Tariscope 4.x. Administrator's guide
Chapter 3. Tariscope configuration
3.10. Telecommunications service providers
- Providers
- Destination codes
- Manual addition of code
- Import
- Changing settings
- Addition to copy
- Moving code to another branch
- Configuration of rates depending on the distance
- Destination table
This configuration page is used to configure data of telecommunications service providers, to which telephone system or Internet equipment is connected. The configuration page should be applied when the appropriate settings have not been entered at the Tariscope Initial configuration, or you need to enter parameters of other telecommunications providers.
Providers
The Tariscope installation package includes data of some providers. In order to determine whether is the data of a desired telecommunications provider in Tariscope, click the Providers and rates branch of the configuration tree. The program window will be as shown in Figure 3.10.1.
Figure 3.10.1
In the right pane of the window a table is displayed that contains a list of providers. Except of providers that are displayed in the table there is a possibility to import other providers from the SoftPI website. To get a list of providers from the website, click on the Import online icon on the toolbar. The Available providers to import window appears, as shown in Figure 3.10.2.
Figure 3.10.2
If this list contains the desired provider, select it and click OK. Parameters of the selected provider will be imported into the Tariscope database and a new row appears in the provider table (Figure 3.10.1).
If the desired provider is absent in the list, you shoud add it.
To add a new provider, set focus on the Providers and rates branch of the configuration tree and right-click. The menu appears that contains the following items:
- Add. Allows to add a new provider.
- Add copy. Allows you to add a new provider on the basis of data of an existing provider in Tariscope.
- Import. Provides an import of data from the XML file. The file can be created by exporting data from Tariscope, either by the Tariscope administrator.
- Import online. Allows to import data of provider from the SoftPI website.
- Refresh. Allows to refresh data in the provider table.
To add a new provider, select the Add item. As a result, the New provider subbranch is appeared in the Providers and rates branch. The subbranch contains the Outgoing and Incoming subbranchs. Each of these subbranch contains the following configuration pages:
- Destination codes;
- Destination table;
- IP networks;
- Day types;
- Rates.
In the right pane of the configuration page two boxes appears.
In the Name box, type a real name of a provider instead of the "New provider" name.
The Description box is used for reference purposes and it is not required.
To store the data, click the Save icon on the toolbar.
If you do not need data of any provider, you can remove it using the Delete item from menu, or the Delete this provider link, or the Delete icon on the toolbar.
When you have added a new provider, its data of destination codes are empty. In this case, select a desired provider - prototype, right-click on the line, and select Add copy item the in the appeared menu. The other way, select the Providers and rates branch, right-click, and in the appeared menu, select the Add copy item. As a result, a window appears that is similar shown in Figure 3.10.3.
Figure 3.10.3
The window contains a list of available providers which can be used as a copy.
From the list, select the provider that is used as the prototype. Click OK. The data of the provider - prototype will be copied. Copying may take some time. Further, it is only necessary to adjust the parameters of the provider.
If the data of a telecommunications provider was previously exported to a file, you can import this information into Tariscope. To do this, select the Import menu item. In the appeared window, select a file with information on a desired provider. The file should have the XML extension. The data of the telecommunications provider will be imported. Further, if necessary, you can change parameters of the provider.
After creating a new provider, execute the addition or correction parameters of the provider.
Area and country codes, IP address
Creation and editing of the area and county codes can be implemented either in Providers and rates → specific provider → Destination codes page or Providers and rates → specific provider → Destinations table page.
Creation and editing of the IP addresses can be implemented in the Providers and rates → specific provider → IP networks page.
Destination codes
This configuration page is intended for addition, deletion and editing of area codes, country codes, telephone numbers of individuals, companies and organizations, which are displayed in a hierarchical tree.
Select the Destination codes page. The program window will be as shown in Figure 3.10.4.
Figure 3.10.4
In this page you can perform actions that are available using the context menu or by clicking the icons on the toolbar. List of possible actions:
- Add. Allows to add a new item in the destination tree.
- Add copy. Allows to create a new item using the duplication data of an existent item.
- Edit. Allows to edit data.
- Move to. Allows to move a branch of the destination tree in another location.
- Delete. Allows to delete a tree item.
- Rename. Allows to rename an item.
- Import. Allows to import destination codes and their parameters from external files.
- Query info. Allows to request the geographical coordinates of the city, if the Internet is accessible.
- Starting coordinates. Specifies the starting geographic coordinates of the city, with respect to which is calculated the distance to the other cities.
The Tariscope administrator can change the tree structure as desired. The names of tree branches can be arbitrary. If there is a area code, which is a typical one for the entire branch of the destination codes, enter it for this branch. Then, if an appropriate area code is not found in subbranches, then the branch name will be applied for a call destination. If the code is found, the call destination will get the name of the relevant subbranch of the tree.
Manual addition of code
We recommend to use this mode only when you need to add some area codes. If necessary to add a large number of area codes, use the data import. Nevertheless we recommend to read the next text to get information about parameters of a area code.
To add a new area code into the destination tree, select a branch of the tree to which a new code will belong. Click Add. The window appears as shown in Figure 3.10.5.
Figure 3.10.5
In the Code box, type the country (area, phone) code with the long distance dialing prefix and international dialing prefix. For example, you need to enter the information about the the BestSoft Company, which located in Chicago, and that has a phone number: 2223333.
To do this, type the following code: 0017082223333, where:
- 0 is a long distance dialing prefix,
- 0 is an international dialing prefix,
- 1 is a country code of U.S.,
- 708 is an area code of Chicago,
- 2223333 is a telephone number of the Company.
The Description box is usually used to enter a city name. If you have typed a destination code that is a specific phone number, type a user-friendly description, for example: SoftPI company, Chief, 911 or other. For outgoing calls the information entered in Description box will be displayed in the To destination column of a call view of the Tariscope program. The same information will be displayed for incoming calls. In this case, the information will be displayed in the From destination column of a call view of the Tariscope program.
The Rate list is used to select a rate which should be used to calculate the call cost. If the telephone code will not correspond to any rate, the call to this telephone number will not be rated.
The Category list is used to select a category of calls that will be linked with this code. Typically, this field is used for codes that contain the particular telephone numbers. Phone codes to specific phone numbers are absent in the provider data that are supplied with the database. If necessary, the administrator must enter these phone numbers. For example, you can enter the codes of your partners, customers, or competitors. When the call information is processed, the belonging to a particular category will be determined using a category of the phone code. The category name is displayed in the Category column of the Tariscope view for calls.
The Call type list is used to determine the call types. Firstly this list can be used to determine calls on mobile providers. Dialed numbers to mobile providers have the same structure as the long distance or international calls. But often the user want to select such calls in a separate group. For this purpose the Call type list can be used. However, the administrator can use this field to assign any call type for any dialed number. Note that the field does not affect the call rating. It only means that a specific call will belong to a certain group: mobile, long distance, and others. If the Call type field is not defined for code, the call definition is executed automatically by Tariscope.
The Active from and To boxes allow to specify a time preiod when the rate is applied ti the area code.
The Latitude and Longitude boxes can be used to calculate the distance to a specific destination in the case a provider uses rates depending on the distance. If you enter the coordinates of a destination and would like to see its location on the map, click on the "?" button, which is located right on the Longitude box. If you have access to the Internet, a browser opens with a map from Google, where the destination will be shown. It is recommended not to specially search for the coordinates of a desired city. Use the Query info service of Tariscope.
When we use the Tariscope program to work with call information, the program allows to filter data on any fields of the database, including the mentioned above fields: To destination, From destination, Category, Call type.
Import
The easiest way to enter data on the codes, rate zones and rates is to import this information from an external file using the Import Wizard. This requires that information on the codes is contained in the file of one of the following formats:
- Microsoft Excel,
- Microsoft Excel 2007,
- Microsoft Access,
- Microsoft Access 2007,
- CSV,
- a tab delimited text file,
- DBF,
- Tariscope 2.x
On the toolbar, click Import, or in the program menu, select Actions → Import. The Import Wizard window appears as shown in Figure 3.10.6.
Figure 3.10.6
Click Next. The Import Wizard window will be as shown in Figure 3.10.7.
Figure 3.10.7
From the Available formats list, select a desired format. Click Browse and select a file that contains information with codes. Click Next. The Wizard window will be as shown in Figure 3.10.8.
Figure 3.10.8
For Excel file, this window displays the available sheets in the file. Select a desired sheet and click Next. The Wizard window will be as shown in Figure 3.10.9.
Figure 3.10.9
At the top of the window, the table is displayed that shows the correspondence between the field of the Tariscope database (the Tariscope field) and a column name of the selected table of the external file (the Data source field).
At the bottom of the window, the table of the external file with the data to import is displayed.
To set the correspondence between the Tariscope field and the Data source field, double-click on any cell of the Data source field column. In the appeared list that contains all fields of the file, select the corresponding field of the data source for every field of the Tariscope database.
Then, click Next.
The Wizard window will be as shown in Figure 3.10.10.
Figure 3.10.10
This window allows to select a primary key to import in the Tariscope database.
There are the following options:
- Code (Telephone number). The equal telephone area codes are looked for in the original data. A single record is created in the Tariscope database. This record contains data from the last found code.
- Description – exact match. Similar descriptions (names of destinations) are looked for in the original data. A single record is created in the Tariscope database. This record contains the last found description.
- Every row as new item. In this case, a new record is created for each line of the original file.
Select the desired option and click Next. The window will be as shown in Figure 3.10.11.
Figure 3.10.11
In this window, select the item, in which the data will be imported. If you have the empty tree of codes, no choice at this stage. In the case, the data is imported into an existing tree, for example, add this to one or more countries, you should select the root element in the tree. Click Next. In the window, select the branch of tree where data will be imported. If your code tree is empty, skip this import step. Click Next. The Import Wizard window will be as shown in Figure 3.10.12.
Figure 3.10.12
This window displays a list of available plans in Tariscope. As a rule, only the Base plan is used for the Tariscope Enterprise edition. Select the plan for which rates will be created and click Next. Start the process of importing data. Upon completion of this process the last window of Import Wizard appears, which reports the results of the import information.
Changing the settings
If you wish to change any parameters of an area code or city, select the desired code or city and click on the Edit icon on the toolbar. The Telephone window appears as shown in Figure 3.10.7. The next actions are the same as in the Add mode.
If you want to make multiple replacement in multiple records of one level of the tree, you want to select these records and click on the Edit icon on the toolbar. In this case the Telephone multiple items window appears as shown in Figure 3.10.13.
Figure 3.10.13
If you want to replace the first N digits in an area code, in the Replace first box, type those digits (for example: 007095), and in the digits to box, type digits which will be the new area code (for example: 007495). Click OK.
If necessary to replace descriptions in all selected records, type a new name in the Description box.
If you want to change the information in the brackets contained in the Description box (for example, to change the name of the country), type the new text in the Text in brackets box.
If you need to replace the rate in all selected records, select a desired rate in the Rate list.
You can make similar replacements for the category, call type, or active period of the code.
If you have selected branches of codes for editing, and you want also to edit subbranches, select the Recursive check box. By default, this check box is clear.
Creation of copy
If necessary to create a new code which is only slightly different from the existing code, use the Add copy mode. In this case the Destination windows appears as shown in Figure 3.10.5. Change the required parameters in the window.
Moving code to another branch
If you need to move a code from one branch to another, you should use the Move to item of the menu that appears when you right-click anywhere on the table except for its title. As a result, the Move codes to window appears as shown in Figure 3.10.14.
Figure 3.10.14
Select a desired branch, and click OK.
Configuration of rates depending on the distance
As mentioned above, some providers use rates, which depend on the distance between the city from where the call was made to the city, where the call was received. Tariscope allows you to set such rates in the automated mode. For these purposes the calculation of the distance based on geographic coordinates of cities is used.
To set such rates, perform the following actions:
- define coordinates of cities for which calls should be charged depending on the distance;
- set the city from which will be calculated distance;
- select the group of cities (codes) corresponding to the distance for a certain rate;
- perform the multiple change of parameters by setting for these cities the required rate.
Consider in detail these actions.
From the Destination codes or the Destinations table, which is described below, select a group of cities, for which should determine the geographical coordinates. Coordinates should be also defined for the city, from which must be calculated the distance. It should be borne in mind that when the Destination codes mode is used, selecting the branch that contains subbranches and which are not open, the search for geographical coordinates will be provided only for the branch. For example, if the search should be made for the cities of the Moscow region, it should be chosen all the cities, not just one branch of the Moscow region. You can search directly for the geographical coordinates of the entire database, but it may take more time. Besides not guarantee the correctness of finding the coordinates of all cities, so there are cities in different countries, in different regions of country, with identical names. For this reason, it is recommended to choose cities by region.
Finding information about the geographical coordinates is performed via internet, respectively, the computer must have an access to it.
After selecting all required cities, click on the Query info icon on the toolbar. The Choose query options window appears. In the window, type the required parameters.
The value of the Restrict country box allows to restrict search coordinates for cities only specified country. The cities with similar names from different countries will be ignored. In this position you must enter a code in accordance with ISO-639-1. For example, for Germany: de, for Spanish: es, and so on. If you do not specify any code in the box, searching will be given the coordinates of the first found of the city.
The Prefer language box allows to specify the language in which names of cities will be entered in the database. Type the country code in accordance with ISO 3166-1. For example, Brazil: br, Czech Republic: cz, Germany: de, etc. The absence of the code entered in this box still allows you to search the geographical coordinates.
Click OK.
Tariscope searches geographical coordinates of cities and automatically calculates the distance relative to the starting coordinates. If previously you did not select cities with the starting coordinates, then default coordinates are applied: 0° latitude, 0° longitude.
To install the starting coordinates, select the desired city, right-click and from the menu select Distance from this point. Tariscope automatically recalculates the distance from the selected city to all the cities for that are defined geographical coordinates. You can also type manually these coordinates. On the toolbar, click on the Starting coordinates icon and in the appeared window, type them.
If there is any doubt in the correctness of the distance (geographical coordinates) for some city, select the city, right-click and in the menu that appears, select Correct location. As a result the Choose location window appears with the revised data for this city.
Next, select cities in the table by sorting by distance that meet the criteria of the specific rate and click the Edit icon on the toolbar. The Telephone multiple items window appears (Figure 3.10.13), in which you should set the desired rate.
The Destination codes mode has a number of features that are available when you right-click on the header of the table. A menu appears that is the similar to menu that is used in all modes.
Destination table
This configuration page is used to add, delete, and edit area codes, phone codes of individuals, companies and organizations. It is similar to the Destination codes page, however, information is displayed as a table (Figure 3.10.15).
Figure 3.10.15
Besides columns that present in the Destination codes page, there is the Parent Name column. This column shows the membership of a particular row in a particular branch of the tree.
All actions for adding, editing, moving, or deleting items are the same as described for the Destination codes page.
The main advantage of this mode is a quick search for information, which is operated across the entire table, not just in open branches of the tree.
IP networks
The IP networks page is designed primarily for internet services providers. This page is similar to the Destinations table page. Only IP networks are used instead of telephone area codes. An example of the window for this page is shown in Figure 3.10.16.
Figure 3.10.16
To add parameters of a new IP network, click Add on the toolbar. As a result the IP Network window appears as shown in Figure 3.10.17.
Figure 3.10.17
In the Network box, type a IP address of the network.
In the Mask box, type a mask of the network.
In the Description box, type a description for the network.
In the Tarif list, select a rate that will be applied to rate traffic for the network.
If you need, in the Category list, select the required name of category.
Rates
The Rates configuration page is intended to cnfigure rates that belong to a specific provider. In contrast to the general Rates mode described in the appropriate article, where there are rates of all providers, rates here are unique to a specific provider. All actions on entering, editing, removing rates are completely analogous to similar actions described in the Rates section.
