The Golden Rule of Call Accounting – TELECONNECT June,
1998
(It's still true today.)
I have been involved in the sales, installation, and
training of more than 300 call accounting systems. The most significant thing I
have learned from these labors is that getting the best value from a call
accounting system demands a "labor, belief, and intelligence investment" from
the customer.
Unfortunately, too many customers will, after buying a system, sit through an
hour of training and never really learn how the system works. Then a month
later, they may sit down with it and expect it to magically produce reports. A
call accounting system can provide significant benefits, but only if it is used
properly.
The following are some of the steps a system administrator needs to take, to
insure that an investment in call accounting reaps rewards:
- Distribute a memo from a top company officer announcing the installation
of your system, indicating their endorsement and support of the system. Use
the memo to restate corporate policies on personal telephone use.
- Help the vendor set up the database that the system will use. This
information consists of your company's hierarchy, a list of extensions with
name and department assignment, trunk information, and call pricing
information. You'll need all this information to produce meaningful reports.
You'll also need to understand it -- in order to modify it later.
- Practice using the system after the training, to apply what you've
learned. You'll remember it better.
- Understand how to add, delete, and modify items in the database. Walk
through the process of doing moves, adds, and changes several times. Teach
another employee how to do it (there's no better way to check your own
learning than to try to teach something to somebody else).
- Commit to making necessary changes on a regular basis. If the database
is not current and accurate, reports will not be taken seriously and they
will not be used effectively.
- Understand what reports are available and how to produce them. Make up a
list of some of the basic reports with samples, and distribute them to
department managers. Find out which reports managers want to see, and
produce and distribute them regularly.
- Develop a maintenance schedule of items and make sure that at least one
other person knows it. Each system will vary, but some of these items
include:
- Daily: Make sure that calls are being processed. Check
buffer.
- Weekly: Make changes to database to insure that reports
are accurate.
- Monthly, or as needed: Produce and distribute reports.
Managers will learn to depend on this information. Back up
previous month's calls and current database.
- Quarterly: Make sure area code updates have been
supplied by your vendor and add them to your system. (And
your PBX!)
- Make sure your backup person is familiar with the system and knows how
to contact the vendor for support, additional training, updates, etc.
- Monitor results and inform top management of any successes that result
from installing the system. It will benefit your career and increase your
importance to the company.
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