[asterisk-users] CDR Design

[regs at kinetix.gr]

Billing and logging should not be confused theoretically - I agree. But 
in practice,
the logging of the calls (not other events of the system) IS used for 
billing purposes.
The start and finish time is not enough for many (I not that it is not 
enough for me).

The accountcode is not enough for me either. From my CDRs I have to 
extract all the
information about which provider tried-and-failed or tried-and-succeeded 
to terminate
the call. So I need the terminator's info in the CDRs. This is the only 
way that I can monitor
what my providers charge me (and believe me, never take for granted that 
your provider charge
you with pre-agreed rates, mistakes happen :)). Also, having the 
terminator's data in the CDR is
the only way that I can calculate metrics such as ASR, ACD, mean PDD etc.
And I can't imagine taking all this info from a logging module that 
mixes CDR log events with
other ones (hardware events, user agent registrations, etc.)

Since there is no agreement on WHAT to log and since we have the option 
to put a lot of info
in the CDRs I think the right way to do it is provide the capability of 
every single detail that COULD
be logged and let the end user choose WHAT to log through the 
configuration. I cannot understand
tha benefit of a minimal/fixed/non-flexible CDR logging capability when 
can have the flexibility to
go from minimal to complex depending on a configuration entry in a 
proper configuration file.

P.S. Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one in the VoIP world that 
finds terminator information in the
CDRs useful (including failed calls).

P.S. Sometime we use the term "billing" only for customer billing 
processes which nowadays is incorrect
or insufficient. "Billing" in today's demanding VoIP business means :

1. Customer Billing : we all know what that is

2. Provider CDRs cross-check : as I said above, you have to know what 
your provider charges you in order
to catch mistakes and in order to able to produce profit/loss reports.

3. QoS metrics : ASR, ACD, PDD to name a few. These cannot be calculated 
without proper termination info
from the CDRs. I see LCR modules being introduced now and then in the 
asterisk community but they all seem
a little useless if the above metrics cannot be extracted from the CDRs. 
What is the benefit of having a low cost provider
in your LCR if its ASR equals to 0.0001 %? and how can you measure its 
ASR if the terminator's info (both failed and successful)
is not in the CDRs?


Andrew Thomas wrote:
> It seems to me that we are confusing billing and logging here.  Call
> billing only really needs the start and finish (like we get now) - but
> proper call logging requires all steps.
>
> Do we leave CDR's as they are (for billing purposes) and have a separate
> 'event' driven log for call logging?  Or do we change the CDR structure
> to accommodate logging as well?
>
> Personally, a separate 'event' log seems preferable to me as this keeps
> existing billing platforms useable.  It just means the logging programs
> will need to be re-written to look at a new database for events.
>
> I know we have the AMI - but that puts out a lot more information than
> is needed for simple logging (and requires something to prune and store
> the events in a database of some sort).
>
> Any thoughts? 	 	
> 	
> Andrew Thomas
> Technical Services Manager
> DataVox Ltd
> Saddleworth Business Centre
> Huddersfield Road
> Delph, Oldham
> OL3 5DF 	
>
>
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