1. What is the difference between "call accounting"
and "telemanagement"?
2. How much does a call
accounting or telemanagement system cost?
3. How does
telemanagement work?
4. How
are call detail records (CDR) captured?
5. How are call records
assigned costs?
6. What should I look for
in a call accounting or telemanagement system?
What is the difference between "call accounting" and "telemanagement"?
These terms are often used interchangeably but call accounting is really a subset of telemanagement.
Call Accounting implies the collection of call detail records (CDR) and the processing of this information to produce bills for telephone usage. Most systems include some traffic analysis reporting. Many Call Accounting systems have very primitive options to account for the expenses of telephone equipment.
Telemanagement refers to software that may include modules to perform:
- Call Accounting
- Line Assignment (cable management)
- PBX Management
- Traffic Analysis
- Traffic Engineering
- Work Order Processing (moves, adds, changes)
- Work Scheduling
- Inventory Management (installed, warehouse, on-order)
- Trouble Ticket
- Directory Assistance
How much does a call accounting or telemanagement system cost?
Industry prices range from under $1,000 for a small PC-based call accounting package to well over $200,000 for a complete suite of client-server telemanagement applications. Pricing will depend upon the number of applications you purchase and the computer platform you choose. Single-site, single-user, PC-based products are at the low end of the price range. These systems often have very limited installation, support and training options. Full featured, multi-site client/server telemanagement products are at the high end of the price range. Customized modifications, additional training requirements and the clean-up and consolidation of existing disparate systems can sometimes double the cost of a large system. Pacific Telematics' focus is on the larger telemanagement installations and our system pricing is not based upon call volume. Larger sites do require larger and more expensive computer hardware to efficiently run the required software.
How does
telemanagement work?
Telemanagement can be thought of as the tracking of two types of charges:
- Variable usage based costs - handled by the Call Accounting module and
- Fixed equipment costs - handled by other Inventory Database modules.
Variable Costs
The Call Accounting module will use buffer devices (Logical Storage Units or LSUs) to capture and store call detail records (CDR) from your Private Branch Exchange (PBX). Other call detail records may be provided from outside sources (e.g. calling card billing data). All CDR data is electronically sent to your main Call Accounting computer for processing. The CDR data is processed into billing reports to be allocated across your organization (often delivered through e-mail), or traffic statistics reports which give you a detailed look at trunk usage, call volumes, and calling patterns.
Fixed Costs
The Inventory Database modules of a telemanagement system will track equipment, features and services within your organization. This is accomplished by a team of telemanagement customer service representatives running client applications (work order processing, trouble ticket and cable management) that update a well integrated database residing on a server machine.
How are call detail records (CDR) captured?
Call detail records (CDR) are created by the telephone switch (usually a PBX or Private Branch Exchange) owned by the user of Call Accounting software. The PBX may have the ability to store the CDR on its own hard disk for several weeks or months. Older PBXs would output the CDR to a standard RS-232 port. This port can be used to capture CDR on magnetic tapes or (more reliably) in a solid state Logical Storage Unit (LSU). The LSU of choice for the AccuTRAC Call Accounting system is the Data-Link device. The Data-Link has a host of features including battery backup and alarm filters to detect toll fraud that make it a superb choice for collecting call detail records.
How are call records
assigned costs?
There is an old joke about several accountants interviewing for a job. Each is asked to add up a list of numbers. The accountant who gets the job first asks "What would you like the total to be?"
Call pricing isn't very different. Calls may be priced in a variety of ways depending on the charge back principles of the organization doing the billing. Pacific Telematics always starts by compiling a "Pricing Principles" document for each new customer. This document helps us to understand the pricing philosophy of each organization. It helps the AccuTRAC users explain the costing methods to the communications service users.
Some organizations may only recoup actual costs and never earn a profit. Others may be earn some profits to save for future new plant and equipment. Pricing usually starts with traditional costing methods (described below) then is assigned a discount or a premium using a wide array of options.
Traditional call costing methods consider:
- The carrier used (AT&T, MCI, Sprint, other)
- Distance or mileage the call traveled
- Time of day the call occurred (day, evening, night)
- Day of the week (Sat., Sun., weekday, holiday) on which the call occurred.
The mileage is determined by V&H coordinates. V&H coordinates represent an imaginary grid that blankets North America. Each central office is assigned a V(reticule) and H(oriental) coordinate. Since the originating and terminating central offices (CO) are known, the mileage can be determined using a strange variant of the theorem of Pythagoras.
AT&T is required by the FCC to file a "tariff" that stipulates the charges for their various calling plans. MCI and Sprint voluntarily file tariffs presumably to impress their customers. These V&H tables and tariffs are included in your Call Accounting software. The distance of each call is calculated, then it is assigned a cost based on the carrier's tariffs that your company uses. Your Call Accounting software will then add a surcharge or a discount to each call depending on the parameters you provided.
What should I look for in a call accounting or telemanagement system?
You should look for a system that:
- Can be custom fitted to your needs
- Can grow as your needs expand
- Comes with great service and training
- Uses proven technology (e.g., ODBC) that fits well with your own
- Is well documented and supported
Price is of less importance for larger telecommunications departments where the right software can facilitate operations and save many person-years of work every year it is in operation. The wrong software can spell disaster and cost many times more than its inexpensive price in lost revenue and increased work loads.
There are probably over one hundred call accounting vendors in the U.S. market today. Vendors come and go each year. Check out the vendors that interest you for longevity and stability. Remember, your purchase is an investment that should last five to ten years. You'll need service and upgrades to keep abreast of changing technologies. Stick to a vendor with a proven track record of support and product improvement. Your telemanagement systems should also interact well with your other voice and data products. "Open" or ODBC compliant telemanagement products can capture and share data easily with other open applications such as spreadsheets, word processing programs, and graphics packages.
Your telemanagement system should take advantage of a relational database technology so that data integrity is maintained and data is universally available. All applications should share the tables in one central database. This way, an update in one application will automatically update all the related applications. For example, if you change an employee's last name in the Directory module, their last name would automatically be changed in the Inventory database table.
You should consider the possibility of key staff member turnover. You need software that is easy to learn and use. Windows-based products provide an interface that is universally understood. Products with on-line help screens allow new users to find answers for themselves. Good vendor telephone support is critical. Some vendors offer on-site installation and training.