Anytime Anyplace Anywhere Anyway

To be sure, if tracking voice network call records was not crucial to the daily operation of an enterprise, then call accounting would not be the multimillion-dollar business it is today. A good call accounting (CA) system helps combat myriad telephone misuses: phone abuse (Chatty Patty, the company secretary, has a penchant for long-duration, long distance calls during peak hours); client billing (Lawyer Bob needs to bill his client for that three-hour conference call to Honduras); or call verification (Detective Joe proves that the perp called her mom from the crime scene). Call accounting can tell you who's doing what on the phone and how much it's costing the business - regardless of your network's size.

Call Me in a Sweet Design

In essence, call accounting is a database application that processes call data from your switch (PBX, iPBX, or key system) via a CDR (call detail record) or SMDR (station message detail record) port. The call data record details your system's incoming and outgoing calls by thresholds, including time of call, duration of call, dialing extension, and number dialed. Call data is stored in a PC database or temporarily in a buffer box (a solid-state device that stores data until polled at intervals, thus alleviating the PC's hard-drive space from a data flood).

The call accounting software takes this information and generates a report for easy analysis. Multiple reports are standard with most software packages, and some allow you to customize or create your own reports. Report subjects include most expensive calls, longest calls, and frequently dialed numbers, among others. Depending on the application, call reports may be delivered via fax, email, or SNMP; posted on a secure Web site; or presented via the software's GUI, which commonly features drill-down capabilities. (Call data is presented on separate screens. From the general call log, you drill down to the day of call, then the time of call, then the calling extension, etc.).

Call Me for Some Overtime

Though most CA apps are designed as customer-premised equipment (CPE), you can outsource the maintenance and housing of your call accounting system to an ASP (application service provider). The rise in ASP-based call accounting is significant enough for us to divide our CA coverage into two parts (the second being the Call Accounting & Telemanagement Services feature coming in October). Why the need to distinguish the two? Well, aside from their CA capabilities, their features can differ greatly. CPE accounting will sometimes include apps such as traffic analysis, electronic directories, and on-site alarms that the ASP offerings - even if they're from the same vendor - do not. Consider, for example, Matsch Systems' NET-Phacs service. The hosted solution lacks the more sophisticated traffic analysis, electronic directory, and interfaces of Matsch's Shared Tenant Service and Facilities Management software that are hallmarks of NET-Phacs' CPE counterpart, MOST-Phacs.

Also on the rise in both CPE and ASP-based call accounting are network accounting features like Internet-use tracking and VoIP traffic/call accounting. Several of the manufacturers listed in the roundup offer both ASP-based and CPE accounting.

Call Me Any Day or Night

Buyers beware: These days you can get a lot more out of your call accounting system than just call data. Make sure you're buying features your enterprise requires and/or doesn't already have. An understanding of what information you need from your phone system and how you want that info presented will make shopping for a CA system less daunting. The following manufacturers provide call accounting packages for various platforms in all sizes and prices. See which one might suit your business best.

@Comm
@Comm's (Burlingame, CA - 650-375-8188) CommView is a 32-bit call accounting and traffic management app. ODBC- (open database connectivity) compliant, the software supports databases from Sybase, Oracle, Microsoft SQL server, and others with SQL-based apps. The software performs polling, SMDR parsing, call pricing, call processing, and traffic analysis over your WAN or LAN. It supports single and multiple sites. And it consolidates reporting for the PBX, Centrex service, calling cards, and cellular traffic.

Users can generate reports from any of eight organizational levels. Reports, produced via Crystal Reporting, feature hour-range, sort/subsort, and page-break options. The reports also have an embedded "drill down" capability for accessing graphs and additional data. Reports are distributed via email, HTML, DHTML (HTML 4.0), and Word & Excel for offline viewing.

Polling thresholds include 100 costing options, 140 dialing templates, and 32 processing rules. The new Scheduler feature shows processes pending, running, and completed on one screen for editing and analysis. For setup, CommView's Intelligent Configuration feature supports rate tables, verifies communications to and from the buffer, and examines the PC for a serial port and modem. It also tests the PBX or phone system for data validity. And it ensures that connections and software configuration on the PC are correct.

CommView's pricing, dependent on station count and number of sites, starts at $1,800.

Communication Sciences
Communication Sciences' (Edison, NJ - 732-632-8000) PC-based CallAnalyzer Instant Access provides a real-time capture and search facility of calls recorded on as many as three PBXs. When a call is placed, the details (destination, duration, calling extension, etc.) are transferred from the PBX to the administrator's PC. A search screen displays call data by phone number, extension, day, trunk group, and other parameters. The app generates detail or summary exception reports of suspect calls (e.g., long duration or international calls). The app also can be used for traffic engineering, compliance monitoring, fraud, or abuse detection.

The app's polling component continuously monitors the PBX (we're talking 24/7), storing call data in a Microsoft Access database. Authorized users can access the database from their desktop using the app's search screen.

The software matches PBX hardware by changing parameters such as COM ports, baud rates, data/stop bits, buffer size and parity. Other options let you purge data, fix the number of days to keep old calls, and determine whether to record raw call data from the PBX. Calls rejected because of bad data or lack of information can also be viewed on the screen.

CTI Data Solutions'
CTI Data Solutions' (Valley Forge, PA - 610-666-1700) Nereus software comes with modules for call accounting, tracking equipment inventory, and toll fraud, among others.

Anytime Anyplace Anywhere Anyway

To be sure, if tracking voice network call records was not crucial to the daily operation of an enterprise, then call accounting would not be the multimillion-dollar business it is today. A good call accounting (CA) system helps combat myriad telephone misuses: phone abuse (Chatty Patty, the company secretary, has a penchant for long-duration, long distance calls during peak hours); client billing (Lawyer Bob needs to bill his client for that three-hour conference call to Honduras); or call verification (Detective Joe proves that the perp called her mom from the crime scene). Call accounting can tell you who's doing what on the phone and how much it's costing the business - regardless of your network's size.

Call Me in a Sweet Design

In essence, call accounting is a database application that processes call data from your switch (PBX, iPBX, or key system) via a CDR (call detail record) or SMDR (station message detail record) port. The call data record details your system's incoming and outgoing calls by thresholds, including time of call, duration of call, dialing extension, and number dialed. Call data is stored in a PC database or temporarily in a buffer box (a solid-state device that stores data until polled at intervals, thus alleviating the PC's hard-drive space from a data flood).

The call accounting software takes this information and generates a report for easy analysis. Multiple reports are standard with most software packages, and some allow you to customize or create your own reports. Report subjects include most expensive calls, longest calls, and frequently dialed numbers, among others. Depending on the application, call reports may be delivered via fax, email, or SNMP; posted on a secure Web site; or presented via the software's GUI, which commonly features drill-down capabilities. (Call data is presented on separate screens. From the general call log, you drill down to the day of call, then the time of call, then the calling extension, etc.).

Call Me for Some Overtime

Though most CA apps are designed as customer-premised equipment (CPE), you can outsource the maintenance and housing of your call accounting system to an ASP (application service provider). The rise in ASP-based call accounting is significant enough for us to divide our CA coverage into two parts (the second being the Call Accounting & Telemanagement Services feature coming in October). Why the need to distinguish the two? Well, aside from their CA capabilities, their features can differ greatly. CPE accounting will sometimes include apps such as traffic analysis, electronic directories, and on-site alarms that the ASP offerings - even if they're from the same vendor - do not. Consider, for example, Matsch Systems' NET-Phacs service. The hosted solution lacks the more sophisticated traffic analysis, electronic directory, and interfaces of Matsch's Shared Tenant Service and Facilities Management software that are hallmarks of NET-Phacs' CPE counterpart, MOST-Phacs.

Also on the rise in both CPE and ASP-based call accounting are network accounting features like Internet-use tracking and VoIP traffic/call accounting. Several of the manufacturers listed in the roundup offer both ASP-based and CPE accounting.

Call Me Any Day or Night

Buyers beware: These days you can get a lot more out of your call accounting system than just call data. Make sure you're buying features your enterprise requires and/or doesn't already have. An understanding of what information you need from your phone system and how you want that info presented will make shopping for a CA system less daunting. The following manufacturers provide call accounting packages for various platforms in all sizes and prices. See which one might suit your business best.

@Comm
@Comm's (Burlingame, CA - 650-375-8188) CommView is a 32-bit call accounting and traffic management app. ODBC- (open database connectivity) compliant, the software supports databases from Sybase, Oracle, Microsoft SQL server, and others with SQL-based apps. The software performs polling, SMDR parsing, call pricing, call processing, and traffic analysis over your WAN or LAN. It supports single and multiple sites. And it consolidates reporting for the PBX, Centrex service, calling cards, and cellular traffic.

Users can generate reports from any of eight organizational levels. Reports, produced via Crystal Reporting, feature hour-range, sort/subsort, and page-break options. The reports also have an embedded "drill down" capability for accessing graphs and additional data. Reports are distributed via email, HTML, DHTML (HTML 4.0), and Word & Excel for offline viewing.

Polling thresholds include 100 costing options, 140 dialing templates, and 32 processing rules. The new Scheduler feature shows processes pending, running, and completed on one screen for editing and analysis. For setup, CommView's Intelligent Configuration feature supports rate tables, verifies communications to and from the buffer, and examines the PC for a serial port and modem. It also tests the PBX or phone system for data validity. And it ensures that connections and software configuration on the PC are correct.

CommView's pricing, dependent on station count and number of sites, starts at $1,800.

Communication Sciences
Communication Sciences' (Edison, NJ - 732-632-8000) PC-based CallAnalyzer Instant Access provides a real-time capture and search facility of calls recorded on as many as three PBXs. When a call is placed, the details (destination, duration, calling extension, etc.) are transferred from the PBX to the administrator's PC. A search screen displays call data by phone number, extension, day, trunk group, and other parameters. The app generates detail or summary exception reports of suspect calls (e.g., long duration or international calls). The app also can be used for traffic engineering, compliance monitoring, fraud, or abuse detection.

The app's polling component continuously monitors the PBX (we're talking 24/7), storing call data in a Microsoft Access database. Authorized users can access the database from their desktop using the app's search screen.

The software matches PBX hardware by changing parameters such as COM ports, baud rates, data/stop bits, buffer size and parity. Other options let you purge data, fix the number of days to keep old calls, and determine whether to record raw call data from the PBX. Calls rejected because of bad data or lack of information can also be viewed on the screen.

CTI Data Solutions'
CTI Data Solutions' (Valley Forge, PA - 610-666-1700) Nereus software comes with modules for call accounting, tracking equipment inventory, and toll fraud, among others.