# Location Based Accounting

## Description

Location Based Accounting provides the capability to automatically determine a device's location based on its IP address. System administrators have the capability to attribute calls to specific locations, and bill these locations accordingly. The feature involves two components:

- The first determines a device's zone based on its IP address. To enable this, the Location Specification or the Location Specification (IPv6) form must be programmed by the administrator to specify IP address ranges and map them to zone IDs. When an IP device registers with the ICP, its IP address is compared to the ranges contained in the form. If the IP address falls within one of the ranges, the automatically determined zone for the device is that which is programmed against this range.

- The second provides device location information in the SMDR records of the MiVoice Business system. To enable this, the Location Information Reporting option in the SMDR Options form must be turned on. This adds two new Location Identifier fields to the SMDR records, one for the calling party, one for the called party. With the new option on, when an SMDR record is generated, the content of the new SMDR Tag field for the calling party's zone in ESM's Network Zones form is inserted in the calling party's Location Identifier field. The same is done for the called party. The Location Identifier fields apply to consoles and sets only, not trunks.

An IP device's zone can be automatically determined as follows:

- When the IP device registers with the ICP, its IP address is compared with the ranges in the Location Specification form.

- If the IP address lies within one of the ranges, the automatically determined zone for the device is the zone associated with that range in the form.

If the IP address does not lie within one of the ranges, the device's zone can not be determined automatically through the Location Specification form. It is derived through what is manually programmed in the Station Attributes form. If these zones are different, one must take precedence. The rules for determining an IP device's zone are as follows:

- If the Station Attributes form indicates a Zone Assignment Method of Manual, the IP device's zone is that specified in the Zone ID field of the same form.

- If the Station Attributes form indicates a Zone Assignment Method of Default, and the IP address for the device falls within a range specified in the Location Specification form, the IP device's zone is that associated with this range.

- If the Station Attributes form indicates a Zone Assignment Method of Default, and the IP address for the device does not fall within a range specified in the Location Specification form, the IP device's zone is that of the ICP with which the device is registered.

## Conditions and Feature Interactions

- When a Hot Desk user is logged into a set, the set's zone is preserved. It remains that of the set's Registration DN, whether the set's Registration DN zone was determined automatically, or programmed manually. The zone associated with the Hot Desk user's set is that associated with the set when no users are logged in.

- For an EHDU (a hot desk user logged into a device hosted by the public telephone system), the zone used is that of the Trunk (System Zone). If the Zone Assignment Method field is set to Manual, the Zone ID is programmed by the Administrator; if the Zone Assignment Method field is set to Default, the Zone ID shown is the switch default zone. The switch default zone is programmed in the Zone field of the local switch’s entry in the Network Elements form.

  NOTE: While a Hot Desk user is logged in, a change in a set's Registration DN zone will not immediately affect the set. The set's zone will continue to be the Registration DN's zone at the time the Hot Desk user logged in. The set will adopt the new Registration DN zone when the Hot Desk user logs out, or, more specifically, when it re-registers with its Registration DN. This is current behavior that is not affected by Location Based Accounting.

- Zones are an integral part of the Bandwidth Management functionality. With the introduction of automatically determined zones, the zones involved in Bandwidth Management could be such zones. An IP device's zone is determined as described above, and must be reflected in Bandwidth Management.

- Zones are used to determine whether or not compression should be used. With the introduction of automatically determined zones, such zones could be involved when assessing whether or not to compress. An IP device's zone is determined as described above, and must be reflected in the Compression functionality.

## Programming

Program the following forms:

- Location Specification or Location Specification (IPv6)

- SMDR Options

- Station Attributes

- Network Elements

## Device Support

Not applicable

## Operation

None