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The Busy Channels report allows you to break down each business day into half-hour periods, showing the maximum and average number of telephone lines in use in any particular for each half-hour period. This report is ideal useful for determining whether or not you have enough lines or if you have too many.

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Running the report

On the Reports screen, click on select the Busy channels in the reports list and then press report from the left-hand pane and click the Select this report button.

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A new window will appear, where you can select the reporting criteria for set the parameters of your report.

Selecting the reporting period

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PeriodDescription
TodayThe start and end dates are set to the current date. The start time is set to 00:00:00 and the end time to 23:59:59.
YesterdayThe start and end dates are set to the current date minus one day. The start time is set to 00:00:00 and the end time to 23:59:59.
This weekThe start date is set to the first day of the current week (normally Monday) of the current week. The end date is set to the current day. The start time is set to 00:00:00 and the end time to the current time.
Last weekThe start date is set to the date of the last Monday, and the end date is set to the start date plus seven days. The start time is set to 00:00:00 and the end time to 23:59:59.
This monthThe start date is set to the first day of the current month. The end date is set to the current day. The start time is set to 00:00:00 and the end time to the current time.
Last monthThe start date for this period is set in three stages: The day is set to the first day of the month. The month is set to the previous month. The year is set to the current year, unless it is currently January, in which case, the previous year is used. The start and end times are set to 00:00:00 and 23:59:59 respectively.
This yearThe start date is set to the first day of the first month of the current year, whilst the end date is set to today's date. The start and end times are set to 00:00:00 and 23:59:59 respectively.
All callsThe start and end dates and times are set to the dates and times of the first and last call in the entire call database, respectively.

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Once you have set the reporting period, click on the Next button to set additional report parameters and options, or select the Finish button to run the report immediately.

Tip

NOTE: Running this report over longer periods of time increases the reliability of its resultsgives a more accurate picture of your telephone line usage.

Selecting the reporting entity

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If both a site and group have been selected, you can further limit the report's results to include only calls by involving a particular user, by selecting it that user from the drop-down list.

Reporting_filter
FilterUser
ValueAll users

Tip

If your web account is restricted to a specific site or group, only those entities to which you have access will be available in the drop-down lists.

Once you have selected the scope of your report, click  click on the Next button to set additional report parameters and options. To , or to run the report immediately without doing so, press the click the Finish button.s

Selecting the report filters

You can limit the results of your report by choosing one or more of the following filters:

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Account code

If you want to To produce a bill report consisting only of only chargeable calls that were made using a particular account code, enter the account code in the field provided. 

Reporting_filter
FilterAccount code
Value0140

To report on more than one account code, separate each code using a comma.

Call type

This filter allows you to define the type of call you want to report on, in terms of where the call originated and where it was delivered, e.g. incoming, outgoing, internal , etc.  To report on all types of call, set this to All calls.

Reporting_filter
FilterCall type
ValueAll calls

Carrier

If you use more than one carrier, you can limit the results to include only calls that were made using a specific carrier.

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Info

If you use only one carrier, there will be no drop-down list available and no option to choose a carrier.

CLI

Calling Line Identification (CLI) is the telephone number of the remote caller in an incoming call scenario.

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You can use the ! symbol to explicitly exclude a CLI from the report's results, and/or the

Referencemacro
Label*
 symbol as a wildcard in digit pattern matching.  For example, to exclude calls from Tri-Line, but include all others, you could use !020726526*). To report on more than one CLI, use a comma to separate each entry.

Cost

You can define a cost filter to include calls above or below specific values by entering your criteria, as shown below:

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You can specify a cost range by using the 

Referencemacro
Label-
 symbol and, ; to specify limits, use the comparison operators, >, <, and 
Referencemacro
Label!
 .

Destination

If you want to filter calls to a specific, known destination, type the name of the destination in the text box provided. This filter accepts the ! and * symbols for excluding values and specifying partial matches, respectively.

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Reporting_filter
FilterDestination
Value!France*

Dialled number

To filter calls to a specific dialled number, type it in the text box provided. The dialled number is defined as the number that is dialled (in the case of an outbound call), or the DDI number that the remote party dialled to reach a particular extension or group (in the case of an inbound call).

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You can use the ! symbol to explicitly exclude a dialled number from the report's results, and/or the 

Referencemacro
Label*
 symbol as a wildcard in digit pattern matching.  For example, to exclude calls to Tri-Line, but include all others, you could use !020726526*). To report on more than one dialled number, use a comma to separate each entry.

Duration

To filter calls above or below a particular duration, enter the desired duration in seconds.

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You can specify a duration range by using the 

Referencemacro
Label-
 symbol and, ; to specify limits, use the comparison operators, ><, and 
Referencemacro
Label!
 .

In the above example, the report will return only calls longer than 1800 seconds (30 minutes).

LCR code

To filter your results to include only calls that used a Least Cost Routing (LCR) code, enter it in the text box provided.

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You can use the ! symbol to explicitly exclude a LCR code from the report's results, and/or the 

Referencemacro
Label*
 symbol as a wildcard in digit pattern matching.  For example, to exclude calls made using all LCR codes beginning
Referencemacro
Label162
, you could enter
Keywordmacro
Label!162*
To report on more than one LCR code, use a comma to separate each entry.

Response

This option allows you to filter calls based on their response time, measured in seconds. Specify the desired response time threshold in the text box provided.

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You can specify a response time range by using the 

Referencemacro
Label-
 symbol and, ; to specify limits, use the comparison operators, ><, and 
Referencemacro
Label!
 .

Start time

This option allows you to filter calls based on the time that the call started. Specify the start time in the text box provided using the hh:mm:ss format.

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Reporting_filter
FilterStart time
Value10:00:00

Trunk access code

If your telephone system uses trunk access codes to connect calls using specific channels, you can limit your report's results to include only calls made using those codes. Specify the trunk access code in the text box provided.

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You can use the ! symbol to explicitly exclude a trunk access code from the report's results, and/or the 

Referencemacro
Label*
 symbol as a wildcard in digit pattern matching. For example, to exclude calls made using the
Referencemacro
Label9
 trunk access code, you could enter 
Keywordmacro
Label!9
To report on more than one trunk access code, use a comma to separate each entry.

 

Selecting the report options

This section allows enables you to further narrow down your report results, by excluding certain types of calls or sorting the . It also allows you to sort the report's results in a particular manner. The filters are fairly self-explanatory. For example, if you would like to exclude weekend calls from the report, tick the box provided.

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Exclude weekends

If you would like to To exclude weekend calls from the search your report's results, simply select the tick-box to exclude weekend callsselect the 

Referencemacro
LabelExclude weekends
 option.

Reporting_option
OptionExclude weekends

Exclude transfers

Select this option if you would like to exclude transfers from the search results. For example if you want to see only how well calls were answered when first presented, you would choose to exclude transfersTo exclude transferred calls from your report's results, select the

Referencemacro
LabelExclude transfers
 option.

Reporting_option
OptionExclude transfers

Sort order

Expanding the drop-down list available, you can choose whether you would like Choose from the

Referencemacro
LabelSort order
 drop-down list whether you want the results of the report to appear in ascending or descending order.

Reporting_filter
FilterSort order
ValueAscending
OptionSort order

Sort results by

You may choose the order in which results are sorted by selecting the appropriate option from the list provided:To sort your report's results by a particular column, select it from the 

Referencemacro
LabelSort results by
 drop-down list.

Reporting_filter
FilterSort results by
ValueTime slot

Ignore short missed calls

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Missed calls below a certain duration can sometimes pollute the meaning of a report's results. To exclude such short calls from your report, enter the duration below which you'd like to ignore calls. If you would like to exclude very short calls (a duration threshold in the text box provided, e.g. to ignore calls below 3 seconds), simply enter the number enter 

Keywordmacro
Label3
in the box provided: .

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This section allows you to choose the output media format of your completed report. To select the desired format, click on the drop-down list and choose from the available options: Web, PDF, Excel, CSV and XML. The formats available are 

Referencemacro
LabelWeb
Referencemacro
LabelPDF
Referencemacro
LabelExcel
Referencemacro
LabelCSV
 and 
Referencemacro
LabelXML
.

More details about each report format are available in the Setting the report format section above.

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<a id="Creating the report"></a>

Creating the report

When you have chosen selected a reporting period , and are happy with your selections, you have two options:

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and have chosen any filters and options, you can either run the report immediately by clicking on the

Buttonmacro
LabelRun now
 button, or schedule it for future delivery.

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If you click on the Run now button, the report will run instantly in your chosen format.

If you want to schedule the report to run at a later time, follow the instruction given in the Schedule a report section.

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<a id="The report's results"></a>

The report's results

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Web format

When selecting WEB as the output format, this report will appear as below:-Below is an example of this report's output in

Referencemacro
LabelWeb
 format, displaying the activity of your telephone lines grouped in half-hour time slots:

Screenshotmacro
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URL/download/attachments/4817246/busy_channels_1.png

The

Referencemacro
LabelWeb
format is the most interactive of all formats: all column headers are click-sortable and most graphical and tabular elements can be drilled down into, allowing deeper analysis of your results. By clicking on the About this report link at the top-right corner of the page, you can review any filters and options that have been applied to the report.

As with all reports , the header produced by TIM Plus, each page of the report includes the following information:

  • the report's title
  • the date and time of that the report was generated
  • the name of the report, if applicable

The

Referencemacro
LabelWEB
format allows for complete flexibility when viewing any report. All headers are clickable, allowing you to re-arrange the report layout in seconds, to sort the calls in ascending or decending order based on the header clicked. To view details of any filters or selection parameters used in creating this report, simply click on
Referencemacro
LabelAbout this report
on the top-right corner of the page.The main report body body of the report consists of a graph and a table.:

  • The graph is a quick and easy indication of your line usage, broken down into half-hour

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  • time slots. The percentage on the y-axis shows the number of lines utilised

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  • , and the x-axis shows

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  • each half-hour of the day. The bars on the graph

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  • coloured

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  • light-purple show the maximum number of busy trunks

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  • in each particular half-hour

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  • ,

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  • and the overlaid dark-purple ones show the average number of busy trunks

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  • in the same time period

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  • .
  • The table

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  • displays the actual data

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  • organised in columns for maximum and average busy lines and the total duration for each half-hour time slot. Each column is described below:
HeaderDescription
Time slotThe time of day in half-hour periods.
Total durationThe total time when trunks were busy, both incoming and outgoing combined.duration of all calls made or received within the time slot shown
Max busyShows the The maximum number of trunks in use during the time slot shown.
Average busyShows the The average number of trunks in use during the time slot shown.
Tip

NOTE: All column headers are clickable, allowing you to dynamically reorder the report as required.

The 

Referencemacro
LabelSummary information box
at the beginning of the report is fairly self-explanatory, as you can see from the example below:

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URL/download/attachments/4817246/busy_channels_3.png

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results.

To modify your report to cover a larger organisational scope, click on an element of the breadcrumb as shown below:

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If you chose to run the report in

Referencemacro
LabelPDF
format, the report will consist of three pages.

The first page shows the login name of the person who has prepared/scheduled the report, the entity you are reporting on, the period covered and any filters used in the report. 

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URL/download/attachments/4817246/busy_channels_pdf_1.png

The second page has a graph depicting the average and maximum number of channels used, as shown below:

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The third page breaks this graph down into detailcontains a table of time slots, showing the time slots with the maximum and average number of busy channels and channels that were busy, along with the total duration of time spent on calls , for during each time slot depicted.

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XML format

If you choose to run the report in XML format, the output might be difficult to read, however, this output is ideal when you need to provide a call logging feed to other applications.

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CSV format

If you select the CSV option, this will output the report's results to a CSV file. This can be either opened immediately or saved for future use.

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URL/download/attachments/4817246/busy_channels_csv.png