Tariscope 4.5.x. Administrator's guide
Chapter 4 Tariscope configuration
4.11 Adding a new telephone system
4.11.49. Routes and Gateways
A route is a group of trunks which connects your telephone system with a telephone exchange of telecommunications service provider. The notion of gateway is used in Voice over IP networks (VoIP). A gateway provides connectivity between IP networks and traditional telecommunications channels.
To correctly rate calls, Tariscope must know what rate should be applied to a call made through a specific route or gateway. Therefore, you should specify this information in Tariscope.
To enter the route or gateway parameters, select the Routes and Gateways subbranch of the desired telephone system. The Routes and Gateways page appears. An example of the page is shown in Figure 4.11.49.1.
Figure 4.11.49.1
This page allows to specify:
- an access code to a specific route that ensures the correct definition of the dialed number,
- a main telecommunications service provider, whose rates are used for calls through the route or gateway,
- an additional telecommunications service provider, whose rates are used for alternative rating,
- a virtual subscriber that is used for charging all calls of the route,
- an access code to properly recognize calls made from the PBX, that is a remote PBX,
- a configuration of limits on the route or gateway,
- a communication with other telephone systems of the private telephone network.
If you want to specify general information for all routes, double-click on the All routes line.
If you want to specify general information for all gateways, double-click on the All gateways line.
To specify data for a specific route, select the All routes line, and click on the Add icon on the toolbar.
To specify data for a specific gateway, select the All gateways line, and click on the Add icon on the toolbar.
In all cases the Creating windows appears as shown in Figure 4.11.49.2.
Figure 4.11.49.2
When you create a new route, in the Route box, type a route number. This number must match the number of the route (trunks group), which is present in CDRs received from the PBX.
The Description box is auxiliary. In the box you can specify, for example, the provider name to which the route is connected. This information can be used, for example, in the Tariscope reports.
If in the CDR data, an access code is present in the dialed number, enter the code in the Access code box. This information is necessary for the proper determination of the type of call and, accordingly, to rate the call.
Some PBXs, for example, Communications Server 1000 or Meridian 1 (Avaya or Nortel), can have a few different access codes to single route. In this case you must enter all access codes in the Access code box separating them via semicolons. For example, the following codes are used: 9, 7001 and 7002. In the Access code box, you must enter: 9;7001;7002
In the Provider list, select a telecommunications service provider the rates of which will be used to rating. Tariscope contains parameters of a few telecommunications service providers from different countries. If the required provider is absent in this list, you can try to import the desired provider from the SoftPI Web-site or enter its parameter in the Providers and rates configuration page.
If you need also to rate calls using an alternative rating, in the Secondary provider list, select the desired provider.
Click Save.
A new record appears in the Routes and Gateways table.
If you wish to edit settings of a route, select it in the table and click on the Edit icon on the toolbar. In case when you edit parameters of all routes, the Route box is not accessible.
The Routes and Gateways page contains the toolbar (Figure 4.11.49.1), which besides the creation and editing allows you to make other settings related to routes or gateways.
Settings for private telephone networks
Tariscope call processing works so that calls within one PBX, i.e. without using routes (gateways), are considered internal. Calls received or made using routes (gateways) are considered as an external call (local, long distance, international or mobile operators). Therefore, if a user has several PBXs that are interconnected, then the call of a subscriber of one PBX to the subscriber of another PBX is considered as an external call by default. If you have a private telephone network and you want the calls inside this network are recognized, for example, as corporate calls, select the route connected your two PBXs and click on the Equipment network icon on the toolbar. The Equipment network window appears as shown in Figure 4.11.49.3.
Figure 4.11.49.3
In the Equipment list, select the PBX name to which the route connects the current PBX.
In the Call type list select the desired call type for calls to subscribers of PBX that you have selected on the previous step.
Rating transit calls
By default, Tariscope does not rate transit calls. If you want to rate such calls, you can do this using a virtual subscriber. To create a virtual subscriber, you should create the subscriber, click on the Details button on the toolbar and turn on the Virtual subscriber switch (Figure 4.11.49.4), then save the setting.
Figure 4.11.49.4
In the Route and Gateways table (Figure 4.11.49.1), select the route and click on the Transit call tariffication icon. The Transit call tariffication window appears as shown in Figure 4.11.49.5.
Figure 4.11.49.5
In the Virtual subscriber list, select the virtual subscriber created earlier. Click Save.
When you have the network of PBXs (telephone exchanges) and only single PBX is used to access to PSTN, and CDR data is collected from this PBX, to configure a route to another PBX of your telephone network, you should select the route and click on the Transit call tariffication icon. The Transit call tariffication window appears as shown in Figure 4.11.49.5.
Turn on the Remote cabinet switch and enter the access code in the Remote cabinet code box if it is used for the route. Click Save. These settings allow Tariscope to write data from the CLID field, which contains an extension of the remote PBX, instead of the numbers of the incoming route and trunk. As a result, you will have correct rating for subscribers from the remote telephone system.
If you wish to manage a specific route, for example, to disable it when the route credit was exhausted and your Tariscope license includes the restrictions feature for Routes or All options, select the route and click on the Restrictions icon on the toolbar (Figure 4.11.49.1). The Restrictions window appears as shown in Figure 4.11.49.6.
Figure 4.11.49.6
In the Credit box, type a value of credit in the seconds or money. Money is specified in the main currency. This feature is applied only for Tariscope with the restriction feature.
In the Hardware ID box, type parameters that will be transferred in the script to apply the restriction feature. It may be a single character that will be analyzed by the script and depending on its value the appropriate command will be performed.
The Debit box is used for informational purposes. It is filled by Tariscope when it charges the call cost or duration for this route. The box is cleaned automatically after a specified period.
The Status box is displayed the current status of restriction: No restriction or With restriction.
To keep settings, click Save.
If you have a few routes with different parameters, repeat the input for other routes.
If a specific route contains trunks which need to rate using other rates than for the route, create a new trunk and enter its parameters.
To create a new trunk, in the route table, select the required route and click Add on the toolbar. The Creating window (Figure 4.11.49.2) appears where the Trunk box is displayed instead of the Route box. All settings in this window are similar to those described above.
For IP telephony devices such as Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Asterisk, and others, in the Creating window (Figure 4.11.49.2) the Gateway box is displayed instead of the Route box. All settings for gateways are similar to routes’ settings.
If necessary, to delete the route, trunk, or gateway, select it and, click Delete on the toolbar.
To change parameters of route or gateways, select the required item and click Edit.
If you already have the processed database of calls in Tariscope, but has not yet been configured routes / gateways, you can use the automatic determination feature of route (gateways) and access codes to them. To do this, on the toolbar, click the Auto fill Routes and Gateways icon.
