A
- Abandoned call
-
A call that has been terminated before being answered or while on hold. Depending on the telephone system the reason may be displayed:
- All busy — all phone lines or all extensions are busy.
- Busy — the number dialled was busy.
- Group — call abandoned while on a queue or other group.
- Hangup — call abandoned while in progress.
- Ringout — the call rang and was never answered.
- Vacant — the number doesn't exist.
- Other — reason can't be determined or wasn't supplied.
- Account code
- A code entered into a telephone handset before, during or after a call. The code is associated with the call in CDR or SMDR data and can indicate the customer or call type, allowing the call to be charged to a customer account — for example, in a law office.
- ACD Automatic Call Distribution
- The ACD manages telephone queues, so that the call that has been waiting the longest is answered first. Certain inbound numbers can be given higher priority.
- ANI Automatic Number Identification
- Allows the receiver of a telephone call to display and record the phone number that originated the call.
- Authorisation code
- A code entered into a handset to change the class of service for a phone call — for example, permitting an outgoing or long-distance call.
- Auto Attendant
- A virtual receptionist that allows calls to be transferred to an extension without human intervention — typically via a simple menu ("press 1 for sales, press 2 for support").
B
- BT Busy Tone
- The sound made by a PBX handset when the called party is busy.
C
- Call accounting
- An application that collects metadata about telephone usage and assigns call costs for later reporting. Also known as call analytics, call logging or call reporting.
- Caller ID
- Displays the calling party's number or name before the call is answered.
- CDR Call Detail Record
- Information a PBX, key system or other telephone exchange makes available to a connected device (typically a computer). It describes each call as it happens — including time and duration.
- CO Central Office
- A call generated by a PBX — such as when an extension is on permanent diversion. The call will often show in reports as the extension "CO".
- CSV, .csv Comma Separated Values
- A file with fields of each record separated, or delimited, by commas. Each record is separated by carriage-return and new-line characters (
\r\n). A .csv file opens directly in Microsoft Excel.
D
- DID / DDI Direct Inward Dialing / Direct Dialing In
- A way to directly dial a person or hunt/ring group even though they're an extension on a large PBX. A DDI phone number is the number a caller dialled to reach your PBX.
- DNIS Dialed Number Identification Service
- Indicates the number that was originally dialled, which may be different than the resulting end phone number due to call forwarding.
E
- Extension
- A PBX typically has a number of telephone handsets. In addition, it may have many extensions that aren't visible to the user — hunt groups, queues and other virtual extensions used internally by the PBX.
- External call
- Calls made between a telephone outside your business and a telephone inside your business that use a trunk.
H
- Handset
- A station is the telephone extension — for example extension 100 or 101. See Station.
- Hunt group
- A group of telephone extensions tied to a single telephone number.
I
- Incoming / inbound call
- Calls made into your PBX from the public telephone network.
- Internal call
- Calls made from one extension to another.
- ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
- A set of standards for the simultaneous transmission of data, video, voice and other services over the standard telephone network.
- IVR Interactive Voice Response
- Technology that lets people interact with a computer over the phone by pressing numbers on the keypad or using voice commands.
K
- KTS Key Telephone System
- Small business telephone systems used where there are 2-100 stations and a large number of internal intercom calls relative to inbound or outbound calls.
L
M
- Metadata
- A set of information that describes other data. For a telephone call, the metadata describes the number dialled, how long it took to be answered and the call's duration.
- Multipart call
- Calls that involve more than one extension — for example, a call transferred from one extension to another.
O
- Outgoing / outbound call
- Calls made from an extension on your PBX out to the public telephone network.
P
- PABX / PBX Private (Automated) Branch Exchange
- The multiple-handset telephone equipment (usually) installed at your premises.
- PDR Product Defect Report
- The in-house term for user support requests. Users can submit one via the Help & support page.
- POTS Plain Old Telephone Service
- The traditional, wired, world-wide telephone system.
- PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
- The traditional, wired, world-wide telephone system.
Q
- QoS Quality of Service
- The overall quality of the telephone service — clarity of the call, delays in speech and other errors.
R
- Ring out
- A call was not answered for so long the PBX or telephone company gave up and terminated it.
- Ring time
- The duration the telephone rang before being answered.
S
- SMDR Station Management Detail Recording
- Information that a PBX makes available to a connected device (typically a computer), describing each call as it happens — including time and duration.
- Station
- A station is the telephone extension — for example extension 100 or 101.
- STD Subscriber Trunk Dialing
- Also known as subscriber toll dialling — a telephone system allowing subscribers to dial trunk calls without operator assistance.
- Station group
- A hunt group used during a particular period — for example, during a marketing campaign.
T
- Tandem call
- A call between two outside lines. The two outside lines may have been joined by a user on an extension who later drops out of the call — or an inbound call may have been forwarded to another outside line.
- Trunk
- A telephone line provided by your telephone company. A residential address typically has a single line; an office typically has more than one.
- Trunk group
- A number of similar trunks — for example lines from a single telephone company, or trunks with the same cost.
- Two-step authentication (2FA)
- Requires two different types of authentication: (1) what you are (fingerprint, iris scan), (2) what you know (password, secret phrase) or (3) what you carry (ID or swipe card).
- Two-step verification
- Uses the same type of identification from two different providers — for example, a password plus a one-time code from a security token or authenticator app.
- TXT, .txt
- A text file with records separated, or delimited, by tabs. A very simple file format readable on virtually any computer.
U
- UTC Universal Time, Coordinated
- Shares the same time as GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). World times are offset from this standard.
V
- VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol
- A means of using the internet to make telephone calls. Depending on the installation and service, there may be very little to distinguish a VoIP call from a PSTN call — including quality of service and the physical appearance of handsets.
X
- XML, .xml eXtensible Markup Language
- A general-purpose specification used to create custom definitions describing how data is structured. Widely used to share information between computers over the internet, regardless of operating system.