This walkthrough provides an introduction to CDR2Cloud Authentication Code (Auth Code) feature and how to effectively use Auth Codes to identify which customer CDR calls should be billed to.
This walkthrough will cover the following steps:
- Anatomy of a CDR file
- Business Logic for Identifying Customers
- Define Authentication (Auth) Code for Customer Records
Anatomy of a CDR file
CDR files come in many different formats, sizes and field definition. Every PBX manufacturer has a different CDR file format, however we can safely say that every PBX produces a CDR file. CDR files are basically log files that contain a transaction record of calls that have been processed by your PBX, SIP Server or Network. When operating a PBX there are basically 2 accepted ways of producing billing records, RADIUS and CDR files. CDR2Cloud allows you to easily produce billing records from your CDR files by reading each line in the CDR file and bill that line to a customer. You must however define the logic that will be used to associate that line from the CDR file to a customer, but you must first understand what data is in your CDR file and how it relates to your customer.
Note
This walkthrough uses CDR files from the Brekeke SIP Server, however the concept is the same as applied to any CDR file from any other manufacturer.
Below is an extract of a CDR file as viewed in Edit Pad as well as Excel:
CDR File in EditPad Text Editor (click to display)
CDR File in Microsoft Excel (click to display)
Notice that there are 9 records (rows) with 9 fields (columns). If viewed in a Text Editor you will notice that each field is separated (delimited) by commas, however when viewed in Excel the columns are more clearly marked. We have added the column header descriptions to the Excel image for the purpose of this walkthrough. Your CDR file may have a few or thousand rows, however we are more interested in the fields (columns) as they hold the key to determining which customer the call should be billed to.
Taking each record (row), one at a time you will notice that every field (column) contains different information such as:
| how long did the call last for | talking-length |
|---|---|
| when did the call start | talk-start-time |
| what phone number was called | to-uri |
For Example, reading the first call record from the extract above we can see the following:
| how long did the call last for | 3 seconds |
|---|---|
| when did the call start | 12:41 GMT |
| what phone number was called | 12896980000 |
CDR File in Microsoft Excel (click to display)
We must now figure out how each field (column) relates back toy our customer that we would like to charge the call to. We will do this in the next section Business Logic for Identifying Customer Calls.
Business Logic for Identifying Customer Calls
Now that we have a clear understanding of the fields in our CDR file we can take a look at how we will determine the Business Logic that is needed to identify each CDR record to a customer.
Note
The information required for identifying calls from the CDR file to your customer will come directly from one of more fields in the CDR file. If your CDR file does not have enough information for you to identify your customers then you must go back to the PBX, SIP Server, etc and reconfigure the data that will be produced in the CDR file.
One of the simplest and most common ways of identifying calls to your customers is to use the [Calling Number] field. In our sample CDR file extract above this would be the [from-uri] field. Simply put we are saying that we will identify our customer calls by using the number from which the call was made (or the Caller ID).
We will use the [Calling Number] to identity our customers calls. This means that if the [Calling Number] matches our Customers Caller-ID then we will assume the call was made by that Customer and therefore charge the call to the Customer.
Our Customer John Doe makes calls from his mobile phone 647 865 5000, as such any record in our CDR file with the [Calling Number] = 647 865 5000 will be identified to John Doe.
Taking a look at the CDR file extract (see image below), we can see that there are 2 calls that should be charged to John Doe based on our Business Logic.
We will use the [Called Number] to identity our customers calls. This means that if the [Called Number] matches a specific number then we will assume the call was made by that Customer and therefore charge the call to the Customer.
Our Customer John Doe makes calls to mobile phone 905 200 5998, as such any record in our CDR file with the [Called Number] = 905 200 5998 will be identified to John Doe.
Taking a look at the CDR file extract (see image below), we can see that there are 4 calls that should be charged to John Doe based on our Business Logic.
We will use the [Source IP Address] to identity our customers calls. This means that if the Source IP Address] matches a specific IP Address then we will assume the call was made by that Customer and therefore charge the call to the Customer.
Our Customer John Doe makes calls from his network which has a source IP Address of 60.20102.106, as such any record in our CDR file with an IP Address of 60.20102.106 will be identified to John Doe.
Taking a look at the CDR file extract (see image below), we can see that there are 5 calls that should be charged to John Doe based on our Business Logic.
Define Auth Code for your Customer
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