Administering the server for traffic reports

This topic provides information about administering the Message Storage Server (MSS) for traffic reports.

Before you can run a report, you must define the features and requirements for that report. The MSS gathers data according to the requirements you set.

The following topics provide information for preparing and activating the server for traffic reports:

• Defining system prime time
• Data retention requirements

Defining system prime time

You can define the system prime time to customize the traffic reports for your needs.

To define the system's prime time hours:

1. Go to the Administer System Attributes and Ports page.
2. Enter values in the System Prime Time Start, and System Prime Time End fields to indicate the starting and ending time to be used by the system to analyze and report prime-time traffic data. These values normally correspond to your company's business hours but can be set to any values you want. (Traffic data is also collected at other times, but for reporting purposes, these values designate the prime-time hours.)
3. Click Save.

Data retention requirements

When traffic collection is activated, the messaging system stores the present collection record. It also stores the records of previous consecutive collection periods. How long each record is retained depends on the type of report, as follows:

• Traffic records that contain daily information for the feature, load, community, net load, and special features reports are stored for 32 consecutive days.

For example, if today is January 1, the present record contains the traffic data collected today, along with the previous 31 daily records, starting with December 31 (yesterday) and going back to December 1.

• Traffic records that contain daily information for the remote messages and subscriber reports are stored for 8 consecutive days.

For example, if today is Monday, the present record contains the traffic collected today, along with the previous 7 daily records, starting with Sunday (yesterday) and going back to the previous Monday.

• Traffic records that contain hourly information for the community, feature, load, and special features reports are stored for 192 consecutive hours, which equals 8 days of hourly information.

For example, if it is 8:15 AM, the present record contains the traffic records collected since 8:00 AM, along with the previous 191 hourly records, starting with 7:00 AM and going backwards.

• Traffic records that contain monthly information for the remote messages and subscriber reports are stored for 13 consecutive months.

For example, if today is January 15, the present record contains the traffic collected so far this month, along with the previous 12 monthly records, starting with December (last month) and going back to the previous January.

As each new traffic record is collected, the oldest record is deleted. This means that you must produce traffic reports on a regular and timely basis, or you will lose the information that the reports make available to you. This is especially true if you retain the reports for historical purposes, such as a performance audit or for comparative analysis.

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