What is really is a ‘CDR’?

Today we’re going back to basics, in detailing the core of all telco billing – what is a CDR, and why is it important, and what does it do, exactly?

‘CDR’ stands for ‘Call Data Record’ and it is what it essentially says on the box. It tells describes to us a particular instance of a call, and could almost be called the metadata for a phone call (although, realistically this would be an incorrect assumption).

At a very basic level, CDRs contain:

• The A-Party (this is the phone number of the person initiating the call)
• The B-Party (The phone number receiving the call)
• A Unique Identifier for the call
• The Billing Phone Number who is charged for the call
• The start date and time of the call
• Duration of the call

Though more broadly, they will also contain additional information such as:

• Disposition of the Call (e.g. ‘Connected’)
• Call Type (e.g. Voice, SMS etc)
• Last SIP Response
• Identification of the system creating the record

So, as you can see there are a lot variables in what ‘makes’ as CDR, and it can be very different across many different Telcos. Let’s say for example your Telco has a somewhat unique business case in that you offer Call Tracking. In that case, you might find it beneficial to include details such as a Campaign Name and/or Campaign Identifier so that your customers can see that these billable calls lead back to real-world results on their invoice.

With PracBill, You can include as much data as you like in your CDRs, which can be pumped on to your fully custom invoices to display that data that your customers need to see.