees.
Each
region of the world, has its own membership committee
chairperson. The mission of the regional membership committee is
to assist with the promotion and coverage of GRAPA with carriers
in that region.
Regional
chairpersons work with, and use the GRAPA administrative team to
promote and increase the representation of GRAPA in their area.
They also serve as the focal point for adapting GRAPA to the
needs of the region. While there is a clear, common set of
issues that all revenue assurance professionals face, there are
also clearly regional issues that need to be addressed as well.
A
description of the GRAPA Regional Chairperson, Regional
Committee Member and the “Project Plan” for a Region and current
assignments and openings can be seen on the GRAPA website.
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Executive Steering
Committee (ESC) Members
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Moly McMillan
Head of Revenue Assurance - Virgin Media, U.K.
One of
the original founders of the GRAPA concept, Moly
has been instrumental is helping conceptualize
and shape the GRAPA vision. He is a well
known, recognized expert and manager for a major
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Armando Gaona
Coordinator
of the National Center of Revenue Assurance and
Traffic Recovery - TELMEX, Mexico
Armando has nearly 10 years
experience in revenue assurance and is
considered an expert in areas such as revenue
assurance, strategic planning, financial
analysis, project management, telecommunication
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Susan Burger
Group Revenue
Assurance Manager -MTN, South Africa
Susan
Burger is the Group Revenue Assurance &
Interconnect Manager for MTN – a multinational
mobile operator with networks in 21 countries
across Africa and the Middle East and a
subscriber base of more than 40 million
subscribers. Susan feels privileged to have the
opportunity to work with so many different
nationalities and cultures and enjoys her
travels to the various regions in which MTN
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Anwar Abdul
Jalil
General Revenue
Assurance Manager, Telekom Malaysia
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Gerald Berian
Revenue Assurance
Program Director, Verizon (USA) |
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Mario Pereira
Head of Audit,
Millicom International Cellular SA (MIC) |
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Iain Cottingham
Head of Revenue Assurance - France Telecom, U.K.
Iain is head of Revenue Assurance of France
Telecom United Kingdom, having his office in
Bristol. He has been working for Vodafone Group
for 13 years and for France Telecom for the last
6 years. From his point of view, telecom
business should have higher ethical standards.
Iain thinks that RA provides the end-to-end
assurance of revenues. He likes sport,
especially playing cricket and supporting
Sheffield United." |
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GRAPA Staff
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Carola Rusch - Membership Relationship
Manager
Carola
lives in Germany with her husband, children, and
beagle dog. She divides her time between
managing GRAPA, running her small translator/
interpreter business, and raising two lovely
daughters.
Her work
experience includes a number of international
companies where she developed her research-,
language-, and administrative-skills.
Carola is fluent in German, French, and English
and can get by in Spanish.
Email Address:
carola@grapatel.com
Instant Messenger ID:
carola.grapa@hotmail.com
Phone: +1 (847) 930-3614 (GMT+1)
Fax: +1 (801) 881-2675 |
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Dustin Mattison - Membership Manager
Dustin holds a Bachelor of
Science degree in Business and a Masters in East
Asian Languages and Cultures. He is fluent in
both English and Mandarin Chinese. Dustin
is an experienced consulting manager who
has spent the past several years helping
companies in China and other parts of Asia with
their operations.
As the Membership Manager, Dustin
will be recruiting and working with the regional
chairpersons, helping them to spread the word
about GRAPA to the carriers in each region. Dustin
will work to create a true identity for our
professional community based upon the unique and
collective needs of the members in each area.
Email Address:
dustin@grapatel.com
Phone: +1 (847) 930-3610 (GMT-6)
Fax: +1 (801) 881-2675 |
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Forum Support
GRAPA is a
truly global organization, and as such has members on every
continent and region of the world. Because of the challenges
associated with trying to have meetings in “real time”, the
principle means for communication between GRAPA members are
GRAPA email accounts (for all committee members) and the forums.
Participation in most forums is open to all members, although
some forums have restricted access.
In all
cases, the administration for the environment itself (software,
access, administration etc.) is handled by Chris Yesulis.
Management
of the different forums themselves, monitoring of inputs and
conduct, answering of questions and enablement of communications
is handled by our Forum Moderators. Forum moderators help keep
the forums organized, productive and in line with GRAPA
principles and objectives.
For a
description of the FORUM Administrator responsibilities, and the
currently active FORUMS, and openings for moderator assistance,
please see the GRAPA website.
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Forum Moderators
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Ahmed Khallab -
Shared Best Practices
Leader of Mobile Phone
Risk Management Team -
Libyana Mobile Phone, Libya
Ahmed
has been a very active contributor on the forum
from the start. He has now volunteered to become
our first moderator, assuming responsibility for
the best practices section. Ahmed has had
five years of experience in the
telecommunications industry, and he is currently
working for Libyana Mobile Phone in Libya. For
the past two years, he has spent most of his
time concentrating on the revenue assurance and
fraud management issues.
GRAPA Username: ahmed
Email Address:
ahmed@grapatel.com
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Lomako Ikamba Mpetshi - French Forum
Moderateur Francophone @ GRAPA
Fraud and Risk Specialist - Oasis Sprl (A
Millicom Company), Democratic Republic of Congo
Lomako is married and living in Congo, Africa.
He studied data processing management and is
working as a fraud & risk specialist. Lomako is
fluent in French and can get by in English.
GRAPA Username:
likamba
GRAPA Email Address:
lomako@grapatel.com
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Position To Be Filled
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Fernando Procel - Spanish Forum
Revenue Assurance Manager - Andinatel S.A.,
Ecuador
Fernando is trilingual in
Spanish, Portuguese, and English. He is
originally from Ecuador, is happily married, and
has 15 years professional experience in
Marketing and Finance in key industries such as
Telecommunications, IT, Outsourcing Projects,
Banking & Finance. He also has experience in
multi-cultural environments from living in
diplomatic missions in countries throughout
Latin America and Italy.
GRAPA Username: fprocel |
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Luis Muller - Spanish Forum
Revenue Performance
and Control Manager - Digitel-Venezuela,
Venezuela
Luis is married and living in
Venezuela. He is an Industrial Engineer, working
for Digitel Venezuela in the Revenue Assurance
department since its beginning. At present, he
is in charge of interconnection, roaming and
financial analysis. He also teaches math for
future engineers at the university and his hobby
is the Formula 1.
GRAPA Username: lmuller |
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Anthony Njoku - Benchmark Forum
Team Lead Vas Applications - MTN Nigeria,
Nigeria
Anthony Njoku is a graduate of computer science.
He has four years experience in the
telecommunications industry and is currently
working on an MBA degree. He was recently
promoted to Team Lead Vas Applications at MTN
Nigeria.
Anthony is an expert on UNIX platforms,
enterprise system design and database
management. He has experience with the Ericsson
Mediation platform, telecommunications
management and operation support (TMOS),
(Ericsson's TMN platform), prepaid and postpaid
billing, as well as subscriber provisioning on
Ericsson platform.
GRAPA Username: antnjoku
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Shared
Best Practices Committee (SBPC) Chairperson's
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Anthony Njoku - Benchmark Chairperson
Team Lead Vas Applications - MTN Nigeria,
Nigeria
Anthony Njoku is a graduate of computer science.
He has four years experience in the
telecommunications industry and is currently
working on an MBA degree. He was recently
promoted to Team Lead Vas Applications at MTN
Nigeria.
Anthony is an expert on UNIX platforms,
enterprise system design and database
management. He has experience with the Ericsson
Mediation platform, telecommunications
management and operation support (TMOS),
(Ericsson's TMN platform), prepaid and postpaid
billing, as well as subscriber provisioning on
Ericsson platform.
GRAPA Username: antnjoku
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Regional Committee (RC) Chairpersons
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Henry Whyte - English
Sub-Sahara
Regional Chairperson
General Manager/ Revenue Assurance -Ghana
Telecommunications Co Ltd, Ghana
Henry is
married and living in Ghana. He obtained his
Masters in Business Administration in 2000. He
has gained diverse experience in the industry by
working in various capacities as a project
engineer, property manager, corporate planner,
and financial controller at Ghana
Telecommunications Co Ltd. He has acquired
diversified leadership and management skills
which has made him a very successful manager by
gaining in-depth commercial knowledge and
understanding of best practices.
GRAPA
Username: hwhyte
Email Address:
henry@grapatel.com |
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Peter Cimbak - Eastern
Europe
Regional Chairperson
Specialist of IS, Billing Manager -Slovak
Telecom, Slovakia
Bio
coming soon
GRAPA
Username: pcimbak
GRAPA
Email Address:
peter@grapatel.com |
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Position To Be Filled
- Middle East Regional
Chairperson |
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Sriram
Dharmarajan - Indian Subcontinent Regional
Chairperson
Senior Analyst -
Finance Operations -COLT Technology Services,
India
Sriram is Senior Analyst –
Finance Operations with Colt Technologies in
Bangalore, India (a wholly owned subsidiary of
COLT Telecom Group). He currently handles Voice
Trading for COLT’s EU operations. Sriram has 6
years experience with Revenue Assurance,
Billing, Fraud and Customer Service. He holds a
Bachelor degree in Physics and a Post Graduate
degree in General Management. He is comfortable
with five Indian Languages plus English and some
Spanish.
GRAPA
Username: sriramdh
GRAPA
Email Address:
sriram@grapatel.com |
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Andriady Indra - Southeast Asia Regional
Chairperson
Divison Head Fraud Management - PT Indosat,
Indonesia
Andriady
has 11 years of experience in mobile companies
and 7 years of experience in international
carriers. His work experience includes project
management of RA systems for mobile, of customer
care and billing systems as well as system
analyst for international carrier settlement,
domestic interconnection, customer service
management system for IDD service, VAS billing
systems, payroll systems and human management
systems. He is married, has three children and
is living in Indonesia.
GRAPA
Username: aindra2907@yahoo.co.id
GRAPA
Email Address:
andriady@grapatel.com |
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Wessel Scheepers - Southern African Regional
Chairperson
Global Revenue and Forensic Assurance (Fraud)
Specialist - Business Maestros
Wessel
has been involved in telecommunications since
1979 and has been involved with Mobile companies
since 1999. His work experience includes
telecommunication systems operations, deployment
of telecommunication systems, and project
management for the implementation of Wireless
Local loop systems and telecommunications
research. He has managed a small
telecommunications service provider (radio,
fixed line and telex). He is currently part of
Business Maestros as Revenue and Forensic
Assurance (Fraud) Specialist and a director of
In-Corp Software Engineering, specializing in
telecommunications systems development. Wessel
is also responsible for Revenue and Forensic
Assurance Research and Development. Wessel is
married, has two boys and is living in South
Africa.
GRAPA
Username: C-Wessel
GRAPA
Email Address:
wessel@grapatel.com |
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