CDR reconciliation

CDR Reconciliation is a feature in the system which checks that all recordable conversations have been recorded correctly and warns if conversations have been lost. It works by comparing the original CDRs to the system database. The CDR reconciliation offers the following functions:

• Periodically matches the original CDRs with the database records. If a conversation cannot be found in the Verba system, the service creates a database record in the system and flags it.
• During the process, the service also compares the duration of the conversation to the length of the media file, and if the difference is bigger than the configured threshold, flags the record. Other media errors are checked during the recording process by the recording service,
• Conversations that were not completed, such as not answered or busy, are also imported optionally and flagged (for Skype for Business and Cisco only).
• The service always looks for the CDRs created after the last run of the CDR reconciliation.
• The reconciliation only works for the recorded extensions/addresses/numbers configured in the Verba database. Only extensions, where the recording mode is set to always-on, are used in the process.
• Since recorders might insert the database records later (due to a connection issue with the database), the service periodically rechecks imported records and delete the ones where a matching recorded conversation is found.
• The service can send system alerts if Lost  Conversations are identified. 
• The standard search interface offers the ability to list conversations that were not recorded (but the reconciliation process inserted them), or conversations where the recorder detected media processing error(s)
• Specific reports are available in the reporting tool for Lost Conversations. The reports can be generated automatically and sent via email.
• The feature is available on:
  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager 8.5 and later
  • Microsoft Lync 2010, 2013
  • Microsoft Skype for Business 2015, 2019
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Symphony XML
  • Zoom Meeting
  • Zoom Phone
• The system only processes voice/video conversations.
• This feature increases the load on CDR databases and consequently may have a performance impact. Another side effect is, that users will be able to find Lost Conversations in the Web UI and not answered or established conversations too.

Before turning on this feature, please consult your system administrator to discuss the possible load on your CDR databases. Make sure your users are aware of this feature, and that they understand the impact on the system. Once this feature is turned on, users will be able to find not only not recorded conversations, but not answered / not established conversations as well.

If you want to eliminate false alarms or unnecessary imports, consider testing all call scenarios before rolling out the feature.

Configuring CDR reconcilaition

The configuration of CDR reconciliation for individual integrations varies. Find more information about the configuration steps and requirements in the following articles:

• For SfB CDR reconciliation, refer to Configuring Lync - SfB CDR Reconciliation. 
• For Cisco CDR reconciliation, refer to Configuring Cisco CDR Reconciliation.
• For Symphony CDR reconciliation, refer to Symphony Instant Messages - Files - CDRs.
• For Zoom Meeting and Zoom Phone CDR reconciliation, refer to Zoom Meeting and Phone.
• For Microsoft Teams CDR reconciliation, refer to Configuring Microsoft Teams CDR reconciliation.

Finding not recorded or incorrect conversations

If CDR reconciliation is enabled, the system can identify not recorded conversations or conversations with incorrect media. The system hides these records by default; the web application has to be configured to display not recorded conversations. Please refer to the previous section for more information.

You can use the standard search feature to list these type of conversations. If you navigate to Search > Advanced Search Options > Recording audit, you can find the following options:

Alerting on not recorded or incorrect conversations

When the system is running the reconciliation policy and it finds out that certain calls were not recorded (missing from the Verba database), an alert is raised showing the missing recordings. For more information on the alert, see CDR Importer Service: RecordFailure Alert.

Reporting not recorded or incorrect conversations

If you want to create reports periodically and send them in an email, you can use the new report templates available for CDR reconciliation:

• Not Recorded and Incorrect Conversation Details
• CDR Reconciliation Summary
• Users CDR Reconciliation Summary
• CDR Reconciliation for Skype for Business Summary

Understanding why recording failed

There can be various reasons why a conversation was not recorded or imported. It is recommended to establish a process to investigate the issues after recognizing missing recordings (e.g. receiving the alerts). Refer to Troubleshooting voice recording or import failures for more information.

AVAILABLE IN 9.7.5 AND ABOVE

In order to help the investigation process for Skype for Business integrations, the CDR reconciliation process automatically retrieves Skype for Business diagnostics data from the Skype for Business CDR tables and stores the information in the Skype for Business CDR metadata template fields for missing calls and for calls which were not recorded properly (there were recording errors during the recording process). You can find more information about the Skype for Business CDR table fields at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/skypeforbusiness/schema-reference/call-detail-recording-cdr-database-schema/call-detail-recording-cdr-database-schema.

Monitoring the reconciliation process

The CDR Importer service creates a task entry for each periodic run. These tasks can be monitored at System > Background Task page.

CDR reconciliation licensing

You can configure what data sources and what extensions count towards your CDR reconciliation license usage. You can dynamically change these configurations as required by your system and integration configuration.

Two levels of configuration control the way CDR reconciliation licenses are used:

• Extension configuration
• Data management policy configuration

On the extension configuration screen, the Enable CDR reconciliation setting controls if CDR reconciliation is turned on for the extension.

In the Data Management policy configuration for the Import policy, the Enable CDR reconciliation setting turns on CDR reconciliation for all extensions recording the specified platform type. The Reconcile Only the Marked Extensions setting specifies that of the extensions with the specified platforms, CDR reconciliation is only carried out for those extensions that have the Enable CDR reconciliation setting turned on.

An extension is only counted in the license usage once, even if it has multiple recorded platforms selected which are processed by multiple data management policies with CDR reconciliation enabled.

Administrators can verify the number of licenses used by going to System > License.