Call Detail Record (CDR)

What is a Call Detail Record (CDR)?

A Call Detail Record (CDR) is a structured log of metadata about a phone call, capturing details like the calling and called numbers, call duration, start and end time, and call outcome, without necessarily including the audio itself. Every call placed through a telecom network or cloud calling platform generates a CDR, whether or not the call is also recorded.

What’s typically inside a CDR

• Caller and callee numbers, often with the caller’s number masked or partially hidden depending on the platform and privacy configuration.
• Timestamps for when the call started, was answered, and ended.
• Call duration, both total call time and, where relevant, time spent in queue versus with an agent.
• Call outcome, such as answered, missed, busy, or failed.
• Routing information, including which agent, IVR system, or number the call was routed through.

CDR vs. call recording

These two are often confused but serve different purposes. A CDR is structured metadata about the call, generated automatically for essentially every call regardless of whether recording is enabled. A call recording is the actual audio of the conversation, which requires separate configuration, consent, and storage. A business can have complete CDR data for billing and analytics purposes while recording only a sample of calls, or none at all.

Use cases

• Billing and cost analysis: CDRs are the primary data source for calculating call charges and analyzing telecom spend.
• Operational reporting: metrics like call volume, average handle time, and missed call rate are all derived from CDR data.
• Fraud and anomaly detection: unusual calling patterns, such as a spike in international calls, often surface first in CDR analysis.

Benefits

• Lightweight and always available: CDRs are generated for every call, requiring no extra setup or storage-heavy recording infrastructure.
• Foundation for analytics: most contact center dashboards and reports are ultimately built on CDR data.
• Easier compliance footprint: since CDRs don’t contain conversation content, they typically carry a lighter privacy burden than recordings.