Overview
ISO/IEC 10164-10:1995/Amd 1:1998 is an amendment to the OSI Systems Management standard that adds implementation conformance statement (ICS) proformas for the usage metering function for accounting purposes. Published jointly with ITU‑T (identical to X.742/Amd.1), the amendment supplies standardized proformas - including MCS, MICS, MOCS and MRCS - to document and declare conformance of implementations that support usage metering and accounting in OSI management environments.
Key topics and requirements
- Implementation conformance proformas: Provides Management Conformance Summary (MCS), Management Information Conformance Statement (MICS), Managed Object Conformance Statement (MOCS) and Managed Relationship Conformance Statement (MRCS) proformas to be completed by suppliers.
- Manager and agent roles: Distinguishes required/optional capabilities in the manager role (e.g., operations, notifications, actions) and agent role (managed object classes such as usage metering control, usage metering data, usage metering record).
- Minimum conformance items: Specifies core metering operations and notifications (e.g., start, suspend, resume metering actions; usage report and state-change notifications) and conditional dependencies among items.
- Status and support notation: Uses standardized codes for status (m = Mandatory, o = Optional, c = Conditional, x = Prohibited, – = Not applicable) and support (Y = Implemented, N = Not implemented, Ig = Ignored) consistent with OSI conformance testing frameworks.
- Tables and proforma layout: Defines table formats, continuation rules and instructions for completing proformas so suppliers provide consistent, machine- and human-readable conformance declarations.
- Logging and accounting records: Addresses whether implementations support logging of event records relevant to usage metering and accounting.
Practical applications and users
- Equipment and software vendors use these proformas to declare conformance of network elements, billing agents, and accounting modules that implement OSI usage metering.
- System integrators and service providers rely on the standard to verify that metering capabilities meet procurement requirements for accounting and billing.
- Test laboratories and conformity assessors use the proformas as part of conformance testing and certification workflows.
- Network operators and auditors use the documented conformance statements to validate interoperability and audit trail completeness for usage-based billing.
Related standards
ISO/IEC 10164-10:1995/Amd 1:1998 is essential for anyone implementing, testing or procuring OSI-based usage metering and accounting solutions who need standardized, auditable conformance statements.