Recording files delivered to FTP
Recording file formats and file names
If you want to store the call recording files locally instead of storing them in the Puzzel Administration Portal's Media Archive, Puzzel can deliver the call recording files to Puzzel's FTP server, so that you can fetch new files here e.g. every hour or every night, and store them on your own server. We stronlgly recommend using SFTP (SSH2) to fetch the recording files.
The max storage time for recording files on Puzzel's FTP server is 7 days, but please make sure you fetch the files as early as possible.
The recording files are by default in mono.
Puzzel can deliver recording files to FTP in the following formats:
- MP3 (9-19 kbps)
- WAV (PCM 128 kpbs)
- WMA (16 kbps) *
* WMA format is from September 2022 no longer offered as an option for customers requesting call recording files delivered to FTP, but for customers already receiving files on WMA format we will continue to deliver. It’s likely that we later will communicate an end-of-life date for WMA.
The original recording file from the phone system is on format wav A-law 64 kbps format before being converted to one of the above listed formats.
Puzzel can configure that recordings are done in stereo, for an additional price.
Stereo recording
If recordings are configured to be in stereo, the caller will be in the left channel and the agent and any consulted party (if included in the recording file) will be in the right channel.
The original recording file from the phone system when stereo is configured is wav A-law 128 kbps (=2 x 64) before being converted and delivered.
For stereo recording we recommend WAV. A WAV (PCM) stereo file will have Codec id=1 Bit rate = 256 kb/s, sampling rate = 8000 Hz and bit depth = 16 bits.
Each call recording file's metadata can be delivered in a separate XML file. A call recording file's belonging xml metadata file can be encrypted if the call recording file is encrypted. Ref encryption.
Only WMA recording files contain metadata (callers number, access number etc) about the recording in the File property details (the Comment field).
The file name for recording files delivered to FTP server will be:
sessionID_Number.Format...where sessionID is the internal id in Puzzels platform, Number is the recording number within the session, and Format is WMA, MP3 or WAV.
The sessionID can also be found in the Raw data (detailed call records) for the call, and sessionID can be sent as a parameter in a web request (Xml Http Client) to populate your CRM system when the agent answers or ends the call.
Recording metadata XML file
When recording files are delivered to Puzzel's FTP server, Puzzel can deliver each recording file's metadata in a separate XML file. The metadata is the basic information related to a call recording. The metadata file will have the same file name as the corresponding recording file, but with extension .XML.
The recording metadata XML file contains four parts:
- Session information: sessionID, start time, access number, etc
- Request information: remoteAddress (=callers phone number), queue_key, queue description, etc
- User information: The agents userID and firstname/lastname etc
- Recording information: Recording start/stop/duration, and Forced on queue/agent
In Puzzel Raw data, you can find much more detailed information about a call than what is present in the recording files metadata.
About the caller's number
The callers phone number is usually received by Puzzel as Calling Party Number, and this number is in the recording metadata shown as RemoteAddress. In Raw data, this will be the Initiation events Source. If a caller (A) called to a number (B) that is forwarded to a Puzzel access number (C), the callers number (A) might be received by Puzzel as Additional Calling Party Number (additional_source in Rawdata) or Redirecting Number (redirect_source in Raw data), and the number the caller called to (B) might be received as Calling Party Number. If this is the case, the called number (B) is shown as RemoteAddress in the recording metadata (and as Source in Raw data).
In the Puzzel Admin Portals Archive, you can search for calls and recordings. If you search for a call where the Callers number is xxx, the Archive searches for calls with xxx as Calling Party Number, Additional Calling Party Number or Redirecting Number.
Call recording metadata example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<recordingDetails version="1.0">
<sessionInformation>
<sessionId>002b93e0-fe71-4d16-af34-d91a31214d8c</sessionId>
<sessionStart>2016-11-02T16:50:55.003+01:00</sessionStart>
<serviceId>10298</serviceId>
<serviceNumber>21494324</serviceNumber>
<serviceDescription>My Services</serviceDescription>
<accessPoint>21492970</accessPoint>
<countryCode>NO</countryCode>
<fileName>002b93e0-fe71-4d16-af34-d91a31214d8c_1.mp3</fileName>
</sessionInformation>
<requestInformation>
<requestId>467224</requestId>
<remoteAddress>21498175</remoteAddress>
<queueKey>Q_PHONE_SALES</queueKey>
<queueDescription>Phone Sales</queueDescription>
<vip>0</vip>
</requestInformation>
<userInformation>
<userId>17064</userId>
<firstName>Kristian</firstName>
<lastName>Halvorsen</lastName>
<userName>kristian</userName>
</userInformation>
<recordingInformation>
<recordingIndex>1</recordingIndex>
<recordingStart>2016-11-02T16:51:00.69+01:00</recordingStart>
<recordingStop>2016-11-02T16:51:03.307+01:00</recordingStop>
<ownerType>user</ownerType>
<ownerTypeId>1</ownerTypeId>
<ownerId>17064</ownerId>
<forcedOnQueue>false</forcedOnQueue>
<forcedOnUser>true</forcedOnUser>
<recordingSeconds>3</recordingSeconds>
</recordingInformation>
</recordingDetails>
In special cases Puzzel can configure that 1 or a few variables are added within a <customInformation> tag. This can be done if a third party handling call recordings need some information that may be sensitive and should not be stored or made available in Puzzel as ordinary call_variables, since call_variables are shown in Archive and Raw data. If this is needed, please contact Puzzel to discuss details.