The SS7 Call Detail Record (CDR) produced by an SS7 Network Probe contains minimal but essential information regarding a call; data, time, from and to numbers, JIP, LRN, and call duration. The office, trunk, billing jurisdiction, and OCN information must added to the SS7 CDR based on lookups in reference tables.

The accuracy and reliability of the enhanced SS7 CDR is directly tied to the maintenance of the reference tables. VeraTeq’s goal in developing SkyView was to increase reliability and at the same time reduce manual table maintenance. Knowing that systems that require a lot of manual updates are either costly to administer or are soon out of date, VeraTeq designed a number of utilities to automatically update the reference tables.

Trunk Inventory

VeraTeq has developed parsing and load programs for a variety of central office switches. If given access, the SkyView server can pull the switch configuration directly from the switch. If direct access is not available, a switch technician can export switch configuration and ftp it to the SkyView server.

Upon receipt of the switch configuration SkyView reads the file and parses out the information required to update the trunk inventory. 

Telcodata

Telcodata is the most pivotal SkyView reference table. It is used to enhance the SS7 CDRs with the distant end information of a call whether it is an originating or terminating call. A call’s jurisdiction is derived by a lookup in the Telcodata table using the “From” and “To” telephone numbers. The Local Calling Area table is created base on a query that loops through the Rate Center table and Telcodata.

The Telcodata table is re-built daily from the LERG1, LERG6, LERG7-SHA, LERG8-LOC, and the FCC MTA tables based of the effective dates for the LERG records. The daily updates ensure that SS7 CDRs reflect the correct OCN information and jurisdiction.