PatentsBusiness Objects owns the following U.S. patents, which may cover products that are
documentation@businessobjects.com
.
offered and sold by Business Objects: 5,555,403, 6,247,008 B1, 6,578,027 B2,
6,490,593 and 6,289,352.
TrademarksBusiness Objects, the Business Objects logo, Crystal Reports, and Crystal Enterprise
are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects SA or its affiliated
companies in the United States and other countries. All other names mentioned herein
may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Third-party contributorsBusiness Objects products in this release may contain redistributions of software
licensed from third-party contributors. Some of these individual components may
also be available under alternative licenses. A partial listing of third-party
contributors that have requested or permitted acknowledgments, as well as required
notices, can be found at: http://www.businessobjects.com/thirdparty
About this manualThis manual describes ACE’s Mover ID option, which lets you move-update your
data using the USPS NCOA
you need to know to operate the NCOA
USPS publications describing NCOA
ConventionsThis document adheres to the following documentation conventions:
ConventionDescription
BoldWe use boldface type for file names and paths. When we’re explain-
ing something that you would type on your computer, boldface indicates something that you should type exactly as shown; for example,
“Type
ItalicsWe use italics for emphasis. When we’re explaining something that
you would type on your computer, italics indicate an item for which
you should substitute your own data or values; for example, “Type a
name for your job, along with the
Menu commandsWe indicate commands that you choose from menus in the following
format: Menu Name > Command Name. For example, “Choose File
> New.”
We use this symbol to alert you to important information and potential problems.
Link
system. This manual does not cover everything
cd\dirs
Link
system. You will also need a copy of
Link
.
.”
.job
extension (
jobname
.job
).”
We use this symbol to point out special cases that you should know
about.
Preface
5
Documentation
Complete
documentation set
Access the latest
documentation
Your complete ACE documentation set includes the following:
ACE User’s Guide
ACE Job-File Reference (if you use ACE Job)
ACE Library Reference (if you use ACE Library)
Mover ID User’s Guide (if you purchased the Mover ID add-on option)
Quick Reference for Views and Job-File Products (if you use ACE Views or
Job)
Quick Reference for Library Products (if you use ACE Library)
System Administrator’s Guide
Edjob User’s Guide
Database Prep
Views Quick Start Guide (if you use ACE Views)
You can access documentation in several places:
On your computer. Release notes, manuals, and other documents are
available in the Documentation folder. Choose Start > Programs > FirstlogicApplications > Documentation.
On the Customer Portal. Go to www.firstlogic.com/customer, and then
click the Documentation link to access the latest documentation. You can
view the PDFs online or save them to your computer.
6
Mover ID User’s Guide
Chapter 1:
Overview
What is moveupdating?
Move-update with
ACE’s Mover ID option
Chapter summaryThis chapter contains an overview of how ACE works with NCOA
“Move-updating” means checking a mailing list against the National Change of
Address database to make sure you’re reaching your customers. When you
perform move updating, you update your records for people or businesses that
have moved. Move updating is required by the United States Postal Service
(USPS) on all presorted First Class mail.
To help mailing-list managers meet this requirement, the USPS offers the Mover
ID for NCOA
ID provides support for NCOA
Remote Views, and ACE RAPID.
You can also use ANK
Link
ANK
available.
You will also find an overview of what to expect from the U.S. Postal Service and
Business Objects on issues such as security, technical support, and performance.
Link
, a system that includes move-updated data in directories. Mover
Link
to update address data with the most current address information
Link
in ACE Job, ACE Views, ACE Library, ACE
with NCOA
Link
.
Link
and
Chapter 1: Overview
7
Overview of Mover ID
Move-update with
NCOA
Link
How ACE works with
NCOA
Link
The U.S. Postal Service requires move updating on all First Class presorted
mailings. To help mailers meet this requirement, the USPS offers several options,
Link
including NCOA
By using NCOA
database with the latest move data, using a one-pass process. With NCOA
. You can purchase ACE’s Mover ID option.
Link
through ACE, you’re updating the addresses in your
Link
,
you can:
Improve mail deliverability.
Reduce the cost and time needed to forward mail.
Meet the USPS move-updating requirement for presorted First Class mail.
Prepare for the possible expansion of move-update requirements.
The ACE Mover ID option supports NCOA
Link
. Mover ID is an extra-cost, addon feature of ACE Job, ACE Views, ACE Library, ACE RAPID, and ACE
Remote Views.
This is how Mover ID fits into ACE processing:
1.ACE performs its normal processing on the address data. You cannot perform
Mover ID processing without the usual ACE processing. NCOA
Link
requires
parsed, standardized address data as input.
2.The software searches the NCOA
Link
database for a record that matches your
parsed, standardized record.
3.ACE receives the move information, including the new address, if one is
available.
4.ACE looks up the move record that comes back from the NCOA
Link
database, to assign postal and other codes.
5.At your option, ACE can either retain the old address and append the new, or
replace the old address with the new.
6.ACE produces the reports and log files that you will need for USPS
compliance. The number of move-updated records also appears in the Job
Summary report and in statistics files.
The following diagram shows how move updating fits into ACE processing.
8
Mover ID User’s Guide
Chapter 1: Overview
9
ANK
Link
The importance of
move updating
Link
ANK
is part of the
move-updating
solution
ANK
Link
is for NCOA
Link
end users and limited
service providers
More than 40 million people and businesses move every year. If you want to keep
®
in touch with your contacts, you must use a USPS
method for receiving your
contacts’ new addresses. Not only is move updating good business, it is required
for all First-Class mailers who claim presorted or automation rates. As the USPS
expands move-updating requirements and more strictly enforces the existing
regulations, move updating will become increasingly important.
Undeliverable-as-addressed mail costs the mailing industry and the USPS a lot of
money each year. ACE now offers an additional solution to this problem by
Link
providing NCOA
Link
ANK
Normally NCOA
data.“ANK” stands for “Attempted - Not Known.”
months of move-update data. By using the ANK
end users and limited service providers access to the USPS’s
Link
end users and limited service providers have access to 18
Link
data, NCOA
Link
end users
and limited service providers gain access to 30 additional months of move data —
Link
the ANK
data. These additional 30 months of data tell only that a move
occurred and the date of the move; the new address is not provided
ANK
Link
helps mailers at the NCOA
Link
end user and limited service provider
level make informed choices regarding a contact. If the data indicates that the
customer has moved, then you can choose one of the following courses of action:
Suppress that contact from the list.
Try to acquire the new address from an NCOA
Link
full service provider.
Link
ANK
is an add-on
option
Link
ANK
dataANK
Automatic ANKLink
detection
If you are an NCOA
Link
full service provider, you do not need to use the ANK
Link
option because you already have complete access to the full 48 months of move
data (including the new addresses).
ACE’s ANK
Link
option is an add-on option. In order to purchase the ANK
option, you must already own the Mover ID for NCOA
Link
option, at the end user
Link
or limited service provider level.
If you’d like information about acquiring this option, visit the Customer Portal at
http://www.firstlogic.com/customer
Link
is a subset of NCOA
.
Link
. You can request ANK
Link
data from the USPS
National Customer Support Center (NCSC) by calling 1-800-589-5766 or emailing ncoalink@usps.gov
. ANK
data is not available from Business
Link
Objects.
ACE detects if you’re using ANK
whether you’re using ANK
Link
Link
data. There’s no need for you to specify
in ACE.
10
Mover ID User’s Guide
What to expect from the USPS and from Business Objects
Move updating is a
business decision for
you to make
Security is your
responsibility
Your move-updating system (NCOA
Link
), and the license requirements that go
with it, have created a new dimension in the relationship among mailers, the
USPS, and vendors. It’s important to be clear about what to expect from
everyone.
The Mover ID option offers an option to replace a person’s old address with their
new one. You will decide whether you will accept move updates related to family
moves, or only individual moves. The USPS recommends that you make these
choices only after careful thought about your customer relationships. Consider the
following examples:
If you are mailing checks, account statements, or other correspondence for
which you have a fiduciary responsibility, then move-updating is a serious
undertaking. The USPS recommends that you verify each move by sending a
double postcard, or other easy-reply piece, before changing a financial record
to the new address.
If your business relationship is with one spouse and not the other, then move
updating must be handled carefully with respect to divorce or separation.
Again, it may make sense for you to take the extra time and expense of
confirming each move before permanently updating the record.
The USPS is extremely concerned about preventing any improper use of
Link
NCOA
data. From the USPS, you can learn their rules on security, access
control, permitted and forbidden uses of move data, and so on. For details, see the
Privacy Act of 1974, Title 39.
USPS responsibility for
support
When you acquire a NCOA
product. The NCOA
Link
Link
license from the USPS, you are licensing a USPS
database is developed and maintained by the USPS.
Therefore, contact the USPS National Customer Support Center in Memphis at
Link
800-589-5766 as your first line of support for NCOA
Link
the NCOA
PerformanceIn our tests, ACE runs slower with Mover ID on than with it off. Your processing
system.
issues or problems with
speed depends on the computer running ACE and the percentage of input records
affected by a move (more moves, slower performance).
See also “Improving NCOALink performance” on page 67.
Chapter 1: Overview
11
Security requirements
Because of the sensitivity and confidentiality of change-of-address data, the
USPS imposes strict security procedures on software vendors and users.
100 unique names and
addresses
The USPS requires that your list have a minimum of 100 unique records. ACE
Job, Views, Remote Views, or RAPID verifies that your input file contains at
least 100 records. It also examines the first 100 records to verify that each is
unique (in other words, you can’t input 100 copies of the same record). These
checks make verification take longer, but they are required by the USPS.
If you are using ACE Library, you must ensure that the 100-record requirement is
met and obtain a waiver from the USPS before you can purchase ACE Library’s
Link
NCOA
Password protectionThe USPS requires that the machine that the software and NCOA
functionality.
are installed on be password-protected.
Link
directories
12
Mover ID User’s Guide
Get started with NCOA
Link
How do I get started?You’ll find all the information you need on the USPS RIBBS website
(http://ribbs.usps.gov/
). The “NCOA
Link
Information Document” provides an
excellent introduction. The “End User Certification Procedures” and the “Service
Provider Certification Procedures” tell you exactly what you need to do to
Link
become NCOA
-certified.
To access these documents, go to the RIBBS site (http://ribbs.usps.gov/
Link
NCOA
on the left side of the page, and then scroll down the right side of the
page to find the documents that correspond to your provider type (end user, full
service provider, or limited service provider).
Steps to becoming
NCOA
Link
-certified
Before you can perform NCOA
steps. These steps are described more fully in the “End User Certification
Link
processing, you must complete the following
Procedures” and the “Service Provider Certification Procedures” documents.
1.Complete the USPS’s NCOA
Link
application and other required forms. After
you complete the application and forms, the USPS gives you an authorization
code, which you’ll need in step 2.
2.Purchase the Business Objects Mover ID option. For details, visit the
Customer Portal at http://www.firstlogic.com/customer
. You must inform
Business Objects of your authorization code (see step 1) and what level
you’re certifying at (end user, limited service provider, or full service
Link
provider) in order to purchase ACE’s NCOA
3.Perform the NCOA
Link
certification test using ACE’s easy test job template.
functionality.
Coordinate with the USPS to process their test file. See Chapter 4 for details.
4.Complete the USPS’s NCOA
pay the USPS for NCOA
Link
Link
license agreement. At this point, you also
.
), click
Completing the Step 3
form
Hash or flat file formatThe USPS offers NCOA
Several items on the Step 3 form of the NCOA
discussion.
Link
data in hash files or flat files. ACE can access either
Link
application merit further
format. On the Step 3 form, you indicate whether you’d like to receive hash files,
flat files, or both. For help determining which file format may be best for you, see
“Improving NCOALink performance” on page 67.
VersionsBe sure to indicate the correct product names and versions, as shown below.
The Step 3 form asks for your ...You enter ...
Link
NCOA
NCOA
Address Matching ZIP+4 Product NameACE.
Software Product NameMover ID.
Link
Software Product VersionThe latest version of Mover ID that you
have received. If you’re not sure what version that is, see “Where version numbers
appear” on page 14.
Chapter 1: Overview
13
The Step 3 form asks for your ...You enter ...
Address Matching ZIP+4 Product VersionThe latest CASS-certified version of ACE
that you have received. If you’re not sure
what version that is, see “Where version
numbers appear” on page 14.
Delivery Point Validation Product NameACE.
Delivery Point Validation Product VersionThe latest CASS-certified version of ACE
that you have received. If you’re not sure
what version that is, see “Where version
numbers appear” on page 14.
Where version numbers
appear
You can see the versions of ACE, CASS-certified ACE, and Mover ID in the
following ways:
Release notes. With each ACE release, the release notes will tell you the
ACE, CASS, and Mover ID version numbers.
Command line options. Use the command line option pwace /rev or
pwace -rev to see what your installed versions are. Or use the command line
option pwace /lib or pwace -lib to see the installed versions for a whole slew
of underlying components that make up ACE.
Help menu. In ACE Views, choose Help > About ACE Views to see what
your installed versions are. Choose Help > Library Version to see the
installed versions of the underlying components that make up ACE.
Library function. In ACE Library, call ace_get_revision to see what your
installed versions are.
Mover ID Summary. In the Mover ID Summary report header, you can see
the ACE version and the Mover ID version that you used when processing
your Mover ID job.
CASS 3553 report. The CASS report shows the version of ACE that was
most recently CASS-certified.
14
Mover ID User’s Guide
Chapter 2:
Move-updating in ACE
Chapter summaryThis chapter walks you through the steps you’ll take in ACE to set up move-
updating with NCOA
Link
.
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
15
Install the NCOA
Link
directories and files
Hardware
recommendations for
NCOA
About the NCOA
Link
Link
directories
Install the NCOA
Link
directories
When move-updating with NCOA
At least 60 GB of available disk space.
DVD drive.
Sufficient RAM. See “Improving NCOALink performance” on page 67.
After you purchase NCOA
Link
USPS sends you the latest NCOA
Link
, you will need:
from the USPS and pass their certification test, the
Link
directories every month (if you’re an end
user) or every week (if you’re a service provider).
The USPS requires that you use the latest NCOA
Link
you. NCOA
NCOA
directories expire within 45 days.
Link
directories are not provided by Business Objects. The NCOA
Link
directories that they send to
Link
directories come straight from the USPS.
Before you can use the NCOA
Link
directories, which the USPS provides to you on
DVD, you must install them to your hard disk. The USPS recommends that you
have 60 GB of free disk space.
You can install the NCOA
Link
directories using a GUI (graphical user interface)
utility, or you can install from the command line.
Install with the GUI utility1.Insert the NCOA
Link
directories DVD into your DVD drive.
2.Run the DVD installer, located at pw\ncoalink\ncoadvdver.exe or postware/
ncoalink/ncoadvdver.
For details, see the online help in the installation program (Help > Contents).
Install from the command
line
Command-line optionDescription
WindowsUNIX
You can use the ncoadvdver command with the following options to automate
the installation process.
-cRun selected processes in console mode (do not use the graphical user interface)
/p:t-p:tPerform transfer. When using this option, you must also:
specify the DVD location with /d or -d
specify the transfer location with /t or -t
/p:u-p:uPerform unpack. When using this option, you must also:
specify the DVD location with /d or -d
specify the transfer location with /t or -t
/p:v-p:vPerform verification. When using this option, you must
also specify the transfer location with /t or -t.
/d-dSpecify DVD location.
/t-tSpecify transfer location.
/nos-nosDo not stop on error. (Return failure code as exit status.)
/a-aAnswer all warning messages with Yes.
You can combine “p” options.
For example, if you want to
transfer, unpack, and verify all
in the same process, enter
p:tuv
or
-p:tuv
.
/
After performing the “p”
option specified, the program
will close.
16
Mover ID User’s Guide
Windows exampleYour command line may look something like this:
ncoadvdver /p:tuv /d D:\ /t C:\pw\dirs\ncoa
UNIX exampleYour command line may look something like this:
If you are a service provider, then every day when you perform NCOA
processing, you must download the daily delete file and install it in the same
Link
directory where your NCOA
directories are located.
The daily delete file contains records that are pending deletion from the
Link
NCOA
data. For example, if Jane Doe filed a change of address with the
USPS and then didn’t move, Jane’s record would be in the daily delete file.
Link
Because the COA is stored in the NCOA
directories, and they are updated
only weekly or monthly, the daily delete file is needed in the interim, until the
Link
NCOA
directories are updated again.
If you are an end user, you only need the daily delete file for processing Stage I or
II files.
Link
Important points to know
about the daily delete file
ACE will fail verification when NCOA
performed, and the daily delete file isn’t installed.
ACE supports only the ASCII version of the daily delete file.
Do not rename the daily delete file. It must be named dailydel.dat.
ACE will issue a verification warning if the daily delete file is more than
three days old.
Install the daily delete fileTo download and install this file:
1.Go to http://ribbs.usps.gov/
2.Click NCOA
Link
on the left side of the page.
3.Click the dailydel.dat file link on the right side of the page.
4.When prompted, save the file to the same location where your NCOA
directories are stored.
Link
is enabled, a stage test is being
.
Link
18
Mover ID User’s Guide
Prepare for NCOA
Link
processing
How ACE finds move
data
What format should
the data be in?
During NCOA
addresses in the NCOA
Link
processing, ACE compares your standardized addresses with
Link
database. ACE looks for matching addresses to
determine if any move data is available for your records.
If move data exists for a particular address, then ACE checks for a match of the
business, individual, or family name, depending on the “match logic” you choose.
For details about match logic, see “Set up NCOALink processing” on page 26.
ACE will process only assigned records through NCOA
Link
. Also, if a record
doesn't have name or firm information, it will not be processed through
Link
NCOA
To compare your data with NCOA
.
Link
data, ACE requires that your data be in one
of the following formats:
Discrete name fields (the first name is its own field, last name is in its own
field, and so on). Use discrete name fields for the best matching results.
Name-line field (the person’s full name is in a single field). Use name-line
field for the next best matching results. Note: Name data should be in the
First Middle Last name format (for example, John James Donaldson). If name
data is in any other format (for example, Last First Middle), parse the data
using DataRight IQ to get name components into the desired format before
Link
you perform NCOA
processing.
How does ACE treat
name-line data?
How does ACE treat
multiline data?
Matching on name
data
Multiline fields (data is in an open format). Multiline fields will not yield the
best matching results. To achieve better matching results, first parse your data
using DataRight IQ.
ACE tries to match the data in the name-line field as either name or firm
information. If you also have a discrete firm field that is populated, then ACE
assumes that the name-line field contains name data.
When you use multiline data, ACE identifies the address information first. Then
ACE examines the two lines of data before the address. ACE attempts to
determine which line contains name information and treats the remaining line as
firm data. If neither or both lines are identified as the name, ACE treats the first
line as name and the second as firm. ACE then parses the name information and
Link
passes the parsed names and the firm data into NCOA
to try to find a match.
Remember that using multiline data is not ideal. To achieve the best matching
results, use discrete components.
ACE Views and job users: If you plan to match on people’s names, include
either discrete name fields, the name-line field, or multiline fields in your DEF
file. See the Database Prep manual for more information about setting up DEF
files.
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
19
ACE Library users: If you plan to match on people’s names, you must define
either discrete name components, the name-line component, or multiline
components.
Discrete name componentsName-line componentsMultiline components
ACE Views or job users: If you plan to match on business names, then ideally
you would include the firm component (PW.Firm) in your DEF file, though you
In ACE Views or job:
PW.Name_Line
In ACE Library:
INAME
ACE_
In ACE Views or job:
PW.Line1-12
may also use name-line or multiline fields. See the Database Prep manual for
more information about setting up DEF files.
ACE Library users: If you plan to match on business names, then ideally you
would define the firm component (ACE_IFirm), though you may also use nameline or multiline components.
Discrete name componentsName-line componentsMultiline components
In ACE Views or job:
PW.Firm
In ACE Library:
ACE_IFirm
In ACE Views or job:
PW.Name_Line
In ACE Library:
ACE_INAME
In ACE Views or job:
PW.Line1-12
In ACE Library:
ACE_ILINE1-12
In ACE Library:
ACE_ILINE1-12
20
Mover ID User’s Guide
Enable NCOA
Link
processing
Enable NCOA
Link
processing in ACE
Views or job file
To set up ACE so that it can perform NCOA
Link
processing, follow these steps:
1.Access the ACE Execution Options window (Views) or the Execution block
(job file).
2.Turn on the Perform Mover ID NCOALink option.
By default, the Perform Mover ID NCOALink option is set to N, or not selected,
meaning that ACE will not perform Mover ID processing.
BEGIN Execution===============================
Assignment Mode(NONE/ASSIGN/PARSE/GEO)= Assign
Assign Which Records (ALL/UNASSIGNED) = ALL
Perform Mover ID NCOALink (Y/N)...... = N
Perform Z4Change Processing (Y/N).... = N
Perform GeoCensus Processing (Y/N)... = N
Perform EWS Processing (Y/N)......... = N
Perform eLOT Processing (Y/N)........ = Y
Perform RDI Processing (Y/N)......... = N
DPV Mode (VALIDATE/TIEBREAK/BOTH/N).. = N
Enable TaxIQ Feature (Y/N)........... = N
Enable Non-CASS Features (Y/N)....... = N
+ Sort Input File by ZIP Code (Y/N).. = N
Warn Before File Overwrite (Y/N)..... = Y
Show Detailed Process Messages (Y/N). = Y
Message Update Increment............. = 100
Work File Directory (path)........... =
Create Backup File (Y/N)............. = Y
Backup Directory (path).............. =
Create Reports (Y/N)................. = Y
END
Enable NCOALink
processing in ACE
To control NCOA
new mode type
Link
processing in ACE Library, call ace_set_mode() with the
ACE_MODE_ENABLE_MOVER_ID
Library
OptionSetting
ACE_MODE_ENABLE_MOVER_ID
Always call ace_set_mode() after calling ace_init_addr() and before calling
ace_open().
Enable reportsWhen you perform NCOA
ID Summary report. Views and job-file users, be sure to select the Create Reports
option (or set it to Yes). If you’re using ACE Library, see Chapter 3 for details
about creating this report.
:
Set this to
NCOA
Set this to
ACE_MID_NCOALINK
Link
processing.
ACE_MID_OFF
to enable
to turn off NCOA
processing. This is the default setting.
Link
processing, you are required to generate the Mover
Link
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
21
Specify the locations of NCOA
Link
files
Specify the locations in
ACE Views or job file
NCOA
Link
processing requires the NCOA
Link
directory from the USPS and
several additional supporting files that help ACE parse names, if necessary. You
must specify the locations of these files so that ACE can access them while
processing your files.
1.Access the Auxiliary Files window or block.
2.Specify the files’ locations in the NCOALink Directory and NCOALink
Supporting Files options. Use the same path that you used during installation.
By default, they’re installed to pw\ncoalink. You enter only the paths here.
Don’t enter the file names.
In ACE Views, you can also specify the locations of these files in the ACE
Defaults window at the Auxiliary Files tab.
BEGIN Auxiliary Files ================================
City Directory (path & city08.dir)... = city08.dir
parsing.dct
pwcap.dct
acenp.dll (on Windows)
acenp.so (on all UNIX platforms except HP)
acenp.sl (on HP)
Enter customer and USPS licensee information
Required informationWhen you perform NCOA
the company performing NCOA
for whom they are performing NCOA
end user, this company is one and the same.
Enter your information
in ACE Views or job file
Access the Customer & USPS Licensee Information window or block, and then
enter your information. See the table on page 23 for details.
Link
processing, you must provide information about
Link
processing (the licensee) and the company
Link
processing (the customer). If you’re an
BEGIN Customer & USPS Licensee Information =
Platform ID (4 chars)................ =
Licensee Name (to 30 chars).......... =
List Owner NAICS (6 chars)........... =
Customer/List ID (6 chars)........... =
Customer Company Name (to 50 chars).. =
Customer Address (to 50 chars)....... =
Customer City (to 28 chars).......... =
Customer State (2 chars)............. =
Customer ZIP (5 chars)............... =
Customer ZIP+4 (4 chars)............. =
Customer Phone (10 chars)............ =
Customer Tax ID Number (to 12 chars). =
Processing Frequency (2 chars)....... =
Date List Received (yyyy/mm/dd)...... =
List Return Date (yyyy/mm/dd)........ =
Log File Directory (path only)....... =
END
Enter your information
in ACE Library
NCOA
Link
PAF IDThe NCOA
Customer and licensee
options
To specify customer and licensee information, use the new ace_mvid_set_info()
or ace_set_mailer_info() function with the values specified on the next page.
Link
PAF ID is an identification scheme consisting of four sub-parts:
1.Platform ID from the USPS (4 characters)
2.List Owner NAICS (6 characters)
3.List Processing Frequency (2 characters)
4.Customer/List ID (6 characters)
Use these options to enter your customer and licensee information.
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
23
Views or job optionLibrary option IDLengthDescription
Platform ID
Licensee Name
ACE_MID_LIC_ID
ACE_MAILER_LIC_NAME
4
30
The licensee performs NCOA
The Platform ID is the NCOA
identification number, assigned by the USPS.
Use ace_mvid_set_info() with
ACE_MID_LIC_ID.
Use ace_set_mailer_info() with
ACE_MAILER_LIC_NAME.
It’s exactly four characters long.
The licensee name is the name of the NCOA
licensee, up to 30 characters.
This information will appear in the PAF log and
Mover ID Summary (see Chapter 3).
The platform ID and licensee name are available
on the license agreement from the USPS.
Link
processing.
Link
licensee’s
Link
List Owner NAICS
Customer/List ID
Customer Company Name
Customer Address
Customer City
Customer State
Customer ZIP
Customer ZIP4
Customer Phone
Customer Tax ID Number
tion System (NAICS), which identifies what
business the list owner engages in. For more
information, see
http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html
.
6 or 8Customer/List ID is a unique ID assigned by the
licensee to identify the list owner (customer).
If the licensee does not have a naming scheme
in place for customer/lists, the 6 digits could be
made up of:
First 3 digits: Customer name/identifier
Last 3 digits: List name/identifier
The Customer/List ID is required for limited
and full service providers. End users may leave
it blank.
50
50
28
2
5
4
10
12
The customer is the person or company for
whom you are performing NCOA
Link
process-
ing.
If you’re a limited or full service provider, enter
the customer’s address, telephone, and tax ID.
End users may leave these fields blank.
The customer information appears in the Mover
ID Summary and log files (see Chapter 3).
Processing Frequency
Date List Received
List Return Date
24
Mover ID User’s Guide
Use ace_set_mailer_info().
ACE_MAILER_PROC_FREQ
Use ace_set_mailer_info().
ACE_MAILER_DATE_RECEIVED
Use ace_set_mailer_info().
ACE_MAILER_DATE_RETURNED
Use ace_set_mailer_info().
2This 2-digit number (from 1 to 52) indicates
how many times per year the list is processed
with NCOA
If the list owner has other lists processed by the
NCOA
enter
n/aEnter the date when the NCOA
Link
.
Link
licensee at different frequencies,
99
.
Link
licensee
received the list. Use the yyyy/mm/dd format.
If you’re an end user, you may leave this blank.
n/aEnter the date when the list will be returned to
the customer. Use the yyyy/mm/dd format.
If you’re an end user, you may leave this blank.
Views or job optionLibrary option IDLengthDescription
Log File Directory
ACE_MAILER_LOG_FILE_PATH
n/aIndicate where the NCOA
be produced. ACE determines the file names
Use ace_set_mailer_info().
during processing, as the USPS requires. This
directory must exist and must be writable.
It’s very important that you use the same path
for all jobs. If you have multiple clients, use the
same log file directory for all clients so that the
log files are combined.
Link
log files should
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
25
Set up NCOA
Link
processing
Required informationBefore you can perform NCOA
mode, the number of data months, and other NCOA
Enter your information
in ACE Views or job file
Access the Mover ID NCOALink window or block, and then fill in your
information. See the table below for details.
Link
processing, you must specify the match logic,
BEGIN Mover ID NCOALink ====================
Mode (COA, RETCODE, STATS)........... = COA
Match Logic (see NOTE)............... = RESIDENTIAL
Processing Category (See NOTE)....... = NORMAL
High Match Rate Description (see NOTE)=
Accepted COA Months.................. =
Processing First-Class Mail (Y/N).... =
Processing Periodicals Mail (Y/N).... =
Processing Standard Mail (Y/N)....... =
Processing Package Services Mail (Y/N)=
List Name (to 30 chars).............. =
Processes Used to Prepare List....... =
END
Link
processing options.
Enter your information
in ACE Library
To specify these NCOA
ace_mvid_set_info() function with the values specified on page 26. See page 48
Link
processing and mail options, use the
for more information about using this function.
NCOA
Link
processing
Use these options to enter your NCOA
Link
and mail options
Views and job optionLibrary option IDDescription
Mode
ACE_MID_MODE
COA.
You’re processing this job to update it with the
latest address data.
Settings:
COA
STATS
RETCODE
Stats.
You’re processing this job to analyze statistics,
such as the number of records in your list that have
updated addresses and the number of moves of each
type. When you choose Stats, you do not get moveupdated addresses.
Retcode.
tional purposes. When you choose Retcode (return
code), and you post to the APM.RetCode or
ACE_APM_RET_CODE output component, you can
see the return codes, which further explain if matching records were found in the NCOA
and why or why not. With this option, you do not get
move-updated addresses.
processing and mail information.
You’re processing this job for informa-
Link
directories,
26
Mover ID User’s Guide
Views and job optionLibrary option IDDescription
Match Logic
Processing Category
ACE_MID_MATCH_LOGIC
Settings:
B
I
C
S
R
ACE_MID_PROCESSING_CAT
Settings:
EMP TRAIN
INT DB TST
MKTG TEST
PROD RUN
STAGE I
STAGE II
SYS TEST
Choose the types of moves that you want to process:
Business. Business moves only. This ignores fam-
ily and individual moves.
Individual. Individual moves only. This ignores
family and business moves.
Ind & Bus. Individual and business. This ignores
family moves.
Standard. All types of moves will be processed.
Residential. Individual and family moves.
Specify your reason for using NCOA
Emp Train. You’re processing this file as part of
Link
:
employee training.
Int Db Tst. You’re testing with a licensee-owned
database.
Mktg Test. You’re testing with external customer
lists.
Normal (Views and job file) or PROD RUN
(Library). You’re processing the mailing list to
update it before a mailing.
Stage I and Stage II. You’re testing the matching
performance against a USPS test file. The USPS
scores the Stage II test file. Choose Stage I or
Stage II only if you are processing a USPS test file.
See Chapter 4 for more information.
Sys Test. You’re processing this file as part of sys-
tem testing, such as loading of USPS file updates.
High Match Rate Description
Accepted COA Months
ACE_MID_HIGH_MATCH_RATE_
DESC
Settings:
A
S
R
ACE_MID_NUM_DATA_MONTHS
The USPS wants to distinguish between files that have a
legitimate reason for a high percentage of NCOA
Link
matches and files that are fraudulently used to create
mover lists. Legitimate reasons for high match rate:
ANK
Link
-processed file.
An ANK
Link
-processed file
contains records for people who have moved, but you
don’t yet have their new address. This option is available only to full service providers.
Stage file.
If you’re performing Stage I or Stage II
testing, be sure that the processing category is set to
Stage also.
Return Mail File.
A “return mail file” contains
records for mail that was returned to sender.
ACE Views and Jobfile users: Choose None or leave
blank if you don’t expect a high match rate.
ACE Library users: If you don’t expect a high match
rate, you can simply not call ace_mvid_set_info with
ACE_MID_HIGH_MATCH_RATE_DESC.
Use this setting to make ACE ignore change-of-address
data older than the specified number of months. For
example, enter 12 to use change-of-address data that has
a move-effective date within the last 12 months.
If you are an end user or limited service provider, enter a
value from 6 to 18. If you’re a full service provider,
enter a value from 6 to 48.
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
27
Views and job optionLibrary option IDDescription
Processing First Class Mail
Processing Periodicals Mail
Processing Standard Mail
Processing Package Services
Mail
List Name
Other Processes Used to
Prepare List
ACE_MID_PROC_FIRST_CLASS
ACE_MID_PROC_PER_MAIL
ACE_MID_PROC_STD_MAIL
ACE_MID_PKG_SRV_MAIL
ACE_MID_LIST_NAME
ACE_MID_PROCESSES_LIST
Job-file and Library users:
that you’re processing by entering
processing and
Views users:
N
for those you’re not.
Select the options for those mail classes
Indicate the mail classes
Y
for those you’re
that you are processing.
Enter the name of this list. You can name the list
whatever you like, up to 30 characters.
If this list is a
master house list or your only mailing list, you might
consider entering your company name here.
The name you enter here will appear in the log files
(see Chapter 3).
The USPS requires information about all processes used
in obtaining your final data results. In particular, the
USPS wants to know if you performed any USPS processes, such as CASS, DPV, RDI, and NCOA
Link
processing. If you’ve performed these processes through
ACE, ACE keeps track of this information for you in the
Mover ID Summary. If you’ve performed any additional
processes on this data, using software other than ACE,
you must enter it here.
You can enter up to 512 characters. The text you enter
here will appear in the Mover ID Summary and the
Link
NCOA
log files (see Chapter 3).
28
Mover ID User’s Guide
Enter NCOA
Link
service provider information
Required for service
providers
Enter your information
in ACE Views or job file
If you’re a service provider, you must provide details about the type of processing
being done. If you’re an end user, you can skip this section.
Access the Mover ID NCOALink Service Provider window or block, and then fill
in your information. See the table below for details.
BEGIN Mover ID NCOALink Service Provider
Broker Involved (Y/N)................ = N
List Administrator Involved (Y/N).... = N
Buyer Company Name (to 30 chars)..... =
Mailing Zip Code (5 chars)........... =
Pre-Processes Performed (Y/N)........ =
Pre-Proc Changes w/ Postal Data (Y/N) =
Pre-Proc Changes w/ Other Data (Y/N). =
Concurrent Processes Performed (Y/N). =
Conc-Proc Changes w/ Postal Data (Y/N)=
Conc-Proc Changes w/ Other Data (Y/N) =
Post-Processes Performed (Y/N)....... =
Post-Proc Changes w/ Postal Data (Y/N)=
Post-Proc Changes w/ Other Data (Y/N) =
Output Returned (STANDARD/MODIFY/BOTH)=
Additional Notes (see NOTE).......... =
END
Enter your information
in ACE Library
To specify service provider information, use the new ace_mvid_set_info()
function with the values specified on page 29. See page 48 for more information
about using this new function.
Service provider
Use these options to enter your service provider information.
options
Views or job option Library option IDDescription
Broker Involved
Not applicable.
To specify a broker, use the function
ace_mvid_set_contact_info() with the settings shown on page 35.
The broker directs business to an NCOA
provider.
If a broker is involved, you must enter the broker’s
contact information in the Mover ID Contact Information window or block. See page 35 for details.
If a list administrator, a broker, or both are involved
in your job, you must complete a Mover ID Contact
Information window or block for each of them, separately. See page 35.
Link
service
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
29
Views or job option Library option IDDescription
List Administrator
Involved
Not applicable.
To specify a list administrator, use the
function ace_mvid_set_contact_info() with
the settings shown on page 35.
A list administrator stores and maintains lists. List
administrators are different from brokers in two
ways:
List administrators don’t send move-updated files
back to the list owner.
List administrators may have an NCOALink
license.
If a list administrator, a broker, or both are involved
in your job, you must complete a Mover ID Contact
Information window or block for each of them, separately. See page 35.
Buyer Company NameACE_MID_BUYER_COIf the list was processed for rent, sale, or lease, enter the
name of the company or individual who bought the list.
Mailing ZIP Code (job
file)
ACE_MID_MAILING_ZIPEnter the ZIP Code of the Business Mail Entry Unit
(BMEU) or post office where the mail will be submitted for mailing.
Business Mail Entry
Unit (BMEU) or Post
Office ZIP Code
(Views)
Pre-Processes Performed
ACE_MID_PREPROC_PERFORMED
Indicate whether you processed or will process this
data before performing NCOA
Link
processing.
Settings:
Pre-Process Changes
With Postal Data
Pre-Process Changes
With Other Data
N
No pre-processing
Y
Yes, but with no data changes
D
Yes, with non-postal data changes
P
Yes, with postal data changes only
B
Yes, with postal and non-postal data
changes
If you will have processed this data before performing NCOA
Link
processing, indicate whether that pre-
processing included changes with postal data.
If you will have processed this data before performing NCOA
Link
processing, indicate whether that pre-
processing included changes with non-postal data.
Concurrent Processes
Performed
Concurrent Process
Changes With Postal
Data
Concurrent Process
Changes With Other
Data
Post-Processes Performed
Post-Process Changes
With Postal Data
Post-Process Changes
With Other Data
ACE_MID_CONC_PROC_PERFORMED
Settings:
N
No concurrent-processing
Y
Yes, but with no data changes
D
Yes, with non-postal data changes
P
Yes, with postal data changes only
B
Yes, with postal and non-postal data
changes
ACE_MID_POSTPROC_PERFORMED
Settings:
N
No post-processing
Y
Yes, but with no data changes
D
Yes, with non-postal data changes
P
Yes, with postal data changes only
B
Yes, with postal and non-postal data
changes
Indicate whether you processed or will process this
data in some other way while performing NCOA
Link
processing.
If you will have processed this data in some other
way while performing NCOA
Link
processing, indicate whether that pre-processing included changes
with postal data.
If you will have processed this data in some other
way while performing NCOA
Link
processing, indicate whether that pre-processing included changes
with non-postal data.
Indicate whether you will process this data after performing NCOA
Link
processing.
If you will process this data after performing
NCOALink processing, indicate whether that postprocessing included changes with postal data.
If you will process this data after performing
NCOALink processing, indicate whether that postprocessing included changes with non-postal data.
30
Mover ID User’s Guide
Views or job option Library option IDDescription
Output Returned
Additional Notes
ACE_MID_STD_OUTPUT_RETURNED
Settings:
Y
N
B
ACE_MID_ADDITIONAL_NOTES
Setting:
A
If all required NCOALink output was returned to the
client, choose Standard.
If the NCOALink output was returned to the client
after other changes, choose Modify.
If the NCOALink output was returned to the client
unchanged, and the required output data was also
returned, choose Both.
Enter EXT REQUEST if the customer submitted a
written request for an extension. If there was no
request for extension, leave this blank or do not set
it.
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
31
Enter Processing Acknowledgement Form (PAF) information
PAF requirementsThe Processing Acknowledgement Form (PAF) gives the NCOA
provider (licensee) permission from the list owner to perform NCOA
processing on the list or lists from that list owner.
Each list must have its own PAF ID. You can itemize multiple lists and their PAF
IDs on the back of the paper form.
The USPS requires that NCOA
Have a completed PAF for a customer on file before performing NCOA
Link
licensees:
processing on that customer’s data.
Keep a copy of the PAF on file for each of its customers.
Get updated PAFs from each customer at least once a year.
Assign a unique PAF ID for each list.
In addition, if a job involves both a broker and a list administrator, you must have
a paper PAF on file for both of them.
PAFs are available from the USPS (http://ribbs.usps.gov/
), not from Business
Objects.
Transitioning from
NCOA or FASTforward
The USPS has authorized the use of the NCOA
from NCOA or FASTforward to NCOA
Link
Link
PAF during your transition
. According to the USPS:
Link
service
Link
Link
This process will allow existing NCOA/FASTforward and
current NCOA
applicants, to distribute and collect NCOA
Link
NCOA
Link
Licensees, as well as approved NCOA
Link
PAFs for future
processing, and for processing of client lists through
the current NCOA/FASTforward licensed services. This will
eliminate the need to collect multiple forms for processing.
Therefore, we [the USPS] have included a temporary alternate
“Transition” Required Text Document within the Service
Provider Licensee Performance Requirements. Please obtain the
most current copy of the Licensee Performance Requirements at
http://www.ribbs.usps.gov/files/ncoalink
.
Please be advised that NCOA and FASTforward PAF are not
acceptable for authorizing NCOA
Link
processing.
If you have any questions about transitioning, contact the USPS Move Update
Support Department at 800-589-5766.
StepsThe order of steps to follow in routing the PAF is as follows:
1.The list owner fills out the “List Owner” section, signs it, and sends it to the
broker, agent, or list administrator.
2.The broker, agent, or list administrator fills out the “Broker/Agent/List
Administrator” section, signs it, and sends it to the licensee.
Link
32
3.The licensee completes the “Licensee” section, signs it, and keeps it on file.
Mover ID User’s Guide
Enter your information
in ACE Views or job file
Access the Mover ID NCOALink PAF window or block, and then fill in your
information. See the table on page 33 for details.
BEGIN Mover ID NCOALink PAF ============
Person Signing PAF (to 50 chars)......=
Title of Person Signing (to 50 chars) =
Date PAF Signed by Cust.(yyyy/mm/dd). =
PAF Type (INITIAL/RENEWAL/MODIFIED).. =
Customer Parent Company (to 50 chars) =
Customer Altern. Company (to 50 chars)=
Date PAF Signed by Licens.(yyyy/mm/dd)=
END
Enter your information
in ACE Library
To specify PAF information, use the new ace_mvid_set_info() function with the
values specified on page 33. See page 48 for more information about using this
new function.
PAF optionsUse the options below to enter your PAF information.
Because you must fill in all of the client-specific information, you could save
some time by creating a base job for each of your clients and reusing it on
their future jobs.
Views and job optionLibrary option IDDescription
Person Signing PAF (job file)
Name of the Person Signing
ACE_MID_PAF_SIGNER_NAME
Enter the name of the person signing this PAF.
You may enter up to 50 characters.
PAF (Vi ew s )
Title of Person Signing PAF
ACE_MID_PAF_SIGNER_TITLE
Enter the job title of the person signing this PAF.
You may enter up to 50 characters.
Date PAF Signed by Customer
PAF Type (job file)
Type of PAF (Views)
ACE_MID_DATE_CUST_SIGNED_PAF
ACE_MID_PAF_TYPE
Settings:
I
M
R
Enter the date that the customer signed the PAF.
Use the yyyy/mm/dd date format.
Specify the reason for completing your current
PAF :
Initial
or
I.
This is the first PAF you’re completing to become authorized to process
addresses for this particular customer.
Modified
or
M.
because some information on your old one
changed.
Renewal
or
R.
because your old one is expiring.
You’re completing a new PAF
You’re completing a new PAF
Customer Parent Company
(job file)
Parent Company (Views)
ACE_MID_PAF_PARENT_CO
If the list owner’s company is owned by another
company (a “parent company”), enter the parent
company’s name here.
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
33
Views and job optionLibrary option IDDescription
Customer Alternate Company (job file)
ACE_MID_PAF_ALT_CO_NAME
If the list owner’s company is also known by
another name, enter that alternate name here.
Alternate Company Name
(Views)
Date PAF Signed by Licensee
ACE_MID_DATE_LICENSEE_SIGNED_PAF
Enter the date that the licensee signed the PAF.
(The licensee is the NCOA
Link
service pro-
vider.)
Use the yyyy/mm/dd date format.
PAF log fileThe PAF information that you provide (above) is stored in a log file. See Chapter
3 for details.
34
Mover ID User’s Guide
Enter contact information for the broker or list administrator
Required information
— if there’s a broker or
list administrator
Enter your information
in ACE Views or job file
If you indicated, in the Mover ID NCOALink Service Provider window or block,
that there is a broker or list administrator involved in this job, then you must
provide contact information for them, as described below.
If you’re an end user, you can skip this section.
Access the Mover ID Contact Information window or block, and then fill in your
information. If both a broker and a list administrator are involved, you must
complete a window or block for both of them. Likewise, if multiple brokers or list
administrators are involved, complete a window or block for each one. See the
table below.
BEGIN Mover ID Contact Information ======
Contact Type (BROKER/LISTADMIN)...... =
Contact ID (6 chars)................. =
NCOALink Contact Level (1 to 99)..... =
NCOALink Contact NAICS (6 chars)..... =
NCOALink Date Signed PAF (yyyy/mm/dd) =
Contact Name (to 50 chars)........... =
Contact Tax ID Number (to 12 chars).. =
Contact Address (to 50 chars)........ =
Contact City (to 28 chars)........... =
Contact State Code (2 chars)......... =
Contact Zip (5 chars)................ =
Contact Plus 4 Code (4 chars)........ =
Contact Telephone Number (10 chars).. =
END
Enter your information
in ACE Library
Contact information
options
Views or job option
Contact Type
Contact ID
Library setting_ID
ACE_MID_CONTACT_TYPE
Settings:
Broker
Listadmin
ACE_MID_CONTACT_ID
To specify contact information for a broker or list administrator, use the
ace_mvid_set_contact_info() function:
•Use the setting_ID values specified in the table below.
•Set contact_index to a number from 1 to 100. The contact_index is a
unique identifier about which contact is included. Information associated
with the first contact should use contact_index 1, the second contact
should use contact_index 2, and so on.
See your ACE Library Reference for more information about using this function.
You must provide contact information if a broker or list administrator is involved
in this job. The information entered here is stored in a USPS-required log file, the
broker agents / list administrators log file. See page 56.
Description
Enter Broker or Listadmin. A broker directs
business to the service provider; a list administrator stores and maintains address lists.
Enter a unique ID number for the broker or list
administrator. You assign the ID number.
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
35
Views or job option
Library setting_ID
Description
NCOALink Contact Level
NCOALink Contact
NAICS
NCOALink Date Signed
PAF
Contact Name
Contact Tax ID Number
Contact Address
Contact City
Contact State Code
Contact Zip
Contact Plus 4 Code
Contact Telephone Number
Enter the degree of separation this contact is from
you. For example, enter
1
if you received the list
from this contact. If your contact received the list
from a different broker, then enter 2 for this contact.
Enter a value from 1 to 99.
Enter the broker’s or list administrator’s numeric
North American Industry Classification System
code, which identifies the business that they
engage in. For more information, see:
http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html
Enter the date when this contact signed the PAF.
Enter the broker’s or list administrator’s:
name
tax identification number
complete address
phone number
36
Mover ID User’s Guide
Memory usage
Save timeYou can reduce the time required for NCOA
options to control memory usage:
Load directories into memory
Cache for ZIP order processing
Windows caching options (for Windows operating system, ACE Views and
jobfile only)
The USPS recommends that you have at least 1.5 GB (gigabytes) free while
performing NCOA
Link
processing. It’s best to have 3 GB or more available.
See also “Improving NCOALink performance” on page 67 for a complete
Link
processing speed and what you can do to improve it.
Link
Link
directories into system memory before processing.
requires large directories and supporting files, your system
Load directories into
memory
explanation of NCOA
You can load NCOA
Because NCOA
may not be able to load the entire set of NCOA
However, you can control memory usage with the NCOALink memory options.
To maximize performance, allocate as much memory as possible. Even 200 MB
can provide a large boost in performance. The amount of memory that you can
allocate is limited only by the amount of memory available on your computer.
Cache for ZIP order
processing
To improve NCOA
order, select the Cache for ZIP Order Processing option. With this option selected,
one or more segments of the NCOA
Link
processing speed when your input data is in ZIP Code
Link
data are cached on your computer. A
segment of data is temporarily saved in the computer’s RAM until that segment of
data has been processed. Then the next segment is loaded into RAM and the
previous segment is removed from RAM.
Link
processing by using several ACE
Link
files into system memory.
Two ways to place data in
ZIP Code order
To place your data in ZIP Code order, you have several options:
Use a program such as FirstPrep to place the data in ZIP Code order before
you process the data with ACE.
Turn on the Sort Input File by ZIP Code option in ACE’s Execution block to
place the data in ZIP Code order while you run ACE.
Turn on the Cache for ZIP Order Processing option only when processing
!
your data in ZIP Code order. Turning this option on when processing data
that is not in ZIP Code order will slow performance.
Best resultsWhen you use the Cache for ZIP Order Processing option, you’ll see the greatest
speed improvements in the following situations:
Your data is concentrated geographically. For example, a 100,000-record file
that contains only Wisconsin addresses is processed much faster than a
100,000-record file that contains addresses for all 50 states.
Your data file is large. Speed improves in proportion to the size of the data
file.
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
37
The Cache for ZIP Order Processing option is not an automatic performance
enhancement in every situation. Take time to analyze its effects on your
processing speeds.
Windows caching
options
Correctly setting the Windows caching options may improve processing speed.
This can help you surpass the previous 2 gigabyte (GB) application memory limit.
If you have more than 2GB of memory available for processing, you may want to
consider using these options.
These Windows caching options apply only to:
Windows operating system
NCOA
ACE Views and Jobfile
Link
directories
Before you use the Windows caching options, you or your System Administrator
must perform two system-level tasks. Unless you perform these two tasks first,
the Windows caching options will be unusable. The two tasks are:
1.Edit the boot.ini file. See “Edit boot.ini” on page 38 for details.
2.Edit permissions so that pages can be locked into memory. See “Edit
permissions” on page 38 for details.
Edit boot.iniThe boot.ini file specifies how to start (or boot) the computer. If you have over
4GB of memory, follow the steps below to use Physical Address Extensions
(PAE) to enable storing more data in memory.
If you have never made changes to boot.ini before, we recommend that you
!
give these instructions to your System Administrator. If you accidentally
delete something, it may seriously and adversely affect your computer.
1.At a command prompt, navigate to the root of the boot directory. For
example, c:\boot.ini (where c is the drive where the file is located).
2.Type attrib -s -h -r boot.ini to remove the system, hidden, and read-only
attributes of the boot.ini file.
3.Open the boot.ini file in a text editor and then type /pae at the end of the
operating system that will process your ACE jobs. For example,
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows
XP Professional" /fastdetect /pae
4.Save and close the boot.ini file.
5.At the command prompt, type attrib +s +h +r boot.ini to restore the system,
hidden, and read-only attributes that protect the boot.ini file.
Edit permissionsFollow these instructions to grant permission to lock pages in memory.
1.On the Start menu, click Run. In the Open box, type gpedit.msc.
38
Mover ID User’s Guide
2.In the Group Policy window, open the following folders in succession:
3.In the details pane, double-click Lock pages in memory.
4.In the Local Security Policy Setting window, click Add.
Set up ACE Views or
job file
5.In the Select Users or Groups window, add the applicable user.
6.Reboot to make your changes take effect.
1.Access the Memory Usage window or block.
2.To load ZIP-sorted segments into RAM, turn on the Cache for ZIP Order
Processing option.
BEGIN Memory Usage =========================
Windows Use Extended Memory (See Note)= NONE
Windows Memory Window Size (# of MB). =
Load RDI Dirs into System Memory (Y/N)= N
Load LACSLink Dirs into Memory (Y/N). = N
Load SuiteLink Dirs into Memory (Y/N) = N
Load DPV Dirs into System Memory (Y/N)= N
NCOALink Memory (AUTO/MANUAL/N)...... = N
NCOALink Memory Allocation (# of MB). =
Cache for ZIP order processing....... = N
Insufficient Memory Action(ABORT/CONT)= ABORT
END
3.At the NCOALink Memory option, choose or enter N (None), Auto, or
Manual. See the table below for details.
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
39
SettingDescription
N (job file)
None (Views)
If you don’t want to transfer NCOA
choose this option. Your processing will be slower.
Link
files into system memory,
Auto
Recommended setting.
Link
NCOA
files into system memory. ACE determines the amount
If you select this option, ACE will load your
of memory to use based on the available memory, the size of the
files, and the extent to which caching the files will improve processing time.
ManualIf you select this option, ACE will load your NCOA
Link
files into
system memory based on the amount you enter in the NCOALink
Manual Allocation parameter. If you use the manual setting, set
Allocation to 2048MB or more.
4.If you chose Manual in step 3, go to the NCOALink Manual Allocation
parameter and enter the amount of memory, in megabytes (MB), that you
Link
want to dedicate to loading NCOA
files into memory.
5.To improve Windows caching, set the Windows memory options. See the
following table for details.
OptionDescription
Windows Use Extended
Memory (ACE job file)
Extended Memory Usage
(ACE Views)
Control memory caching on the Windows operating system. If you set this option to Manual or Auto, then also set
the NCOALink Memory and NCOALink Memory Allocation options.
None.
ACE uses all available application memory for pro-
cessing.
Auto.
Recommended setting. ACE determines how much
memory to use. Typically, this is approximately 200MB of
application memory.
Manual.
If you set this option to Manual, then enter the
amount of memory to use at the Windows Memory Window
Size option.
Windows Memory Window Size (ACE job file)
Memory Window Size
(ACE Views)
If you set the Windows Use Extended Memory option to
Manual, we recommend setting the Windows Memory Window Size option to 200MB. This will be a good starting
point for any performance testing that you do. Then you can
modify the size as needed after further testing.
Set up ACE Library
ZIP order processingTo cache for ZIP Code order processing, call:
ace_set_mode(ah, ACE_MODE_CACHE_ZIP_ORDER,TRUE);
To cache for random order processing (default), call:
ace_set_mode(ah, ACE_MODE_CACHE_ZIP_ORDER,FALSE);
These function calls control caching in ZIP or random order only. To set up
Link
directories in ACE Library, see “Memory caching” below.
40
caching of NCOA
Mover ID User’s Guide
Memory cachingTo enable memory caching in ACE Library, use ace_mvid_set_info() with
ACE_MID_CACHE_MB. The setting should be auto or a number as a text string.
To manually specify the maximum number of megabytes (MB) of RAM to
Link
dedicate to NCOA
SettingDescription
AutoACE loads your NCOA
directories,
Link
files into system memory. ACE determines the
amount of memory to use based on the available memory, the size of the
files, and the extent to which caching the files will improve processing time.
Insufficient memoryIf your computer doesn’t have enough memory available to load the NCOA
files, ACE will either stop processing the job or continue processing it without
loading the files into system memory, depending on your choice at the
Insufficient Memory Action parameter.
Link
The Insufficient Memory Action option applies to NCOA
and DPV files.
Link
How does this affect
DPV or LACS
Link
?
SettingDescription
AbortDiscontinue processing the entire job. This is the default setting.
Cont Continue processing without loading directories into system memory. Choose
this setting to process the job without interruption.
When you perform DPV (Delivery Point Validation), LACS
Link
processing at the same time, the DPV and LACS
Link
into memory first, before the NCOA
directories.
directories will be loaded
Link
, and NCOA
Link
If you select the Load DPV Directories into System Memory option, be aware
that caching DPV directories requires at least 768 megabytes (MB).
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
41
Automatically replace old address with new
This section applies to ACE Views and job-file only. If you’re using ACE
Library, you can skip this section.
Use with caution!Normally, ACE standardizes your input data and outputs it into AP fields. If new
(forwarding) addresses are available, ACE outputs them to APM fields.
If you want to replace old addresses with new (forwarding) addresses, you can use
the Mover ID Auto Update option. With Mover ID Auto Update turned on, ACE
posts the new (forwarding) address to AP fields, overwriting the pre-move
address.
When Mover ID Auto Update is enabled, the PW fields will contain either the
move-updated address or the original address, if no move-update was available.
This option might be useful if you use either of ACE’s “auto update” features:
Standardize PW Fields in the Input File window or block, or Copy Input Data to
Output File in the Post to Output File window or block.
Important:
Before turning on this option, read the cautionary information in the “What to
expect from the USPS and from Business Objects” on page 11. If you need to
keep both the old and the new address, turn off this option.
If you want to selectively post move-updated addresses, turn this option on
and add additional fields and filters as needed.
This option does not affect the style or availability of APM fields for manual
posting. APM fields are listed in the Quick Reference for Views and Job-File
Products.
BEGIN Standardization Style =================
Assign City From Input / LL Idx (Y/N) = Y
Non-Mailing Cities (CONVERT/PRESERVE) = Convert
Unit Designator (CURRENT/DIRECTORY).. = Directory
Suffix Style (SHORT/LONG/PRESERVE)... = Short
Direct. Style (SHORT/LONG/PRESERVE).. = Short
Append PMB to Address Line (Y/N)..... = Y
Standardize Unassigned Address (Y/N). = N
Case (UPPER/lower/Upper and Lower)... = Upper
Case User PW Fields (Y/N)............ = N
+ Address Line Standard (STRICT/LOOSE)= Strict
Address Line Alias (CONVERT/PRESERVE) = Preserve
Dual Address (STREET/MAILING/POSITION)= Position
Mover ID Auto Update (Y/N)........... = N
END
42
Mover ID User’s Guide
DPV locking rule for full-service providers
How it works for
limited service
providers and end
users
How it works for fullservice providers
The USPS requires that NCOA
Link
run NCOA
.
Link
full-service providers run DPV each time they
When limited service providers and end users perform Delivery Point Validation
(DPV), ACE stops DPV processing if it encounters a false-positive address. The
USPS includes false-positive addresses in the DPV directories to prevent misuse
of the directories.
When ACE DPV processing stops because of DPV locking, you cannot perform
DPV processing again until you contact Business Objects. DPV functionality for
all jobs remains disabled until the problem is corrected.
Full-service providers process lists for multiple clients. Therefore, it wouldn’t
work to disable DPV processing entirely if ACE found a false-positive while
processing a list for one particular customer.
When NCOALink processing is enabled, if ACE encounters a false-positive
address, and if you are a full service provider, you will see a warning message,
and ACE will write the false positive to the DPV false-positive log file (see
below) but will not halt processing. You can continue processing jobs for other
customers. But, as a full service provider, it is your responsibility to not process
jobs for that customer until their false positives have been resolved.
Full service providers must not process additional lists for a customer that has
!
encountered a lock. The mailing list cannot be released until the USPS
approves it.
DPV false-positive logThe USPS requires that ACE log false-positive addresses in a log file. For each
mailing list that contains a false positive record, ACE creates a log file. If multiple
false positives exist within one mailing list, ACE writes them all to the same log
file. ACE creates this log file in the folder where DPV directories are installed.
Full-service providers must submit the false-positive log to the NCSC (National
Customer Service Center) via email (dsf2stop@email.usps.gov
), with the mailer’s
name, the total number of addresses processed, and the number of addresses
matched. The NCSC uses this information to determine whether the list can be
returned to the mailer.
The DPV false-positive log file is named DPVL####.log. For example, the first
log file generated is DPVL0001.log, the next one is DPVL0002.log, and so on.
Do not delete or rename these log files.
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
43
Move-update output fields
Pre-move and postmove data are
ACE can provide information about your addresses before and after moveupdating.
available
ACE Views and job-file
users
Pre-move fields. The data posted to these fields accurately reflects your data
before move-updating with Mover ID. These fields start with the prefix AP. For a
complete list of AP fields, see your Quick Reference for Views and Job-File Products.
Post-move fields. The data posted to APM fields accurately reflects your data
after move-updating with Mover ID. These fields start with the prefix APM. For a
complete list of APM fields, see your Quick Reference for Views and Job-File Products.
ACE Library usersWhen you use the ace_get_component function, you control which data is
returned by using the following source flags:
ACE_OLD returns the data as it was input.
ACE_NEW returns the data as it was standardized by ACE.
ACE_MVID returns the move-updated data.
Move-update output
fields for names
Nicknames, alternate
spellings, and initials
In some cases, an input name is not the name used when matching with the
Link
NCOA
directory. ACE can substitute nicknames and alternate spellings to
ensure more accurate matching.
The USPS controls which nicknames and spelling variations are allowed
For example, the input name is John Q Smith, and the name in the NCOALink
directory is Jack Q Smith. ACE recognizes that Jack is a common nickname for
John, and so it can recognize that the two records match (assuming that the
address data also matches, of course).
Your database
John Q Smith
100 West Creek Ln
Dodge WI 54625-9242
They
match!
Link
NCOA
database
Jack Q Smith
100 West Creek Ln
Dodge WI 54625-9242
1492 Stratford St
Mabel MN 55954-2922
old address
new address
44
Mover ID User’s Guide
The following output components show what name ACE used for matching with
ACE Library users: Call
ace_get_component with
the ACE_MVID source
flag to retrieve these components showing data
used for matching with
Link
NCOA
.
Parsed name lines: If your name data is stored in name lines (for example,
“Dr. Paul Lionel Smith Jr.” all in one field), ACE parses it into the discrete
names and uses the discrete names when looking for matches in the
Link
NCOA
directory. This ensures more accurate matching.
Chapter 2: Move-updating in ACE
45
Strategies for your ACE output file
This section applies to ACE Views and job-file only. If you’re using ACE
Library, you can skip this section.
You can use an option called Mover ID Auto Update to automatically replace the
old address with the new (forwarding) address. However, the best way to control
what you output and when is to manually post.
We recommend that you set up your ACE job so that your output file(s) will
include both the new and the old address. Specific output options are shown
below.
Clone input and
append new address
The easiest way to set up your ACE output file is to clone (copy) the input file
format, then append extra fields for move data. In the output records not affected
by a move, most of the appended fields will be blank. The example below shows
what your job-file setup might look like. See the Quick Reference for Views and Job-File Products for complete details about these fields.
BEGIN Create Output File ===================================
...
Copy Format of Input File (Y/N)...... = Y
Field (name,length,type,misc)........ = Move_Flag, 1, c
Field (name,length,type,misc)........ = Move_Date, 6, c
Field (name,length,type,misc)........ = Move_Type, 1, c
Field (name,length,type,misc)........ = Move_PAddr, 50, c
Field (name,length,type,misc)........ = Move_SAddr, 50, c
Field (name,length,type,misc)........ = Move_City, 28, c
Field (name,length,type,misc)........ = Move_State, 2, c
Field (name,length,type,misc)........ = Move_ZIP, 5, c
Field (name,length,type,misc)........ = Move_ZIP4, 4, c
Field (name,length,type,misc)........ = Move_DPBC, 2, c
Field (name,length,type,misc)........ = Move_CART, 4, c
END
BEGIN Post to Output File ==================================
...
Copy Input Data to Output File (Y/N). = Y
Instead of cloning and appending, you can create a second output file just for
move records. Two approaches are possible:
Output each record once, placing move records in the “movers” file and all
other records in the “main” file (shown below).
Output move records twice; once to the “main” database, and a second time
to the “movers” database.
Both of these approaches require that you use an output filter to determine
whether a record is a move.
“Movers” file
For the “movers” file, use the
filter (see
“movers” file, use the cloneand-append approach shown on
the previous page.
“Main” file option
If you want to keep movers out
of your “main” file, use the filter
(see
Each Record option to Once (see
). Populate this file as you
wish, but don’t bother posting
any of the APM fields to the
main file; they’ll all be blank.
“Main” file option
If you want the “main” file to
include both movers and others,
omit the filter on the “main” file
(see
Each Record option to All Filters
(see
use the clone-and-append
approach shown on the previous
page.
). To populate the
), and set the Output
), and set the Output
). To populate the file,
BEGIN Output Control =======================================
Output Each Record (ONCE/ALL FILTERS) = Once
...
END
“Movers” file
BEGIN Create Output File ===================================
...
Copy Format of Input File (Y/N)...... = Y
Field (name,length,type,misc)........ = Move_Flag, 1, c
...
END
BEGIN Post to Output File ==================================
...
For details about these functions, see your ACE Library Reference.
Link
processing, you’ll use the following functions:
48
Mover ID User’s Guide
Chapter 3:
Reports and log files
Chapter summaryACE produces the following move-related reports and log files:
Mover ID Summary report
Customer service log (CSL)
Address Conversion Statistics (ACS) file
PAF customer information log
Broker agent / list administrator log
DPV false positive log
Note: The ACE Job Summary report also shows the number and percentage
of records that were move-updated. See your ACE User’s Guide for a sample
of this report.
Chapter 3: Reports and log files
49
Mover ID Summary report
The Mover ID Summary includes useful NCOA
Link
information, including your
entries about the licensee, customer, service provider, list owner, and so on.
Information presented in the Mover ID Summary varies according to your
licensee level. In other words, what appears on the Mover ID Summary is
different for end users, limited service providers, and full service providers.
Return code
information
The Mover ID Summary always includes a brief summary of return codes, and
you can choose to include more detailed return code descriptions on the report if
you want. Return codes tell you if a record was affected by a move, how the
Link
NCOA
match was made, or why a match could not be made.
If and when the USPS adds return codes in the future or changes return code
descriptions, those new or updated return codes will automatically be available to
you through ACE in the Mover ID Summary report, Customer Service Log
(CSL), and Address Correction Statistics (ACS) file.
SetupTo enable printing of the detailed return code descriptions:
In ACE Views or Jobfile, select Print Return Code Descriptions in the
Job Information ----------------------------------------------------------------
Job Name: wonder.ace
Job Description: NCOA/Link Testing
Job Owner: Team
Mover ID Auto-Update: No
Match Logic: I - Individual
Service Provider Type: END USER ANKLink Enabled: No
Directory Data Months: 48 Directory Data Format: HASH
Mode (Data Returned): C - COA Processing Category: NORMAL
Accepted COA Months: 18 Mail Classification: A
High Match Rate Desc.: N/A
NCOALink Processing Completed: 20060531
NCOALink Log File Path: .../ace/stats
List Name: ncoae001.ace
Processes Used to Prepare List: NCOALink, Centroid GeoCensus, Address-Level
GeoCensus, EWS, eLOT, RDI, DPV, TaxIQ, and CASS
Customer & USPS Licensee Information
-----------------------------------------------------------Licensee ID: E001
Licensee Name: Team
List Owner SIC: 123456
Total Input Records: 1888
Less Records Dropped by Delete Mark: 0
Less Records Dropped by Input Filter: 0
Less Records Up-To-Date Per Z4 Change: 0
Net Input Records to be Processed: 1888
Total Number of NCOALink Matches: 331
Total Number of NCOALink Return Codes: 1888
Total Moves not DPV confirmable: 266
NCOALink Match Percentage: 17.53
NCOALink Return Code Percentage: 100.00
Statistics (based on pre-move addresses) ---------------------------------------
--------------------- ---------- ------ --------------------- ---------- -----Total Confirmed: 137 7.26 Total Not Confirmed: 1743 92.32
NCOALink Return Code Summary Records %
------------------------------------------------------------ ---------- ----- New Address Provided by NCOALink
A - COA MATCH 289 15.31
91 - COA MATCH - SECONDARY NUMBER DROPPED FROM COA 4 0.21
92 - COA MATCH - SECONDARY NUMBER DROPPED FROM INPUT 5 0.26
Found COA
01 - COA MATCH - FOREIGN MOVE 4 0.21
02 - COA MATCH - MOVE LEFT NO ADDRESS 5 0.26
03 - COA MATCH - PO BOX CLOSED NO FORWARDING ADDRESS 4 0.21
05 - COA MATCH - A NEW ADDRESS CAN NOT BE PROVIDED 15 0.79
14 - COA MATCH - NEW ADDRESS WOULD NOT CONVERT 0 0.00
19 - FOUND COA - NEW ADDRESS NOT ZIP+4 OR DPV CONFIRM 5 0.26
Cannot Match COA
00 - NO COA MATCH 1514 80.19
04 - CANNOT MATCH COA - STREET ADDRESS WITH SECONDARY 0 0.00
06 - CANNOT MATCH COA - MIDDLE NAME CONFLICT 0 0.00
07 - CANNOT MATCH COA - GENDER CONFLICT 0 0.00
08 - CANNOT MATCH COA - CONFLICTING INSTRUCTIONS 0 0.00
09 - CANNOT MATCH COA - HIGHRISE DEFAULT 0 0.00
10 - CANNOT MATCH COA - RURAL DEFAULT 0 0.00
11 - CANNOT MATCH COA - INSUFFICIENT COA NAME 8 0.42
12 - CANNOT MATCH COA - MIDDLE NAME TEST FAILED 2 0.11
13 - CANNOT MATCH COA - GENDER TEST FAILED 0 0.00
15 - CANNOT MATCH COA - INDIVIDUAL NAME INSUFFICIENT 15 0.79
16 - CANNOT MATCH COA - SECONDARY NUMBER DISCREPANCY 8 0.42
17 - CANNOT MATCH COA - OTHER INSUFFICIENT NAME 8 0.42
18 - CANNOT MATCH COA - GENERAL DELIVERY 0 0.00
20 - CANNOT MATCH COA - CONFLICTING DIRECTIONS 0 0.00
From "Daily Delete" Process
66 - DAILY DELETE 2 0.11
Code = Return Code
Description = Explanation of Return Code
Address - Y = New Address Provided
- N = New Address Not Provided
How - D = Derived by data - returned in lieu of 11 digit
- S = Derived by software
+------+-------------------------------------------------------+---------+-----+
| Code | Description | Address | How |
+------+-------------------------------------------------------+---------+-----+
| 00 | NO COA MATCH -MATCH WAS NOT FOUND WITH GIVEN INPUT | N | S |
| | NAME, ADDRESS AND MATCHING LOGIC | | |
+------+-------------------------------------------------------+---------+-----+
| 01 | COA MATCH - FOREIGN MOVE - MATCH FOUND, BUT NEW | N | D |
| | ADDRESS OUTSIDE USPS DELIVERY AREA - A NEW ADDRESS | | |
| | CAN NOT BE PROVIDED | | |
+------+-------------------------------------------------------+---------+-----+
| 02 | COA MATCH - MOVE LEFT NO ADDRESS - MATCH FOUND, BUT | N | D |
| | NEW ADDRESS WAS NOT PROVIDED TO THE USPS - A NEW | | |
| | ADDRESS CAN NOT BE PROVIDED | | |
+------+-------------------------------------------------------+---------+-----+
| 03 | COA MATCH - PO BOX CLOSED NO FORWARDING ADDRESS - | N | D |
| | MATCH FOUND, BUT NEW ADDRESS WAS NOT PROVIDED TO THE | | |
| | USPS - A NEW ADDRESS CAN NOT BE PROVIDED | | |
+------+-------------------------------------------------------+---------+-----+
| 04 | CANNOT MATCH COA - A COA WAS FOUND UTILIZING THE LAST | N | D |
| | NAME AND ADDRESS BUT THE INPUT DID NOT CONTAIN A | | |
| | SECONDARY NUMBER AND THE COA CONTAINED A SECONDARY | | |
| | NUMBER | | |
+------+-------------------------------------------------------+---------+-----+
| 05 | COA MATCH - A NEW ADDRESS CAN NOT BE PROVIDED - THE | N | D |
| | DPBC REPRESENTS MORE THAN ONE ADDRESS - THE NEW | | |
| | ADDRESS CAN NOT BE PROVIDED | | |
+------+-------------------------------------------------------+---------+-----+
| 06 | CANNOT MATCH COA - MIDDLE NAME CONFLICT - MORE THAN | N | D |
| | ONE COA AND THE MIDDLE NAMES OR INITIALS ON THE COA'S | | |
| | ARE DIFFERENT - NEW ADDRESS CAN NOT BE PROVIDED DUE | | |
| | TO UNRESOLVED CONFLICT | | |
+------+-------------------------------------------------------+---------+-----+
| 07 | CANNOT MATCH COA - GENDER CONFLICT - MORE THAN ONE | N | D |
| | COA EXISTS AND THE GENDERS ON THE COA'S ARE DIFFERENT | | |
| | - NEW ADDRESS CAN NOT BE PROVIDED DUE TO UNRESOLVED | | |
| | CONFLICT | | |
+------+-------------------------------------------------------+---------+-----+
| 08 | CANNOT MATCH COA - CONFLICTING INSTRUCTIONS - MORE | N | D |
| | THAN ONE COA EXISTS WITH DIFFERENCES IN THE NEW | | |
| | ADDRESS - NEW ADDRESS CAN NOT BE PROVIDED DUE TO | | |
| | UNRESLOVED CONFLICT | | |
+------+-------------------------------------------------------+---------+-----+
| 09 | CANNOT MATCH COA - HIGHRISE DEFAULT - FAMILY COA WITH | N | D |
| | HIGH-RISE ADDRESS ZIP+4 CODED TO BUILDING DEFAULT - | | |
| | INDIVIDUAL NAME INFORMATION REQUIRED FOR MATCH | | |
| | MISSING OR NOT MATCH COA | | |
+------+-------------------------------------------------------+---------+-----+
[report condensed for illustration purposes]
54
Mover ID User’s Guide
Summary of each
output file
Subsequent pages of the report show pre- and post-move statistics and return code
summaries of your data broken down for each output file.
Mover ID Summary ACE [version]
NCOALink Processing Summary Report Mover ID [version]
ACE automatically generates the USPS-required log files and names them
according to USPS requirements. If you’re certified as an NCOA
only log file that you will need is the customer service log.
ACE generates these log files in the directory that you specify in the Customer
and USPS Licensee Information window or block, at the Log File Directory
option. With the start of each new month, ACE starts a new log file. Each log file
contains information about every NCOA
client.
The USPS requires that you save these log files for five years.
Log fileEnd
users
Customer service log
PAF customer information log
Required for...
Limited service providers
Full service
providers
Link
end user, the
Link
job processed that month, for every
Description
This log file contains one record per list that
you process. Each record details the results of
change-of-address processing. For details, see
“Customer service log (CSL) and Address
Conversion Statistics (ACS) file” on page 57.
This log file contains the information that you
provided for the PAF.
The log file lists each unique PAF entry. If a
list is processed with the same PAF information, the information appears just once in the
log file.
When contact information for the list administrator has changed, then information for
both the list administrator and the corresponding broker are written to the PAF log
file.
Broker agents /
list administrators log
DPV false-positive log
ACE Library’s
automatic log files
56
Mover ID User’s Guide
This log file contains all of the contact information that you entered for the broker or list
administrator.
The log file lists information for each broker
or list administrator just once.
The USPS requires the broker / list administrator log file from service providers, even in
jobs that do not involve a broker or list
administrator. ACE produces this log file for
every job if you’re a certified service provider.
For details, see “DPV false-positive log” on
page 43.
ACE creates or updates the required log files automatically during calls to
ace_findf() and ace_close().
Log file namesACE follows the USPS file-naming scheme for the following log files:
Customer service log
PAF customer information log
Broker agents / list administrators log
The table below describes the naming scheme. For example, P1234C04.DAT is a
PAF Log file generated in December 2004 for a licensee with the ID 1234.
Character 1Characters 2-5 Character 6Characters 7-8Extension
Customer service log
(CSL) and Address
Conversion Statistics
(ACS) file
B
Broker log
C
Customer
service log
P
PAF l o g
The NCOA
Platform ID,
exactly four
characters long.
Link
-required customer service log (CSL) contains a record for each
Month
1
January
2
February
3
March
4
April
5
May
6
June
7
July
8
August
9
September
A
October
B
November
C
December
run of address conversion processes, such as NCOA
Ye ar
04
for 2004, for
example
Link
, LACS
Link
.DAT
, ANK
Link
and
DPV. The USPS requires this information in this single-file format. However,
because of the large file size, it can be difficult to find specific information
contained in the CSL.
The ACS file contains all the same information that’s in the CSL, plus additional
information (such as licensee name, input database name, and Mover ID “00”
matches). Unlike the CSL, the ACS file contains information about only the last
run. You can name the file whatever you like, choose its format, and easily find
information about your most recently processed data.
When you process a job using an assignment mode of Geo or Parse, ACE
does not produce the ACS file.
To generate the ACS file, perform Mover ID processing, which is available in
ACE as an add-on option. You can produce the ACS file with ACE Library,
Views, or Job.
It is possible to generate the ACS file through ACE Library without
Link
performing NCOA
processing. However, because most of the data in the
ACS file is about move updates, if you produce the ACS file without
Link
performing NCOA
processing, most of the data in the file will be zeroes.
The ACS file contains a single record with the following fields:
FieldLength Description
LICEN_ID5Licensee ID (USPS assigned).
LIST_SIC7List Owner North American Industrial Classification Sys-
tem (NAICS) code.
Chapter 3: Reports and log files
57
FieldLength Description
FREQ_PROC4Frequency of Processing.
LIST_ID7List ID (Licensee assigned).
PROC_CAT10The type of processing performed.
ADD_NOTES2Additional notes. “A” in this field means that the cus-
tomer provided written request for a longer processing
period.
PROC_PRE2Preprocessing performed.
NNone
YYes, but with no data modifications
DYes, data modifications from sources other than
postal data
PYes, data modifications from postal data only (for
example, ZIP+4 or DPV)
BYes, data modifications from postal and other
sources
PROC_CON2Concurrent processes performed.
NNone
YYes, but with no data modifications
DYes, data modifications from sources other than
postal data
PYes, data modifications from postal data only (for
example, ZIP+4 or DPV)
BYes, data modifications from postal and other
sources
PROC_POST2Post-processes performed.
NNone
YYes, but with no data modifications
DYes, data modifications from sources other than
postal data
PYes, data modifications from postal data only (LAC-
Link
S
)
BYes, data modifications from postal and other
sources.
STD_OUTPUT2Standard output returned.
YAll NCOA
Link
-required output returned to client
NPost-processes modified return information (updates
applied to list)
BPost-processes modified return information; how-
ever, separate file containing all required output data
was also returned
MTCH_LOGIC2Matching logic applied.
SStandard (business, individual, and family matches)
IIndividual only
BBusiness only
CIndividual and business only
58
Mover ID User’s Guide
FieldLength Description
DATA_RET2Data returned.
CCOA data returned (including footnotes and process-
ing statistics)
FFootnotes (no COA data included; may include pro-
cessing statistics)
SStatistics only (no COA data or footnotes provided)
NO_MON_REQ3Number of months requested. By request of list owner,
number of months for which COA data accepted.
CLASS_MAIL2Class of mail to be used for mailings produced from cus-
tomer mailing list.
AFirst-Class only
BPeriodicals only
CStandard Mail only
DPackage Services only
EFirst-Class and Periodicals
FFirst-Class and Standard Mail
GFirst-Class and Package Services
HPeriodicals and Standard Mail
IPeriodicals and Package Services
JStandard Mail and Package Services
KFirst-Class, Periodicals, and Standard Mail
LFirst-Class, Periodicals, and Package Services
M First-Class, Standard Mail, and Package Services
NPeriodicals, Standard Mail, and Package Services
OFirst-Class, Periodical, Standard Mail, and Package
Services
LIST_REC9Date list received from customer.
PRO_BEGIN9Date NCOA
PRO_END9Date NCOA
Link
processing began.
Link
processing was complete.
LIST_RET9Date list returned to customer.
RECS_PROC11Total number of records processed.
NCOA_QURY11Total number of NCOALink queries performed.
RECS_MTCH11Total number of records matched. Results returned indi-
cate return codes A, 91, 92, 01, 02, 03, 05, 14, and 19.
RECS_REJ11Total number of matches rejected. Results discarded
based on Move Effective Date: Return code 00 generated
due to age of COA.
RECS_ZIP411Total number of records ZIP+4 coded.
RECS_DPV11Total number of records DPV confirmed.
SW_NAME31ZIP+4 software name.
SW_VERSION13ZIP+4 software version.
Z4_DIRDATE9ZIP+4 directory release date.
NCO_SWNAME 31NCOA
Link
software name.
Chapter 3: Reports and log files
59
FieldLength Description
NCO_SWVER13NCOA
NCO_DIRDAT9NCOA
Link
software version.
Link
data release date.
DPV_SWNAME31DPV software name.
DPV_SWVER13DPV software version.
DPV_DIRDAT9DPV data release date.
ZIP4_POBOX11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to PO box.
ZIP4_HCBOX11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to HCR exact.
ZIP4_RR_DF11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to RR default.
ZIP4_FIRM11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to firm.
ZIP4_GD11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to general delivery.
ZIP4_HR_DF11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to highrise default.
ZIP4_MIL11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to military.
ZIP4_NONDE11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to nondeliverable.
ZIP4_RRBOX11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to RR exact.
ZIP4_ST11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to street.
ZIP4_HCDEF11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to HCR default.
ZIP4_HRSEC11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to highrise exact.
ZIP4_OTHER11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to other.
ZIP4_LACS11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to positive LACS.
ZIP4_EWS11ZIP+4 match statistics. Total matched to EWS.
RETCODE_A11NCOA
address provided by NCOA
RETCODE_9111NCOA
address provided by NCOA
secondary address and matched NCOA
Link
return code A. NCOA
Link
return code 91. NCOA
Link
Link
Link
match. New
. Exact match.
Link
match. New
. Input record was missing
Link
record that
had a secondary address.
RETCODE_9211NCOA
address provided by NCOA
secondary address and matched NCOA
Link
return code 92. NCOA
Link
Link
match. New
. Input record contained
Link
record that
was missing secondary address.
RETCODE_0011NCOA
RETCODE_0111NCOA
Link
return code 00. No NCOA
Link
return code 01. NCOA
Link
match.
Link
match. Foreign
move.
RETCODE_0211NCOA
Link
return code 02. NCOA
Link
match. Moved Left
No Address (MLNA).
RETCODE_0311NCOA
Link
return code 03. NCOA
Link
match. Box Closed
No Order (BCNO).
RETCODE_0411NCOA
Link
return code 04. No NCOA
Link
match. Family
move from street address with secondary.
60
Mover ID User’s Guide
FieldLength Description
RETCODE_0511NCOA
Link
return code 05. NCOA
digit delivery point barcode (DPBC) is ambiguous.
RETCODE_0611NCOA
Link
return code 06. No NCOA
names or initials don’t match.
RETCODE_0711NCOA
Link
return code 07. No NCOA
don’t match.
RETCODE_0811NCOA
Link
return code 08. No NCOA
flicting new addresses.
RETCODE_0911NCOA
Link
return code 09. No NCOA
move from highrise default.
RETCODE_1011NCOA
Link
return code 10. No NCOA
move from rural route or highway contract default.
RETCODE_1111NCOA
Link
return code 11. No NCOA
ual move, insufficient name data.
RETCODE_1211NCOA
Link
return code 12. No NCOA
name test failed.
RETCODE_1311NCOA
Link
return code 13. No NCOA
test failed.
RETCODE_1411NCOA
Link
return code 14. NCOA
address would not convert.
RETCODE_1511NCOA
Link
return code 15. No NCOA
ual name insufficient on input to match.
RETCODE_1611NCOA
Link
return code 16. No NCOA
ary number discrepancy.
RETCODE_1711NCOA
Link
return code 17. No NCOA
ent first name.
RETCODE_1811NCOA
Link
return code 18. No NCOA
move from General Delivery.
RETCODE_1911NCOA
Link
return code 19. NCOA
address not ZIP+4 codeable.
RETCODE_2011NCOA
Link
return code 20. No NCOA
ple response, conflicting directions.
Link
match. New 11
Link
match. Middle
Link
match. Genders
Link
match. Con-
Link
match. Family
Link
match. Family
Link
match. Individ-
Link
match. Middle
Link
match. Gender
Link
match. New
Link
match. Individ-
Link
match. Second-
Link
match. Differ-
Link
match. Family
Link
match. New
Link
match. Multi-
RETCODE_21
through
11
To be defined.
RETCODE_30
RETCODE_6611NCOA
Link
return code 66. No NCOA
Link
match. Input
address appears in “Daily Delete” suppression file.
DPV_AA11DPV footnotes. ZIP+4 match.
DPV_A111DPV footnotes. No ZIP+4 match.
DPV_M111DPV footnotes. Primary number missing.
DPV_M311DPV footnotes. Primary number invalid.
DPV_P111DPV footnotes. Missing PO, RR, or HC Box number.
Chapter 3: Reports and log files
61
FieldLength Description
DPV_P311DPV footnotes. Invalid PO, RR, or HC Box number.
DPV_RET_U111DPV additional return codes. Unique ZIP Code.
DPV_RET_G111DPV additional return codes. General delivery.
DPV_RET_NL11DPV additional return codes. New address not DPV con-
firmable with vendor software.
ANK_RET_A,
ANK_RET_00
through
11ANK
same as NCOA
page 60 through “RETCODE_66” on page 61.
Link
return codes. ANK
Link
return codes. See “RETCODE_A” on
Link
return codes are the
ANK_RET_30,
ANK_RET_66,
ANK_RET_92,
ANK_RET_91,
TOT_ANKMAT11Total records matched using ANK
Link
.
Chapter 3: Reports and log files
63
FieldLength Description
LAC_RET_0911LACS
Link
Return Codes. Old address highrise default, no
new address.
TOT_LACCON11Total records LACS
Link
converted.
MLIST_NAME31User given list name.
LIC_NAME31Licensee name.
INP_DB200Input file.
CUST_CONAM51Customer company name.
DIR_FORMAT4Directory format (hash or flat).
Link
Link
directory (18 or 48).
or ANK
Link
).
DIR_MONTHS4Number of months in the NCOA
DIR_TYPE8Type of directory (NCOA
HI_MTC_DSC1High match rate description (A, S, R, or blank). See
“High Match Rate Description” on page 27.
64
Mover ID User’s Guide
Chapter 4:
Certification and audits
Chapter summaryAs an NCOA
Link
NCOA
certification. These steps are described in this chapter.
user, you must also follow certain USPS procedures during your initial
Link
licensee, you will experience periodic USPS audits. As an
Chapter 4: Certification and audits
65
NCOA
Link
certification and audits
Refer to the USPSThe information below is based on NCOA
Link
information from the USPS. If you
have questions about certification or audit procedures, contact your USPS account
representative or the USPS National Customer Support Center in Memphis.
Certification and audit
procedure
During certification, you must process a file from the USPS to prove that you
adhere to the requirements of your license agreement.
An audit involves processing a test file, which the USPS provides, and creating an
output file in a USPS-specified format. This output file is called the Test Client
Output File.
You send the Test Client Output File to the USPS for grading in Stage I and Stage
II testing and also during auditing.
The USPS will send you the input file and will determine the output file name.
Preparing your test jobBusiness Objects provides the following files to assist you in passing an audit:
ncoastg1.ace, the template ACE job file for NCOA
ncoastg1.fmt, the format file for NCOA
ncoastg1.def, the definition file for NCOA
ncoastg2.ace, the template ACE job file for NCOA
ncoastg2.fmt, the format file for NCOA
ncoastg2.def, the definition file for NCOA
Link
Stage I pre-testing
Link
Link
Stage II testing
Link
Link
Stage I pre-testing
Stage I pre-testing
Link
Stage II testing
Stage II testing
These files are in the template subdirectory (pw\ace\template or postware/ace/template). Copy all of them to a different subdirectory.
Do not edit these three files directly. Instead, make a copy of them, and edit the
copy. When you receive a newer version of ACE, always use the newest version
of these three files. They are installed with each new version of ACE.
When editing your copy of the template file, set up the job as usual. In particular,
check all of the parameters that require a file path name, the Mover ID NCOA
Link
blocks, and Mover ID Summary report blocks. As required, this audit job
produces the Mover ID Summary report, CASS 3553 form, and an output file in
USPS-specified format.
When using the ncoastg1.ace and ncoastg2.ace files, change the output file
!
name to $job_out.dat. Otherwise the default FMT and DEF files will be
overwritten and won’t work with the USPS-supplied input file for the next
job.
After processing the job, the auditor may ask you to display results on your
computer, and to copy all of the reports and outputs back to the USPS tape or
diskette. That tape or diskette normally goes back to the NCSC in Memphis for
evaluation.
The audit team may also want to check out other things like how files are
Link
processed through NCOA
agreement and the NCOA
. For complete information, read your license
Link
technical documentation, or check with your USPS
contracting officer.
66
Mover ID User’s Guide
Appendix A:
Improving NCOA
Link
performance
OverviewMany factors affect ACE’s performance when running NCOA
most critical factor is the amount of disk access taking place, and there are ways
to reduce it. Having lots of memory available for caching data is often the most
effective way of reducing disk access. Other critical factors include hard drive
speed, seek time, and the sustained transfer rate. When the time spent on disk
access is minimized, the performance of the CPU becomes significant.
What processing
speeds should I
expect?
That’s a bit like asking how fast a particular car can go. While one car may be
capable of accelerating to 60 miles per hour (MPH) in 5 seconds, achieving that
might require a professional driver, a smooth and level racetrack, optimal
temperatures, new racing tires inflated to the perfect pressure, no passengers, a
nearly empty gas tank, and a fresh tune-up. The same car may need 15 seconds to
reach 60 MPH on gravel with a passenger in every seat and a dirty air filter.
Going up a hill towing a trailer on snow, it may never get anywhere close to 60
MPH.
Link
There are as many factors affecting NCOA
are in automobile performance. ACE can provide outstanding NCOA
but the performance you achieve will depend on the type of processing you do
and the environment in which you do that processing.
Under favorable conditions, a realistic estimate for a single job is to process about
3 million records per hour on a powerful PC with an Intel or AMD processor
running Windows or Linux. Under truly ideal conditions ACE can process such
jobs at more than 5 million records per hour. Processing 1 to 2 million records per
hour is more realistic on a typical UNIX system, such as a SUN machine running
Solaris. In some cases, it’s possible to exceed these numbers. In an adverse
environment, performance can be a few hundred thousand records per hour or
less.
processing performance as there
Link
. Generally the
Link
speed,
Appendix A: Improving NCOALink performance
67
What hardware and OS are best for NCOA
Link
processing?
Operating systems
and processors
Some people mistakenly assume that a high-priced 64-bit UNIX system with
Link
multiple processors and many gigabytes of RAM will run an NCOA
job much
faster than a common single-processor 32-bit PC. The real strengths of such a
UNIX system come into play when you process multiple jobs at once. However,
some processors are better at different types of computation, and the computation
Link
involved in most ACE and NCOA
processing is very well suited to the
microprocessors found in most computers, such as those made by Intel and AMD.
RISC style processors like those found in most UNIX systems are generally
substantially slower for this type of computation. In fact a common PC can often
Link
run a single job through ACE and NCOA
about twice as fast as a common
UNIX system. If you’re looking for a cost-effective way of processing single
jobs, a Windows server or a fast workstation can produce excellent results.
Most UNIX systems have multiple processors and are at their best processing
several jobs at once. If you process millions of records in a single large job, you
can split the job into multiple smaller jobs, each concurrently processing only a
subset of your input file. With the system dividing the load between the multiple
processors, you may see outstanding overall processing speeds.
If you’re running on a UNIX operating system, we recommend that you run
on a 64-bit platform, with 64-bit software. The software will cache more
when running in 64-bit mode.
MemoryNCOA
your service provider level, the data format, and the release of the data from the
USPS. The data may be 7 gigabytes (GB) or twice that size. Accessing any
amount of data from a hard drive takes much longer than all the computation
involved in an NCOA
makes a tremendous difference in performance.
How much memory is enough? Having even a few hundred megabytes available
for ACE to use when caching NCOA
difference. One test showed a job running at several hundred thousand records
per hour with 200 MB cached, when the same job ran at only one thousand
records per hour without that memory available.
In general, if performance is critical, and especially if you are a Full Service
Provider and you frequently run very large jobs with millions of records, you
should get as much memory as you can. You may want to go as far as caching the
entire NCOA
with enough left for the operating system. If your typical jobs are less than a
million records, you may find your performance is adequate with 2 to 4 GB of
RAM available to ACE.
For reasonable performance, your computer should have at least 3 GB of RAM.
This provides enough RAM to maximize processing of CASS, and DPV, and to
achieve good performance with NCOA
you may need additional RAM.
Link
processing uses many gigabytes of data. The exact amount depends on
Link
lookup, so getting the necessary data into memory
Link
directory data can make a huge
Link
data set. Having 20 GB of RAM installed should allow for that,
Link.
To achieve maximum performance
68
Mover ID User’s Guide
Data storageWhen ACE does need to access a hard drive for NCOA
performance becomes a critical factor in the overall performance. Hard drive
access occurs either:
during the process of caching large quantities of directory data to use in the
future, or
retrieving relatively small amounts of data directly from the hard drive if it
could not be cached
In any case, the hard drive you use for NCOA
Link
data should be fully dedicated
to that process, at least while your job is running. Other processes competing for
the use of the same physical disk drive can greatly reduce your NCOA
performance.
In the first case, the sustained transfer rate of your hard drive is its most
significant feature. For example, if you are going to cache 10 GB of data, that’s
10 GB of mostly linear disk access. If your hard drive can maintain a transfer rate
of 50 MB per second, populating the cache will take several minutes. A lowperformance hard drive, a badly fragmented hard drive, or a hard drive being
accessed over a busy network or other bottleneck may not be able to deliver half
that transfer rate, so the time required to cache the data could be doubled or
worse.
If you will be caching large volumes of data and you have an older hard drive,
you may want to consider an upgrade. High-RPM models are desirable, but so are
drives featuring a large data capacity per platter, as these high capacity drives
generally offer excellent transfer rates. Packing data more densely on the platters
not only increases storage capacity but also increases the amount of data
transferred in each revolution of the disk. To achieve even higher transfer rates
you may want to explore the possibility of using a RAID system.
Link
When ACE accesses NCOA
data directly rather than from a cache, the most
significant hard drive feature is the average seek time. The amount of data ACE
needs to perform a single lookup is very small, but it may be distributed among
several files, requiring several seeks. Each seek typically requires several
milliseconds which is much longer than it takes to actually transfer the data. Thus
if you’re not going to be caching several GB of data, sustained transfer rate is not
as significant.
Link
, hard drive
Link
Appendix A: Improving NCOALink performance
69
What caching and data format strategy is best?
Data formatACE supports both hash and flat file versions of NCOA
Link
data. If you have
ample memory to cache the entire hash file data set, that format may provide the
best performance. The flat file data is significantly smaller, which means a larger
share can be cached in a given amount of RAM. But accessing the flat file data
also involves binary searches, which are slightly more time consuming than the
direct access used with the hash file format. If you have very limited memory
Link
(less than 600 MB available for NCOA
caching), the hash file format is likely
to provide better performance because the binary searches involved in accessing
the flat file version are particularly time consuming when the data is on a hard
drive.
ZIP order cachingIf you are processing very large lists, you would ideally cache the entire data set,
but you may not have the vast amounts of RAM required to do that. If you have a
few GB available and very large or very regional lists in ZIP Code order, either
sorted by turning on the ZIP Code sorting option within ACE or if your input file
is already in ZIP Code order, you may want to consider enabling ZIP order
caching.
Link
The ZIP order caching option tells ACE to cache a portion of the NCOA
data
required for similar ZIP Codes at a time, reusing that memory later to cache
another portion of the data. After a segment of the data has been cached, all the
addresses with the same first two digits of the ZIP Code can be processed without
much additional disk access. Thus for those addresses you can achieve nearly
CPU-bound performance, which may be in the millions of records per hour.
Essentially, enabling this feature puts a finite limit on the amount of disk access
Link
that ACE may do for a single NCOA
job. The amount of disk access is large,
close to four times the size of the data set. Thus it’s possible for a job to do about
60 gigabytes of disk reading, but for large or highly regional jobs the result can be
a substantial improvement in performance. As jobs get larger, the performance
gain from using the ZIP order caching feature also increases.
70
ZIP order caching isn’t always appropriate. If your list contains only a few
thousand records destined for addresses distributed throughout the country, the
time saved by having that data cached may be less than the time it takes to cache
it. The data ACE caches for each 2-digit ZIP Code may be over 500 megabytes. If
there aren't many addresses with a given 2-digit ZIP Code, turning on ZIP order
caching may actually decrease performance significantly. It's impossible to
identify a specific minimum number of records per 2-digit ZIP Code that you
would need before ZIP order caching becomes beneficial. That threshold depends
on the transfer rate and seek time of your hard drive, the format of the data, and
many other variables.
Setting up the ZIP order option:
In ACE Views or Jobfile, go to the Memory Usage window or block and
select the Cache for ZIP Order Processing option.
In ACE Library, call
ace_set_mode(ah, ACE_MODE_CACHE_ZIP_ORDER, TRUE);
Mover ID User’s Guide
Memory usageThe NCOA
control how much memory to use for caching. The optimal amount of memory
depends on a great many factors. The “Auto” option will usually do a good job of
deciding how much memory to use, but in some cases manually adjusting the
amount can be worthwhile. In general, to get good performance when you are
processing an input file with millions of records, you should dedicate as much
memory to caching NCOA
records in a job, the optimal amount of memory to dedicate to caching will
probably be between a few hundred megabytes and two gigabytes. Within that
range the difference in performance is usually fairly minor.
Link
parameters in the Memory Usage block of ACE allow you to
Link
data as possible. If you have less than a million
Appendix A: Improving NCOALink performance
71
Tips
Many factors can increase or decrease processing speed. Some are within your
control and others may be inherent to your business. Here are some to consider:
RAMYou should have at least 2GB of available RAM for each process of ACE with
Input order Processing in ZIP Code order allows ACE to process many records for each
Link
NCOA
you will be running concurrently. For very large jobs, the more
memory you can dedicate to NCOA
Link
, the better.
access of a hard drive for directory data.
ZIP Code order
caching
This feature is only beneficial for large jobs, and the minimum size to get that
benefit will depend on your hardware and data. For a small job turning this on can
decrease performance dramatically. If you’re in doubt, try toggling this option.
Cache sizeUsing too little memory for NCOA
Link
caching can cause unnecessary random
file access and time-consuming hard drive seeks. Using far too much can cause
large files to be read from the disk into the cache even when only a tiny fraction
of the data will ever be used.
CPU SpeedIf your jobs and run-time environment minimize disk access, the speed of your
CPU is the limiting factor in your performance.
Directory locationIt’s best to have NCOA
RAM drive. This eliminates all IO for NCOA
Link
directories on a local solid state drive or a virtual
Link
while processing the job. If you
have them on a hard drive, it’s best to use a defragmented local hard drive. The
Link
hard drive should not be accessed for anything other than the NCOA
data
while you are running. Using a hard drive over a network or a drive that is being
accessed by other processes can reduce your processing speed dramatically.
Match rateThe more records you process that have forwardable moves, the slower your
processing will be. Retrieving and decoding the new addresses takes time, so
updating a list regularly will improve the processing speed on that list. You can
measure the impact of your match rate on your performance by altering your DEF
file to use a constant name for all the records, rebooting, and rerunning the job. If
you tell ACE that the name is always “Nosuch Personexists” you will get no
matches and you'll see faster processing. The difference in processing times is
Link
how long ACE spent dealing with NCOA
matches when you first ran the job
with real data.
Input formatIdeally you should provide ACE with discrete fields for the addressee’s first,
middle, and last name, as well as for the pre-name and post-name. If your input
has only a name line, ACE will have to take time to parse it before doing
Link
NCOA
. If your file is in multi-line format, ACE may have to analyze multiple
lines to determine which is the address line and then parse the selected line into
discrete components. This will obviously slow things down.
72
Mover ID User’s Guide
File sizeLarge files process faster. There is overhead when processing any job, but if a job
includes millions of records, a few seconds of overhead becomes insignificant. A
few seconds per job is much more significant if you have hundreds of smaller
jobs.
Appendix A: Improving NCOALink performance
73
Are there any special strategies that might help?
In some cases there are things you can do that will help a great deal.
Software RAM drivesIf you process millions of records every day, but those records are contained in
many separate input files, or you need to process them in numerous separate jobs
with different settings, you may not be able to benefit from caching large amounts
of data within ACE, even if you have ample RAM. You may be able to achieve
extremely good results by caching the data externally, however.
Software RAM drives are readily available for many operating systems. These
programs allow you to use some of your system memory to create a virtual drive.
If you have enough RAM available to create a virtual RAM drive that can
accommodate the full NCOA
achieve performance exceeding a million records per hour. Once the data is
loaded onto the RAM drive, every ACE job that uses it can get the full benefit of
caching without spending any additional time loading its internal cache.
Link
Set ACE’s NCOA
cache size to around 50 MB, and specify the RAM drive as
the location for the data files, and if you are processing in ZIP Code order, your
job will be CPU-bound. If you have RAM to spare, consider putting your
ZIP4_US.DIR and other ACE directories on the RAM drive as well. That will
allow you to process at CPU speeds without the need to process in ZIP Code
order.
Link
data set, that may be your quickest way to
Hardware RAM drivesAnother possibility is using a hardware RAM drive for your NCOA
directory data. These drives can be installed like a hard drive, but they use
memory to store data without any moving parts. Their performance is much better
than a hard drive, but they are also quite expensive. Some models use Flash
memory, which has the advantage of being non-volatile, so your data stays on the
drive even after re-booting the computer. Other models use conventional
memory. They offer better performance than those using Flash memory, but they
requiring loading the data every time the computer is booted.
contact information, 35
Broker Involved option, 29
broker or list administrator, 36
Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU) or Post Office ZIP Code
, 30
option
business match logic, 27
Buyer Company Name option, 30
C
Cache for ZIP Order Processing option, 37, 39
caching, 37, 38
cloning input, 46
COA Mode setting, 26
Concurrent Process Changes With Other Data option, 30
Concurrent Process Changes With Postal Data option, 30
Concurrent Processes Performed option, 30
Contact Address option, 36
Contact City option, 36
Contact ID option, 35
contact information
broker or list administrator
Contact Name option, 36
Contact Plus 4 Code option, 36
Contact State Code option, 36
Contact Tax ID Number option, 36
, 35
Contact Telephone Number option, 36
Contact Type option, 35
Contact ZIP option, 36
CSL, 57
Customer & USPS Licensee Information window, block, 23
Customer Address option, 24
Customer Alternate Company option, 34
Customer City option, 24
Customer Company Name option, 24
Customer Parent Company option, 33
Customer Phone option, 24
customer service log, 56
Customer State option, 24
Customer Tax ID Number option, 24
Customer ZIP option, 24
Customer ZIP4 option, 24
Customer/List ID option, 24
D
daily delete file, 18
data format, 19
Date List Received option, 24
Date PAF Signed by Customer option, 33
Date PAF Signed by Licensee option, 34
DEF setup, 19
Delivery Point Validation
individual match logic, 27
individual with business match logic, 27
installing
daily delete file, 18
NCOALink directories and files, 16
Insufficient Memory Action option, 41
Int Db Tst processing category, 27
L
licensee
NCOALink, 23
list administrator, 30
contact information, 35
List Administrator Involved option, 30
List Name option, 28
List Owner NAICS option, 24
locking pages in memory, 38
locking rule, 43
Log File Directory option, 25
log files, 49
false positive, 43
M
mail options, 26
Mailing ZIP Code option, 30
match logic, 27
Match Logic option, 27
match rate, 27
memory usage, 37
Memory Usage window, block, 39
Memory Window Size option, 40
Mktg Test processing category, 27
Mode option, 26
Mover ID
introduction
Mover ID Auto Update option, 42
Mover ID Contact Information window, block, 35
Mover ID NCOALink Service Provider window, block, 29
Mover ID NCOALink window, block, 26
Mover ID Summary report, 50
move-update requirement, 8
move-updating
diagram
introduction, 7
NCOALink, 8
set up ACE, 15
multiline fields, 19
, 7
, 8
N
NAICS, 24, 36
Name of the Person Signing PAF option, 33
name-line field, 19
National Customer Support Center, 11
NCOALink, 8
broker, 29
customer service log, 57
daily delete file, 18
directories, 16
files, 16
hardware recommendations, 16
licensee, 23
list administrator, 30
overview, 7
service provider, 29
PAF, 32
PAF customer information log, 56
PAF log file, 34
PAF Type option, 33
Parent Company option, 33
parsing name lines, 45
password protection, 12
Perform Mover ID NCOALink option, 21
permissions, 38
Person Signing PAF option, 33
Post-Process Changes With Other Data option, 30
Post-Process Changes With Postal Data option, 30
Post-Processes Performed option, 30
Pre-Process Changes With Other Data option, 30
Pre-Process Changes With Postal Data option, 30
Pre-Processes Performed option, 30
Processes Used to Prepare List option, 28
Processing Acknowledgement Form, 32
Processing Category option, 27
Processing First Class Mail option, 28
Processing Frequency option, 24
processing options, 26
Processing Package Services Mail option, 28
Processing Periodicals Mail option, 28
Processing Standard Mail option, 28
PW.Firm, 20
PW.First_Name, 20
PW.Last_Name, 20
PW.Line1-12, 20
PW.Mid_Name, 20
PW.Name_Line, 20
PW.Post_Name, 20
PW.Pre_Name, 20
76
Mover ID User’s Guide
R
replacing old address with new, 42
reports, 49
request for extension, 31
residential match logic, 27
Retcode setting, 26
return codes, 26, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 60, 61, 63
Stats setting, 26
Sys Test processing category, 27
T
tax identification number, 36
Title of Person Signing PAF option, 33
Type of PAF option, 33
S
security, 11
service provider
NCOALink
set up ACE for move-updating, 15
Stage I processing category, 27
Stage II processing category, 27
Standard Industrial Classification, 36
standard match logic, 27
Standardization Style window, block, 42
, 29
W
web site
USPS RIBBS
Windows Memory Window Size parameter, 40
Windows Use Extended Memory parameter, 40
, 13
Z
ZIP Code order, 37
Index
77
78
Mover ID User’s Guide
Loading...
+ hidden pages
You need points to download manuals.
1 point = 1 manual.
You can buy points or you can get point for every manual you upload.