Monitoring and analyzing the UC system history

By Dimitri Osler
November 15, 2018

In this blog article we will examine which tools are available for monitoring and analyzing the communication history of the system.

The UC system typically provides one or more of the following resources:

CDR (Call Data Record) – information about calls
Call Groups / Queue Logs – or other specific logs
Syslog – information about the system
Chat / geolocation logs

This information can be used by our application and integrated with the UC server to perform a specific monitoring and analysis or show reports.

Syslog

It is important to troubleshoot any technical issues that might arise.

CDR

A UC server generates a CDR (Call Data Record) for each call. The following data should be available:

Call origin
Call destination
Wait time in a queue
Call duration
Call time
Tags

The information collected can be used for monitoring and analyzing trends and overall team performance. Usually, this type of information is stored in one or more of the following formats:

CSV files
Relational databases like MySQL or Microsoft SQL
RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) or others

As this information is only available after the end of the session, it cannot be used for real-time activities, like displaying a pop-up with customer information.

Queue

In a call center performance analysis, besides the CDR information, other data can be relevant including:

Time spent waiting in a group
Time of log-in or log-off of an agent
Disconnection performed by a team member or user

From my experience, the CDR typically provides enough information to calculate the SLA (service-level agreement) of each call. Additionally, the systems should offer enough flexibility to allow us to add the missing information.

Other events can be easily stored by a CRM system (for example, the arrival or departure of a team member).