Deltacom Billman Call Data Interface Program
Version 1.0

Overview

The BILLMAN interface program written by Software Technology, Inc. is a DOS program. It is used to convert telephone expense transactions from Deltacom’s Billman Call Data to be compatible with the TABS III Merge Data Capture Transactions program. The BILLMAN program must reside in the same directory as the TABS III programs in order to work properly.

Note: The Create Validation Files program must be run before you can successfully use this data capture device interface program. The Create Validation Files program is found in TABS III by selecting the following menu options Maintenance|Integration|Create Validation Files. When creating validation files, select a Validation File Type of Data Capture Device.

Installation

The BILLMAN interface program (BILLMAN.EXE) must be transferred to the directory on your hard disk where the TABS III program files reside. This is done by using the INSTALL program on the BILLMAN interface program disk.

To install the BILLMAN interface program on your hard disk:

  1. Insert the BILLMAN interface program disk into your floppy disk drive.

  2. From a DOS prompt, make the floppy disk drive the default drive by entering the drive letter followed by a "colon". For example, if your floppy disk drive is drive A, then enter:

    3.         A:

  3. From the floppy disk drive prompt, enter the command:

    4.  INSTALL

    Note: The INSTALL program has a built-in search feature that will find where your TABS III program files reside. On larger network hard drives, this search feature can take quite a bit of time. If you know where the TABS III program files reside, you can bypass this search feature by entering the path following the install command. For example, if the TABS III program files reside on drive F: in a directory named "STI", you would enter:

    INSTALL F:\STI

  4. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the software onto your hard disk. The Install program will locate your TABS III software on your hard disk so that the interface program can be transferred to the same directory as TABS III. After the installation process, the message "Installation Complete" will be displayed.

Executing the BILLMAN Interface Program

Use the following procedure for conversion:
  1. Periodically, Deltacom will send you a file with your logged telephone calls. This file is a Microsoft Database file and must be converted to an ASCII text file using Microsoft Access. For example, if the BILLMAN Microsoft Database file is named DATA.MDB, use the following steps to create the ASCII text file using Access 2000:
    1. Open the DATA.MDB file using Microsoft Access.
    2. Click the Tables button on the left side of the window.
    3. Open the table that your call data is stored in.
    4. Select File | Export.
    5. In the Save in field specify your TABS III program directory.
    6. Specify a file name for your export file (i.e., Data.txt).
    7. Specify Text Files in the Save as type field.
    8. Click Save All.
    9. Make sure the Delimited option is selected and click Next.
    10. Select the Comma option for the delimiter that separates your fields.
    11. In the Text Qualifier field, select quotes (").
    12. Click Next.
    13. In the Export to File field, make sure your TABS III program directory is specified.
    14. Click Finish and then click OK.
    15. Once the file is exported, close Microsoft Access.
  1. From a DOS prompt, start the interface program by entering the command:

    2.         BILLMAN

    Note: You can specify the input file name when running the BILLMAN program. For example, if the input file name is DATA.TXT, you could enter "BILLMAN DATA.TXT" (without the quotes). If you don’t specify the input file name, the BILLMAN program will prompt you for the file name later.

  2. The first time you run the BILLMAN program, you will be asked to enter the TABS III transaction code number that you use for phone calls. Once you specify the transaction code number, the BILLMAN program will use that same transaction number each time you run the BILLMAN program.

  3. Next, you will be asked "Do you want to print telephone call transaction descriptions with the detail information included? (Y/N)". If you enter "Y", the program will include the TABS III tcode description from the previous step along with the account user code, the dialed number, the city and state, the call duration and the user description from the BILLMAN telephone data file for each merged transaction. If you enter "N", the program will use only the description of the TABS III transaction code specified in the previous step for each merged transaction. Once you specify how you want the descriptions, the BILLMAN program uses that same method each time you run the program.

  4. Next, if you did not specify the input file when invoking the BILLMAN program, you will be prompted to enter the input file name containing the BILLMAN telephone data.

  5. Next, you will be asked, "Is it OK to continue? (Y/N)". If you enter "N", the program will be aborted. If you enter "Y", the program will look for the data file containing the BILLMAN telephone data. If the file is found to contain data, the program will display the message "Converting Transactions" followed by a count of each transaction read from the file. The files T3EXPKEY.REM, T3EDESC1.REM and T3EXP.REM will be created which can be merged with the main TABS III data files. You must then start TABS III and run the Merge Data Capture Transactions program.

Note: A BILLMAN.ERR file is created and will contain any records that were not converted. If no errors were encountered during the conversion, then the BILLMAN.ERR file will be deleted.

Note: If you are not using a demo version of the program, the data file containing the logged phone calls will automatically be deleted when the conversion is complete to avoid double posting of the data.

Note: You may change the phone call transaction code and the detail description option used by the BILLMAN program by deleting the file BILLMAN.PRM, which is created in your TABS III directory. This will enable you to go through the setup procedure described above in steps 3 and 4 as a first time user of the program.

2001/07/06