Now that voice is no longer the only communications game in town, and data infrastructures are increasingly shouldering the telephony load within the enterprise, we have to wrestle with the question of what kind of call accounting we need.

It's time to change the focus from asking 'Is the system ok?' to 'Are people communicating effectively?'

A quality call accounting system tracks telephone call activity generated by any number, type, and combination of PBXs. the data you get from the call detail records can give you valuable insights into how your staff is communicating.

But what exactly is call accounting you ask?

According to Wikipedia.org, and online free encyclopedia, call Accounting is an information systems solution in the form of software that takes data from an Internet protocol server, PABX or Key system when a call is made and attaches a cost and a location to the call. Most PABXs have the capability to send call information out of a serial port or via a proprietary network service. The call accounting has a capturing module or capturing device that is then able to store the data from the PABX.

This data is sometimes called Call Detail Record (CDR) or Station Message Detail Recording (SMDR).

The CDR contains the following information:

1. The Extension or User that made / received a call.

2. The Trunk Number or PABX trunk equipment number where the call originated.

3. The Time of day of the call.

4. The duration of the call.

5. The dialed number if outgoing or the CallerID if incoming.

6. An authorization Code for calls via certain users.

7. An Account Number.

Call accounting systems with "in-memory database technology" (IMDB), let your call accounting solution achieve sub-second speeds both in inserting the data and retrieving information. High data compression and a special caching technique allow instant access to stored data (held in RAM rather than on disk).

Look for a system database designed the so that data is never lost, even in cases of catastrophic power failure.

There are many vendors on the market with call accounting solutions that cater to general business, professional and the hospitality industry.

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About the Author

Author, Karen Ritz, VP Business Development for TelSoft Solutions, writes on the business benefits of call accounting and call detail record technology. More information can be found at http://www.telsoft-solutions.com.