DBUERGER%SCU.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (08/26/88)
Message forwarded from a co-worker. Please respond directly to dbell@scu.bitnet -----------------cut here-------------------------- A CHEAPER CALL DETAIL RECORDING PROGRAM ? Needed: A program to monitor a serial port on a PC, store 80 character records on disk or tape, and run in background. Records must be readable by a PC data base program. Purpose: Replace expensive Call Accounting packages. Call Accounting, sometimes called Call Detail Recording, is an application that records, costs, and prints user bills for telephone calls on PBXs. Yet, in spite of several vendors supplying such systems (see August 1988 PC Magazine) we have yet to find one that has the combination of features we want at a price we can afford. Most vendors want 10 to 15 thousand dollars for a system to handle 100,000 call records. Yet, the problem would seem to be a relatively simple one for a PC-based system running a modern relational data base program. The data base program could be programmed, in its language, to generate all billing reports. It would seem, then, that all that is required is another program to record 80 character call records as they come in from the PBX over a serial port. This program would run in background continuously, storing records on either disk or tape. The data base program would read those records when needed to make reports. Has anyone heard of this approach? How about just the serial port program itself? Dennis Bell dbell@scu.bitnet