| TeleFactura | SurfShop | Downloads | Buy Now | Billing Customer Area |
| Presentation | Products and Services | Engine Features | Billing Features | Screenshots | FAQ | Pricing | Data Sheets | Dynasoft TeleFactura - Frequently Asked Questions about our Telecoms billing solutions and services- What is TeleFactura?
- How is your product and service offering structured?
- What do all your Telecommunications billing products include as standard?
- Do you offer support services as standard with all your Telecom billing products?
- Do you offer training services as standard with all your Telecoms billing products?
- Do you offer bespoke development services with your Telecom billing products?
- Do I need a permanent connection to the Internet for your products to work?
- Why are some of your products Windows-based and not Web-based?
- Do you have low-cost options? If so, what are they?
- I have a feature you currently do not support in your products but which I need to have. What can be
done?
- Do you provide APIs?
- The programme looks a bit daunting as it heavily loaded with options and settings. Isn’t this a problem?
- Your annual support service includes free development. What does that include?
Answers:What is TeleFactura?
Dynasoft TeleFactura is a suite of Windows and Web applications for managing and billing end-users of voice and data services in the Telecommunications sector. How is your product and service offering structured?
We offer seven Windows-based versions of the same underlying Telecom billing application and two Web-based portals (‘Distributor CRM’ and ‘Web Access’) for the benefit of your customers and distributors. Each of the Windows products are geared towards a specific need that you might have. For instance, if only the building of LCR lists is required, we recommend buying TeleFactura LCR. If a Radius / AAA server is needed, then
TeleFactura Engine will perform all the tasks the Billing version does and also manage a TekRadius server, TekRadius being a leading Radius / AAA server. Finally, we also offer application add-ons like a help desk system with ticketing, ability to perform online payments with major payment systems like Paypal, SagePay,... What do all your Telecommunications billing products include as standard?
All our products include the Web portal called TeleFactura Web Access as standard. It enables your customers and distributors to manage their account and in the case of distributors also their sub-distributors and access all their relevant financial data online. We also always include free bug-support for the lifetime of the licence bought. Finally, none of our options have any minimum contract periods. Do you offer support services as standard with all your Telecom billing products?
Support services are normally an extra. All our products are mature products which have been in the market for years. We provide training videos, extensive guides and manuals with all our products. We feel that better allocation of resources can be reached and better support can be given if we make our support service an add-on service not normally included as standard with our software products. We also can offer 24/7 support for our
products if required. This is offered as a separate Service Level Agreement. Our standard SLA for our support services is available here. Do you offer training services as standard with all your products?
Training again is a separate service as this is of high added value since it will enable you to get up-and-running in a day or less. With it, we make one of our support engineers fully available to you for half a day. He will help you install and configure the products bought and go into a lot of details about all aspects of our solutions. Do you offer bespoke development services with your Telecom billing products?
We regularly integrate bespoke features into TeleFactura for our clients. Let us know what functionality you require and we will endeavour to include it, often free of charge. Some development might involve costing out the work depending on whether the features sought are specific to your needs or if they can benefit the programme as a whole. Rates used are always competitive. Free change requests and development is only available with our annual support service.
Do I need a permanent connection to the Internet for your products to work?
Normally, Dynasoft TeleFactura requires a permanent connection to the Internet and is activated with an Internet-based licence key. A dongle key can be supplied instead for clients wishing to use the programme without a permanent connection. Why are some of your products Windows-based and not Web-based?
When we originally developed TeleFactura we had to weigh the benefits of each option. We came down on the side of offering a Windows-based application for the main programme because it offers the following benefits: - Confidentiality and data-protection guaranteed: Unlike purely Web-based systems hosted with
billing providers, your data is not shared with anyone, located on the “cloud” (*) or hosted by us. With TeleFactura, the main Windows programme and its data run locally on your network and are not available to anyone else. A Windows application cannot be hacked via SQL injection,... as it is not normally accessible from the Internet. We provide Web portals for your customers and distributors but these do
not offer access to critical information like credit card details,...This set-up also means you will be compliant with certain data-protection laws (such as under the UK’s FSA or EU law) that prevent disseminating personal information to third parties. Uniquely, this includes our SaaS service as you can
host our Software-as-a-Service applications on your own network. The risk with services that are 100% on the cloud is users can stand to loose a lot when things go wrong.
- Increased productivity: As TeleFactura’s main application is a Windows client/server one, you will be more productive and navigate between screens faster. Working with purely Web-based interfaces is
known to decrease work efficiency as speed of access to data is slower, and users have to move constantly between browser windows to get to the right information. We offer several software versions, one of which is a version that is especially designed to work through a secure VPN by several users simultaneously. All TeleFactura versions work fine also as stand-alone solutions. The Graphical User
Interfaces of the applications were kept clean and simple with few bells and whistles like graphical menus and forms to ensure that they load quickly. Furthermore, unlike with hosted services, you will not be dependent on the sometimes fickle nature of internet connections which can sometimes throw the user off. In the case of TeleFactura you would typically access the programme through your local network.
- Processing loads are spread across your network
: Data retrieval is faster with Windows applications and the screens are more user-friendly than purely Web-based systems. This is especially relevant for Telecom billing where vast amounts of CDR data are handled. Navigating using a Windows interface is easier than with purely Web-based systems and processing loads are distributed across the network and therefore are not solely concentrated on a Web server. Also adding more servers is not
usually needed since TeleFactura was designed so that the users’ desktops takes some of the load off from the server.
- No need to have network administrating skills to install and use: It’s possible to install TeleFactura on a basic installation of Windows. No extensive network or database administration skills are required to install TeleFactura as it installs straight from our download link in seconds. No complicated IIS
or database work is needed. The Web applications we do provide do not offer access to critical data (such as credit card details, customer names and addresses,...) and so can be secured more easily. TeleFactura supports enterprise-grade MySQL or MS SQL server but also uses MS Access by default and so is very easy to install and use.
- No permanent connection to the Internet needed: Our main applications are Windows client/server
and stand-alone programs that offer the benefit of not needing a permanent connection to the Internet if you own a licence and use a dongle key. You can run TeleFactura on a laptop on the move for instance without the need for an Internet connection.
- Integration with third party applications that are also Windows-based: TeleFactura Engine is integrated with TekRadius which is also Windows-based.
- The data and services that matter are Web-based and easily accessible via the Internet
: We offer a Web-based portal for your customers and distributors and a Web-based distributor CRM so your contacts can manage and access all their data and financials online. Furthermore, our Windows billing
applications are normally only accessed by a handful of authorised staff in an organisation who can easily access them through the Internet via VPN solutions such as Remote Desktop, Teamviewer, RealVNC,... even using your Apple or Android smart phone (Link 1 & Link 2). Finally, we have a version of our
telecom billing software, called TeleFactura Admin, which was designed for users who only perform day-to-day entry of data (add/modify customer accounts,...) and who do not do any billing work. It is a client application that runs locally on a member of staff’s computer. Cost for this application starts from only a few tens of GBP per licence. Access to TeleFactura via this Admin programme is faster than through a purely Web-based application.
However your wish to access it, we can provide the best solution that fits your needs. More on this here. Do you have low-cost options? If so, what are they?
Yes, we do. Investing in our products does not have to represent a heavy burden. This is because: -
All buyers can claim 20% instantly when they buy our programmes. More on this here.
- We offer payment terms where the cost of your investment can be spread over 6 months. More on this here.
- We have a cheaper version than our standard Billing version, called TeleFactura Rating, that costs a third
less. More on this here.
- We can offer a version of our programme called TeleFactura SaaS. This version is a Software-as-a-Service option where only a small fee based on the cost of each call is paid. You can host this version on your network or with one of our Web servers. This alternative is very competitive as prices for it start
from only GBP30 or USD49 per billing cycle. Finally and unlike other SaaS services, the service fee is based on each call, not on each minute of a call. More on this here.
I have a feature you currently do not support in your products but which I need to have. What can be done?
We often get asked to integrate features from existing and new customers alike. We always endeavour to include feature requests from existing clients and often do this free of charge if we feel this might benefit our programmes as a whole. We estimate that two thirds of current development is precisely done on this basis. Likewise, we often do the same with prospective clients, i.e. we are ready to integrate feature requests from
new clients if we feel this is beneficial to the programmes and to make buying our products that more attractive to new clients. However, the only framework within which this can be done is if the prospective client buys into our line of solutions. We would then plough some of the money from that sale back into TeleFactura and develop this new feature, often at no extra cost. Do you provide APIs?
We can provide APIs but we do so on a discretionary basis. The programme looks a bit daunting as it heavily loaded with options and settings. Isn’t this a problem?
We have had this remark a few times. TeleFactura and how it looks and feels is only the reflection of how
complex telecom billing can be with its multitude of CDR formats, types of rates, billing scenarios, etc. As software developers, we have to strike a balance between offering 100% flexibility which most clients expect and loading the interfaces with too much text to explain what each option does. We also offer full training and support services and have been selling our solutions for over 10 years now around the world. So we strongly
believe our clients are given all the help possible so they can successfully use our products. Also, not all users of TeleFactura use all the options that are available. TeleFactura was designed so that a lot of settings have default values which never have to be modified if they’re not needed. Finally, there is little in the application that cannot be clarified during a training session, by looking up the issue in the manual, videos and guides that come
bundled with the applications or via e-mail and phone with our support service. Your annual support service includes free development. What does that include?
Few companies offer software development as part of their support services, but we do. This covers most small change requests that you might have a need for and even the free development of bigger features. In both
cases, when we decide to include free development work we look at whether these features might benefit our programmes and our other users. We decided to offer this so as to make it easier, quicker and hassle-free for our clients to integrate any changes and features they feel are important to them. For instance if you need a small change in one of our invoice templates (e.g., move the user’s address to accommodate a type of envelope
that you use, etc...), we usually are able to do this free of charge and deliver changes in a matter of hours depending on the size of the change. (*) although we can provide a hosted solution with our Software-as-a-Service model if needed.
| 
with questions or comments.