Patent ID: 7231028

Claim:
A method comprising: defining one or more default function sets, each default function set comprising one or more subscriber functions of a digital telephone exchange defined as default functions; partitioning subscribers of said digital telephone exchange into default subscribers and special subscribers, said default subscribers being those subscribers whose subscriber functions correspond to one of said default function sets, and said special subscribers being those subscribers whose subscriber functions do not correspond to any of said default function sets; storing subscriber functions consistent with said default function sets in default data records of a subscriber database, each single default data record being common to a plurality of default subscribers whose subscriber functions correspond to the subscriber functions in the default data record concerned; storing subscriber functions for each special subscriber in subscriber-specific data records of a subscriber database, each subscriber-specific data record being specific to the special subscriber concerned; reading the subscriber functions for each default subscriber of said plurality of default subscribers from the default data record concerned; reading the subscriber functions for each special subscriber from the subscriber-specific data record for the subscriber concerned; and managing subscriber functions in the telecommunication network by using subscriber functions read from the default data record and from the subscriber-specific data record.