How to set up Skype4B (Lync) Call Billing \ Reporting, Call Bundles & Dial plans

Summary

This article provides information about how Skype4B (Lync) Call Bundles are set up.

Applies To

Prerequisites:

Skype4B (Lync) monitoring and archiving role must be installed and configured.

Brief Summary of Steps

1. Add Phone Numbers under “Phone Number Inventory” section.
2. Set up “Call Destinations”.
3. Define “SIP Gateways”.
4. Add “Call Bundles”.
5. Add "Dial Plan".
   
6. Associate Call Bundle with Skype4B (Lync) Service Plan/Package.
7. Download/Export the call report to Excel.

Section A: Configure Skype4B(Lync) Call Reporting:

In order to enable Call Reporting in MachPanel, please follow the steps as mentioned below:

Step 1:  Contact Support to get documentation and script on enabling Call Reporting. This includes working with Skype4B (Lync) CDR Database.
Step 2:  Provide complete connection string of the Skype4B (Lync) CDR database server in MachPanel by following the steps shown below:
(e.g. Data Source=data_source; Initial catalog=database_name; User ID=user_id; Password=user_password;)

Section B: Configure Skype4B(Lync) Call Billing:

All the steps mentioned in Section A are also required for the Skype4B(Lync) Call Billing. But in order to see the rates applied on Skype4B(Lync) calls imported in the system in Section A, we must define the rates, associate them to some call bundles and finally associate the call bundle with the Skype4B(Lync) Plan/Package. So this section will explain all these processes step by step:

Step 1-A: Phone Numbers

Add phone numbers as follows:

Step 1-B: Conference Dial-In Numbers
We have two types of calls at Skype4B (Lync) server: Normal Audio/Video calls and the Conference calls. In order to separate these calls, we must define the conference numbers of the organization. Once conference numbers are defined in the system, the panel will categorize the calls as normal calls or the conference calls.

 

Note that if no conference numbers are mentioned in the system then all calls will be treated as normal Skype4B (Lync) Audio/Video calls and would be listed under Call Report menu as mentioned in above picture.

Add Conference Dial In Numbers:

Conference Dial-In number depends on the "Dial-Plan" which on one end is associated with the Conference Dial-In Number and on the other end is associated with the Skype4B user. Please review the KB article on link below to attain your objectives:

http://kb.machsol.com/Knowledgebase/Article/54523

 
Step 2: Call Destinations

In order to specify different call rates for different destinations, we need to add destinations along with the prefixes as shown below:

 



Step 3: SIP Gateways

Gateways can also be specified in panel to differentiate the calls on the basis of different gateways and to charge the calls for the specific gateway by adding rates for some specific group of gateways. Following figure illustrates how to add group of gateways:





Step 4: Call Bundles

Call bundles contain the call packages along with the rates specified for audio, video and conference calls. Audio calls are further divided into three categories; Audio Internal, Audio Inbound & Audio Outbound.
Call bundles include the combination of Gateway group, Payment Group, Destinations and the call rates for different types of call as mentioned in following image:

 



You can get details for GatewayGroupId, PaymentGroupId, DestinationName and DestinationPrefix as follows:

1. GatewayGroupId from “SIP Gateways” section.
2. PaymentGroupId from “Payment Groups” section under “Home » System Configuration » Billing Configuration » Payment Groups”.
3. DestinationName from “Call Destinations” section. It is same as “Description”.
4. DestinationPrefix from “Call Destinations” section. It is same as “Prefix”.

Step 4: Dial Plans

Dial Plans can be created from MachPanel now, Following functions are available with rules in a plan

• Add
• Edit
• Clone
• Ordering (Move up/down)
• Remove

Normalization rules are also added to the dial plan, Click on Create New Rule to add one and provide information as shown below:

Step 5: Associate Call Bundle with Skype4B(Lync Plan/Package)

Call bundles are associated to Skype4B(Lync) plan and packages. So, once such plan or package is sold to some customer for a subscription; the organizations’ call data will be charged as according to the rates attached to the call bundle associated to the plan.

Note:  If you already have a working Skype4B (Lync) Call Reporting setup, then association step will need to be carried out with assistance from MachSol Support since it is not allowed to associate call bundles with existing subscriptions.

Special pricing for Toll free number used for Conference calls

1. Add complete number (with & without country code i.e. twice) as a Prefix in destination (Call Settings >> Destinations)
2. Adding specific rates for the above destinations and associating these rates to relevant call bundle
3. Call bundle containing such rate must be assigned to user involved in such conference call
4. SIP Gateway must be added to Gateway section

Call Invoicing and Reporting:

For now there is not automatic Call Invoicing in MachPanel. however this is being work on and will be available in future builds. For now Skype4B(Lync) Call Report (as shown in snapshots below) can be exported to Excel and used for billing your clients.

SfB(Lync) Call Reporting:


 
SfB(Lync) Conference Call Reporting:

Above are the screen shots of the Skype4B(Lync) Call Reporting. The reports include normal calls and conference calls separately.