[asterisk-users] CDR Design

[Steve Murphy]

On Wed, 2008-12-03 at 08:11 +0000, 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).
> 

That's the classic tradeoff... too much vs. too little detail.

If you want 3 tons of detail, use Manager.
If you want just 1 ton of detail, use CEL
If you want a half-ton of detail, with time diffs built in,
use CDR.
There are some other differentiating factors... like the fact that
CDRs do provide some grouping of events natural to billing.

At any rate, NONE of them can be directly used for a billing app
(if any currently can, you may have a problem!) 
--and I've seen folks use hybrid mixtures of the above to put together
"The Perfect Billing System".

murf

> Any thoughts? 	 	
> 	
> Andrew Thomas
> Technical Services Manager
> DataVox Ltd
> Saddleworth Business Centre
> Huddersfield Road
> Delph, Oldham
> OL3 5DF 	
> 

-- 
Steve Murphy
Software Developer
Digium
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