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Bell Services West is available 24/7 to manage your office without burdening you with meaningless data. We help ensure your office is running at peak efficiency and may save you money on staff, phone lines, trunking and equipment costs.

Tell me about reports.

1. I don’t have time to look at the reports I already get. Why would I want more reports?
2. I already get reports from my service and equipment providers. Why do I need BSW’s Services?
3. Do I have to allocate additional resources to help analyze the reports you provide?
4. I want to generate my own reports or do studies of my office. Can BSW allow me to do that?
5. I occasionally need to have special studies done or need information about specific calls. Can BSW help me with these kinds of one-time requests?

How can you improve my office?

6. What can BSW do to help me manage my office?
7. I am constantly under pressure to reduce costs in my department’s operation. How can BSW help me save money?
8. My office trunks overflow to my Admin/Overflow lines so I don’t miss any calls. What can BSW do to improve on that?
9. What monitoring standards does the BSW system support?

How will you help me resolve problems?

10. How can BSW help me resolve problems I have between my service provider and equipment vendor?
11. I already get alarms from my equipment. How are BSW alarms different?

Will BSW services work in my environment?

12. How can I use BSW services if I cannot allow access to our network in real time?
13. What do I say to our service provider or software vendor who has told us that vendors like BSW could do harm our network?

My system works fine. Why should I implement BSW services or equipment?

14. My system works fine and we never have any troubles. Why should I change?
15. I only have one trunk group and I never miss any calls. Why do I need BSW’s service?
16. My service provider tests my trunks regularly. What more can BSW do?
17. My service provider or equipment vendor already monitors overflows and generates alarms. Why do I need BSW?
18. My ALI database vendor monitors my ALI performance 24/7. How can BSW do more than that?

1. I don’t have time to look at the reports I already get. Why would I want more reports?

Realizing your time is precious, BSW can summarize the results of all individual systems’ data into one report. If details are necessary, we’ll provide you with support document.

We use Performance Indicator’s (data) from your office systems to generate the reports:

Each Performance Indicator is supported by at least one detail report. Customers can determine what value of each indicator indicates a problem. Only if the Performance Indicator exceeds your customer defined limits (threshold), do you need to look at the related, individual report.

Though you may not have to look at individual reports, they are always available if you do need them. BSW archives up to two years of reports. Year-to-date reports are available any time via a secure file server over the Internet. Previous year reports are available on demand or via our VPN (Virtual Private Network) access portal.

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2. I already get reports from my service and equipment providers. Why do I need BSW services?

If you can get reports when you need them, if you have the time to review them and if they give you all the information you need to run your operations, then you may not need BSW’s services.

But, if you find that reports you are getting do not give you all the information you need, when you need it, or if you have to transcribe information from the reports, then BSW can help you.

BSW provides you with all of the reports you need. BSW analyzes all these reports and provides you with reports that summarize the major service indicators. You only need to drill down to individual reports if you need verification of the summary results or need to use them as proof of a problem.

Up to two years of reports are available to you via any Internet connection. There is also an option that will allow you to access up to two years of Call Record and statistical data so that you can generate your own reports or create study queries.

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3. Do I have to allocate additional resources to help analyze the reports you provide?

No. BSW analyzes all the system data and provides you with reports. You can contact a BSW analyst any time to help understand report results, get any additional information and request either a special report or additional customized statistics.

BSW is here to take the tedious statistical work out of office management by doing the work for you.

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4. I want to be able to generate my own reports or do studies of my office. Can BSW allow me to do that?

Yes, BSW can allow you access to your system’s data. Up to two years of data can be accessed. You are able to write queries, generate reports and transfer data to a spreadsheet or word processor. BSW’s technical support is available to help perform your data analysis.

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5. I occasionally need to have special studies done or need information about specific calls. Can BSW help me with these kinds of one-time requests?

Depending on the nature of the request, BSW can usually respond to one-time requests for special queries of reports within hours. BSW allows customers to have new customized reports generated. These new reports can then become part of your normal report suite.

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6. What can BSW do to help me manage my office?

To summarize, Bell Services West can:

• Integrate information from all of your communications equipment including phone lines, voicemail and email and industry-specific software
• Benchmark your office’s network and staffing performance
• Customize reports to meet your requirements
• Provide weekly, monthly and year-to-date trend reports
• Non-intrusively monitor your trunk lines, admin lines, tie lines (private lines) and ALI modems 24/7
• Provide system, network, equipment and staff alarms when trouble, failure or customer-defined events occur
• Provide a daily analysis of your Call Record and data and send you with an alert if any anomaly is detected
• Act as an independent arbitrator for trouble between your service provider and center equipment vendor
• Provide you with access to archive Call Record and ALI data so you can analyze your own results
• Allow you to access up to two years of archived reports via the Internet and BSW’s VPN (Virtual Private Network) access
• Provide you with reports showing how circuit or shift modifications have impacted your office’s operation
  

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7. I am constantly under pressure to reduce costs in my department’s operation. How can BSW help me save money?

BSW reports can assist you in improving scheduling and address personnel issues that may be affecting the efficiency of your office.

For your systems, BSW can help determine how many trunks and lines you really need. If you decide you can eliminate some trunks, BSW will monitor your network to make sure you are not losing calls after the trunks are removed. A standard procedure is to make the trunks busy that you feel you don’t need, monitor the network to see if you are losing any calls and then disconnect those trunks you have verified.

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8. My office trunks overflow to my Admin/Overflow lines so I don’t miss any calls.
What can BSW do to improve on that?

BSW can ensure that calls are being routed to Admin/Overflow Lines only when ALL trunks are busy. We can also help determine why calls are being transferred to Admin Lines during normal Busy Hours.

Though having calls overflow to additional lines is a good strategy for handling periodic major events or busy times, it should not be employed as a fix for poor trunking configurations. Frequent overflows during normal business loads would indicate the trunk network should be reviewed. Alternate routing strategies tend to hide network inefficiencies.

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9. What monitoring standards does the BSW system support?

BSW complies with all applicable standards in the following documents:

ANSI T1.411a-2001 – Network-to-Customer Installation Interfaces – Analog Voicegrade Enhanced 911 Switched Access Using Network-Provided Reverse-Battery Signaling (Revision and consolidation of T1.411-1995 and T1.411a-1996)

ANSI NFPA 1221: Standard for the Installation, Maintenance, and Use of Emergency Services Communications Systems.

BSW will also attempt to comply with any industry, local, certification or grant requirements where possible.

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10. How can BSW help me resolve problems I have between my service provider and equipment vendor?

The BSW trunk and line monitors capture all voltage events occurring on your circuits. These voltage events are processed in the BSW Call Processor and are turned into calls. We can even recreate the conversation if needed.

If the Call Processor detects a problem, the event(s) are flagged as a protocol violation. BSW technicians can then analyze these events to determine the potential source of the problem.

BSW will act as your representative for trouble resolution that we have identified between your service provider and/or equipment vendor as part of the BSW service. We will also verify that the trouble has been resolved after repairs have been made.

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11. I already get alarms from my equipment. How are BSW alarms different?

BSW can provide alarms no other system can. If a voicemail or email has not been answered in a designated time, you’ll receive a desktop alarm notifying you of the issue. If a claim or document is coming due, you’ll get an alert so that that the situation can be addressed.

Systems equipment can only report alarms on conditions it uses to set up calls. Events such as “No Wink on Trunk”, “Bad Wink On Trunk”, “False Seizure - Network”, “Network Busied Out Trunk”, “No Calls On Trunk”, “Digit before Wink”, “Long Call”, “Call not Answered” and “Excessive On Hold Time” are either not detected or are ignored by common telecom equipment.

In addition, for Public Safety Call Centers, BSW can report alarms on specific PSAP or ANI/ALI events: “ALI Modem Failure”, “ALI Modem - No Queries”, “ALI Modem - No Response”, “ALI Modem No Heart Beat”, “Missing ANI Digits-Network”, “Call Abandon before ANI” and “PSAP Busy/Reorder”.

BSW also provides alarms that the center equipment may already report. These alarms include “All Trunks Busy”, “Overflow on Trunk”, “Trunk Made Busy” and “Trunk Out Of Service”.

When an alarm is detected, BSW automatically sends an alarm email to designated recipients and a page (if required) to anyone needing to know about the problem. BSW technicians also monitor these alarms and are available 24/7 to help managers resolve the issue.

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12. How can use BSW services if I cannot allow access to our network in real time?

If you are reluctant to connect the BSW Monitor to trunks or lines, we can use the information from your CTI/CDR port. A “Y” cable is connected to your CTI/CDR port. This will temporarily interrupt the CTI/CDR port data only to your printer or PC. Since the CTI/CDR data is buffered, this should not cause any loss of CTI/CDR data. A “Receive Only” RS-232 cable is placed on the “Y” cable. Many times a ‘Y” cable connection is already available so there is no need to disrupt the CTI/CDR circuit. A BSW controller is connected to the other end f the RS-232 cable. All CTI/CDR data is then recorded to disk and analyzed. This causes no interruption of CTI/CDR data.

Another way to access your network is to connect our BSW controller PC to your local LAN and retrieve data from your local CTI/CDR database (if available). There are advantages to this approach. Centers can be quickly benchmarked using archived Call Record and/or ALI data and no physical connection to equipment is required. It is also the least expensive BSW monitoring option.

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13. What do I say to our service provider or software vendor who has told us that vendors like BSW could do harm our network?

ALL BSW Monitor connections are non-intrusive. Data is copied from your main files. Trunk and line monitors are performed using a high impedance half-tap on the cable pair. ALI/CDR/CTI Monitors only use the Receive Data pins on the RS-232 connector, preventing any false transmission of data or control lead conflicts.

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14. My system works fine and we never have any troubles. Why should I change?

Maybe you don’t need to. A BSW Benchmark can validate your assumption. It may let you know that, in the near future, you need to change your staffing or network requirements.

If your office systems equipment is already saving data, BSW can retrieve the information from your database and evaluate your operation in less than a week. Or, if you can get a copy of a month or more data from your system’s database, send it BSW, we will analyze your data for FREE and give you a performance report. If you are not sure how to access this data ask your service provider or equipment vendor for assistance. You can also contact BSW’s technical support at 818-999-0980 for help.

Call Record data can be a Comma or Tab Delimited ASCII file. If the file is less than 10 megabytes, you can email (support@bellserviceswest.com) it to us or copy it to a CD and mail it to us at the address below. BSW will process the data and provide you with a Benchmark Report within one week.

Bell Services West
7820 McLaren Avenue
West Hills, CA 91304

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15. I only have one trunk group and I never miss any calls. So why would I need BSW’s service?

Except for very small offices, most managers think they only have one trunk group. Even secondary centers that do not get direct calls over their trunks may have hidden trunk groups.

For example, calls transferred from a primary center may only be able to use a few of your trunks. If the primary center can’t transfer a call, they must find other ways (tie lines, admin lines, etc.) to transfer calls to you.

You may be over-trunked. Many centers have more trunks then they need. Trunks can go out of service and you may never know it. This can provide a false sense of security and waste money.

Part of the BSW service is to benchmark your network. During this process, we determine:

• How many trunk groups you have
• How your traffic is distributed on your trunks and admin lines
• How many trunks, lines and call takers you need to handle your traffic load
• How many trunks and lines are working
  

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16. My service provider tests my trunks regularly. What more can BSW do?

All service providers offer this service as part of their maintenance package, but how do you know if the trunks are really being tested? Do you get a report indicating how many trunks passed or failed? Since these tests normally do not terminate calls, the equipment cannot tell if a trunk was tested or not.

The BSW Trunk Monitor flags test calls from the network and location equipment. If the trunks pass (Normal Wink Time = 140ms to 290ms) or if the trunks fail, they are tagged with a pass/fail flag. If a test failed indicating a bad wink time, a “Bad Wink On Trunk” alert is raised. This also flags the trunk for a potential problem tracking during normal call traffic. If a call fails due to the bad wink, a “Bad Wink On Trunk” alarm is generated.

If the trunk was never tested and others were tested, it is tagged as not tested. BSW can generate a monthly Trunk Test report to show results.

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17. My service provider or equipment vendor already monitors overflows and generates alarms. Why do I need BSW?

If you are getting Overflow Alarms, do you know why the calls are overflowing? Do you know if all your trunks are operational? Do you get alarm trend reports so you can see if there might be network problem?

BSW not only monitors overflows, we also provide you with recommended solutions if any alarm seems to be increasing in frequency. We can document the overflow problem and provide you with reports you can then use to justify more trunks.

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18. My ALI database vendor monitors my ALI performance 24/7. How can BSW do more than that?

Do you know when your ALI modem is down? If your ALI modem goes down, do you know why it went down; what caused the problem?

BSW’s ALI Monitor monitors the RS-232 connection of your ALI Modem. The ALI Monitor application provides an alarm if the ALI modem fails. BSW technicians are also available to help resolve ALI Modem circuit problems. Since the BSW ALI Monitor watches all RS-232 control leads, BSW technicians can help determine what caused the modem failure. They may even be able to suggest corrective actions in order to prevent future failures.

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