Call data collection
Regardless of their size, most telephone PBX (public branch exchange) and PMS (property management systems)
output Call Detail Records (CDR). Generally, these get created at the end of a call but on some phone systems
the data is available during the call. This data is output from the phone system by a serial link known as the
Station Message Detail Recording port (SMDR). Some of the details included in call records are: Time, Date, Call
Duration, Number dialed, Caller ID information, Extension, Line/trunk location, Cost, Call completion status.
Call detail records, both local and long distance, can be used for usage verification, billing reconciliation,
network management and to monitor telephone usage to determine volume of phone usage, as well as abuse of your
company's telephone system. CDR's are an asset in managing long distance telephone costs and aid in the planning
for future telecommunications needs.
Control telecommunications costs with CDR analysis:
- review all CDR's for accuracy
- verify costs and usage
- resolve discrepancies with vendors
- disconnect unused service
- terminate leases on unused equipment
- deter or detect toll fraud of long distance services
- negotiate the most cost-effective call routing
Call record (CDR) buffers
Call records produced by the PBX are transmitted via serial port to a buffer, where they are temporarily stored
until retrieved by call accounting software. Since they provide a reliable
method of safely transferring information to call accounting or telemanagement systems, call record buffers have
long been broadly accepted as the preferred storage device as a safeguard against cases of delayed call collection
or communication failure.
Call Processing
MegaCall processes all call record data collected by MegaPoll™
in real time as the calls arrive in the system (at speeds of over 100 calls per second). When processing a call
that refers to a station, authorization code or account code that is not currently in the database, MegaCall automatically
creates a record for that station, authorization code or account code with default values, and sends an alarm to
MegaWare's alarm processor. When processing a call that refers to a trunk or trunk group not currently in the database,
MegaCall automatically creates a record for that trunk and/or trunk group with default values, and notifies MegaAlarm
that this has been done. When starting up, MegaCall automatically goes through a re-synchronizing process with
MegaPoll, and processes any calls that were collected by MegaPoll but not previously inserted into the database.
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