Patent ID: 7457400

Claim:
A method in a computerized environment for communicating line unit usage information to a user, the method comprising: prompting the user to enter a type of report of line unit usage information collected from at least one line unit, wherein each line unit is associated with a switch module and includes a grouping of a plurality of communication lines, and wherein a plurality of switch modules comprise a central office; prompting the user to enter report criteria, wherein the report criteria comprises a user-specified time interval for which a line unit usage report is to be generated; and displaying a line unit usage report based on the report criteria and requested type of report, wherein data in the line usage report is derived from a relational database component, wherein the relational database component is configured to access a structural database component containing a current layout of the switch module and the at least one line unit associated with the switch module, and wherein the relational database is further configured to organize the data in the line usage report according to the current layout.