Abstract: A network management system allows operators to set up subscriptions to services for network users. The subscriptions each associate a subscriber object and an application object. The subscriber object contains information about the subscriber's network connection. The application object contains information about the application's network connection. The operator does not need to work with low level information such as physical port numbers to create a subscription. The system automatically sets up one or more virtual channel connections as needed to provide the application to the subscriber. The system can be easier to operate accurately than current systems. The system may track and accumulate statistics on a service-by-service basis. The statistics may be used to bill for individual services even if several different virtual channel connections are used to provide each service.