A customer care and billing system separating identity and relationship characteristics

摘要

A customer care and billing system that separates identity information from customer information. A customer entity object maintains relationships of the customer to system features, such as a customer account. A separate identity entity object provides identity information, such as, name for the customer, and other person-type objects. The entity object can be linked to plural objects which represents persons or organizations allowing a single entity object to store the identity information for a number of objects. The entity object and for example, a customer object are linked allowing the relationships of an individual with the system to be identified through the links. The entity object can also be linked to an entity role object that identifies the roles, such as, bill recipient, an individual or organization has in the system.