ded by the Call Accounting system provider should be taken, as their expe- rience can best guide you to avoid system problems with set up and ongoing management. The PC based system can also poll remote sites on an organi- zations network, using point-to-point network circuits or dial-up lines, bringing call records from all sites to a centralized point for processing and report generation. Off-Site Call Accounting Service Bureaus Many organizations do not wish to have an on-site call ac- counting system or the to undertake the administration needed to The Telecom Handbook = 117 CALL ACCOUNTING & TELEMANAGEMENT SYSTEMS keep it working (updating telephone call rates, updating the database as people are added, etc.). There is a small group of companies that can dial into your telephone system and poll it, downloading the call records from your storage device into their computer. They will then generate the Call Accounting and Chargeback reports for you on a monthly or as needed basis. They process the reports and send them back to you in whatever format and at whatever level of detail you wish. They can also process information from the CD-ROM provided by your local or long distance telecommunications service pro- vider. The CD-ROM may include calls not going through the PBX such as Calling Card calls. These reports can be e-mailed to the individuals and department heads and may also be ac- cessible from a website. For an example of this type of company go to WWw.comware-usa.com. Some Service Bureaus enable you to look at your call data on a real time or daily basis by visiting their website on the Internet. Where do the Call Records Come From? The call information transmitted from the telephone system into a buffer (storage device) is called SMDR (station message detail recording) or CDR (call detail recording) output. It may also be called RS-232 output since it connects to the buffer box via a cable with RS-232 connectors at each end. This comes out of the RS-232 port of the PBX, which is also called the serial 