Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!pollux!attctc!vector!telecom-gateway From: kitty!larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Customer Name and Address Records at New York Telephone Message-ID: Date: 4 Sep 89 01:47:00 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Lines: 75 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 346, message 2 of 7 > In article the Moderator writes: > > What is the CN&A Bureau, how does it operate? > > [Moderator's Note: All telcos have Customer Name and Address Bureaus, and > they are generally just an internal function at the telco, with little or > no public contact. The purpose of CNA is to compile and maintain the records > used by Directory Assistance; to make sure the entries in the telephone > book are correct, and related matters. They also service inquiries from > other telcos needing information regards subscriber names, etc for resolution > of billing disputes (customer says, "I never made that long distance call, > etc..."). > ... > Illinois Bell is the only telephone company I know of -- but there may be > others -- which gladly publishes the number of the CNA Bureau, and invites > the public to use it, at a special surcharge, of course. New York Telephone (a NYNEX BOC) does not have a "CNA Bureau" - for the use of the public, or otherwise. New York Telephone maintains ALL customer records on a centralized computer system located downstate known as CRIS (Customer Record Information System). CRIS contains ALL records pertaining to a given customer, except for some technical details involving Special Services (data circuits, inter-PABX tie line circuits, alarm circuits, etc.). Throughout New York Telephone facilities are various data terminals which connect to CRIS and access its data base. In most instances, a given CRIS terminal may access only pre-defined subsets of the CRIS data. For example, a business office will access no technical data beyond that necessary for billing inquiries and service order processing (i.e., USOC codes, mileage components, termination charges, etc.). On the other hand, a repair service bureau will access only technical details and will not have any billing details (EXCEPT if the service has been, ahem, "interrupted" for non-payment :-) ). In the case of directory assistance, local computers in a DAB (Directory Assistance Bureau) obtain a daily update from CRIS. The local DAB computer database contains NO MORE information with respect to the customer name and address than appears in a published directory listing. A regular operator in a DAB has NO access to non-published telephone numbers - it simply ain't in the local database. Calls of an emergency nature which require access to non-published telephone numbers are handled by a supervisory operator (usually at a TSPS position) having an adjacent CRIS terminal. CRIS is updated and maintained by the CRSAB (Customer Record System Administration Bureau). However, the philosphy of New York Telephone is that NO ONE has the "need to know" JUST customer name and address, and there is not even an internal number within its organization to handle such inquiries. If for some reason an employee needs to know such information, they will have to use a CRIS terminal or contact someone with access to same. Since New York Telephone conducts periodic audits of CRIS activity, employees are, ahem, "discouraged" from unauthorized CRIS access. In the case of communication common carriers requiring customer name and address to resolve billing disputes, New York Telephone has a division known as Industry Relations having CRIS terminals set up just for this purpose. However - officially, at least - no one contacts anyone in Industry Relations other than "authorized" representatives of communication common carriers. The only other need for customer name and address information is that of law enforcement agencies, and in the case of New York Telephone, all such requests are handled through their Security Department. In the case of Enhanced 911 service, a subset of the CRIS database is maintained in certain E911 service bureaus - which may be some distance from the local serving area (Buffalo, NY, for example, is handled out of Syracuse - some 120 miles away). As far as I know, E911 systems have NO ACCESS to their data base except for identification of a specific incoming call at the time that the call was received. <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?"