In addition to standardized billing data, the BAMS generates measurements data. Measurements can be taken in a specified time interval and for a variety of data objects. This data is suitable for traffic studies on network usage. Depending on the error flagged during validation, the record can be written to an error file and dropped, or it can flow through the system with default values. In general, structure or record-format errors result in the record being dropped.
Lookup errors result in the record attaining default values.
The BAMS stores the formatted data on disk in a data directory where it can be collected or polled by the billing system. In addition to billing data, the BAMS stores exception and measurements data, and writes system messages to a log file. Files collected by the BAMS from the Cisco MGC are time-stamped and sequence numbered. Successfully formatted files are renamed using special prefix and suffix symbols. The MSC task must be set up with this file pattern information.