Business objects PRINTFORM 7.80C User Manual

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PrintForm

User’s Guide

Version 7.80c Revision 1

September 2007

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PrintForm User’s Guide

Preface

About this guide In this guide, we explain what PrintForm can do and how you can apply it in

common situations. We point out the features and options you need, and a some of the operational “how to” details. Think of this manual as a source for understanding the concepts behind PrintForm. For specific instructions on how to set up all PrintForm options and features, please rely on the online help.

Installation To install PrintForm, please follow the instructions in your System

Administrator’s Guide.

Related guides and resources

Along with this manual, Business Objects provides a wealth of documentation to help you learn and master our products.

 When you use PrintForm, you will tap into the power of two other advanced

mail-preparation applications from Business Objects: ACE (for Address Correction and Encoding) and Presort (for mail sorting and preparation). These are both full-featured programs with an enormous array of options available to you. When you set up your PrintForm job, you may need to set options in both ACE and Presort, depending on your goals. So, along with your Printform documentation, we have included documentation for ACE and Presort as well.

 When you have learned what you need from this guide, turn to the online

help. There you will find all of the operational “how to” information that you

need to run PrintForm.

Conventions This document follows these conventions:

Convention Description

Bold We use bold type for file names, paths, emphasis, and text that you

should type exactly as shown. For example, “Type

Italics We use italics for emphasis and text for which you should substitute

your own data or values. For example, “Type a name for your job, and the

.job

extension (

jobname

Menu commands We 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.

We use this symbol to point out special cases that you should know about.

.job

).”

cd\dirs

.”

PrintForm User’s Guide

Chapter 1:

Welcome to PrintForm ................................................................................. 9

Introduction to PrintForm...............................................................................10

Systems supported by PrintForm ...................................................................11

Files needed by PrintForm .............................................................................12

Input and output file formats..........................................................................14

Steps in a PrintForm job.................................................................................16

Chapter 2:

PrintForm features...................................................................................... 17

Features in every PrintForm job.....................................................................18

Defining groups..............................................................................................19

Cleaning addresses .........................................................................................20

Presorting .......................................................................................................22

Sorting statements ..........................................................................................23

Controlling printing........................................................................................24

Generating reports..........................................................................................25

Controlling print order ...................................................................................26

Advanced features ..........................................................................................27

Combining statements....................................................................................28

Duplex printing ..............................................................................................29

Selective inserting ..........................................................................................30

Chapter 3:

PCC: The Printer Carriage Control file ................................................... 31

Getting started: The PrintForm window.........................................................32

Sample jobs ....................................................................................................33

Execute after each task...................................................................................34

Select the input file.........................................................................................35

Choosing a PCC file.......................................................................................36

ASCII chart for selecting PCC files ...............................................................38

EBCDIC chart for selecting PCC files...........................................................39

PCC file setup.................................................................................................40

Chapter 4:

The statement file ........................................................................................ 45

Building the statement file .............................................................................46

PrintForm fields in the STM file....................................................................47

Mark statement fields .....................................................................................49

How to mark statement fields.........................................................................50

Marking a unique field ...................................................................................52

Marking a user field .......................................................................................53

Marking a search field....................................................................................54

Marking a customer ID field ..........................................................................56

Adding new fields to the statement file..........................................................57

Marking the output address block ..................................................................58

Contents

Chapter 5:

Assigning and presorting addresses .......................................................... 61

Why assign and standardize addresses?......................................................... 62

Before you work with ACE or Presort Views ............................................... 63

Required in ACE and Presort: Post back to the input file ............................. 64

Strategies for using ACE and Presort Views................................................. 65

How to connect to ACE Views......................................................................67

ACE output files ............................................................................................ 69

ACE Reports .................................................................................................. 70

What is presorting and why do it? .................................................................71

Before you presort: Defining the piece description....................................... 72

How to connect to Presort Views ..................................................................73

Presort output files......................................................................................... 75

Group statement file....................................................................................... 76

Presort reports ................................................................................................ 79

Chapter 6:

Defining groups ........................................................................................... 81

Introduction to groups.................................................................................... 82

Examples of groups .......................................................................................83

Setting criteria with filters ............................................................................. 84

Sorting statements in a group......................................................................... 85

Nonpresorted and unqualified statements...................................................... 87

General group ................................................................................................ 88

How to set up a group....................................................................................89

The Filter Builder...........................................................................................90

Group order counts ........................................................................................ 91

Group example: Confidential statements.......................................................92

Group example: Undeliverable addresses......................................................94

Group example: Large statements ................................................................. 95

Group example: Internal mailing................................................................... 96

Group example: Unqualified pieces ..............................................................97

General group example.................................................................................. 98

Subgroup count reporting .............................................................................. 99

Chapter 7:

Combine Statements, Duplexing, and Fly Sheets................................... 101

Combining statements.................................................................................. 102

How to combine statements......................................................................... 104

Duplexing.....................................................................................................106

How to duplex only......................................................................................107

How to both combine and duplex................................................................108

Embedded instructions for Xerox printers................................................... 109

Fly sheets ..................................................................................................... 112

Chapter 8:

Getting ready to print............................................................................... 113

PrintForm output files.................................................................................. 114

Defining your own header and trailer pages................................................ 116

Printing to a printer device........................................................................... 118

Address block layout ...................................................................................119

Printing Postnet barcodes............................................................................. 121

Printing an endorsement line ....................................................................... 123

PrintForm User’s Guide

Output merge and translation .......................................................................124

Statement printing order: N-up ....................................................................125

Statement printing order: Reverse................................................................126

Container labels............................................................................................127

How to create container labels .....................................................................128

Print container labels with Label Studio ......................................................130

How to reprint statements ............................................................................132

Banner pages ................................................................................................133

Chapter 9:

Adding inserter marks.............................................................................. 135

Introduction to inserter marks ......................................................................136

What do inserter marks look like?................................................................137

Inserter mark styles ......................................................................................138

Where do I set up inserter marks in PrintForm? ..........................................139

Inserter mark placement...............................................................................141

Inserter mark functions.................................................................................142

Marks that improve security.........................................................................144

Marks that help in the mailroom ..................................................................147

Selective inserting ........................................................................................148

How reverse and duplex printing affect marks ............................................150

Chapter 10:

Reports ....................................................................................................... 151

PrintForm reports .........................................................................................152

ACE and Presort reports...............................................................................153

Setting up reports .........................................................................................154

How to set up the report format ...................................................................155

Job Summary report .....................................................................................156

Group report .................................................................................................157

Piece Description report ...............................................................................158

File Detail report ..........................................................................................159

Inserter report ...............................................................................................160

Statement Combining report ........................................................................161

Appendix A:

Picopy utility ...............................................................................................163

Picopy: Convert print-image files to ASCII text..........................................164

Appendix B:

Post-processing ...........................................................................................167

Enabling post-processing .............................................................................168

Selecting files for post-processing ...............................................................169

Setting up post-processing options...............................................................170

Post-processing your PrintForm file ............................................................171

Post-processing and other aspects of PrintForm ..........................................172

Glossary.......................................................................................................173

Index ............................................................................................................177

Contents

PrintForm User’s Guide

Chapter 1: Welcome to PrintForm

This chapter introduces you to PrintForm and its many meatures, as well as, information on supported systems and required files.

Introduction to PrintForm

What is PrintForm? PrintForm is a powerful program that forms a link between accounting or

database systems that generate statements and the printers that print them. PrintForm processes the addresses from your statements and prepares them for mailing before the forms are printed.

In most cases, PrintForm is used to process statements such as invoices. You’ll supply the statements to PrintForm in the form of a print-image file. PrintForm extracts address data and other information from each form. Then ACE uses that data to:

 assign postal codes (ZIP, ZIP+4, delivery point, and carrier route) and LOT

(line-of-travel) numbers to speed delivery and achieve U.S. Postal Service (USPS) automation discounts

PrintForm takes over and can:

 combine statements destined to the same customer

 group statements according to criteria set by you

Next, it’s Presort’s turn to:

 presort mail for automation discounts, while ensuring full compliance with

USPS regulations

 calculate postage and produce detailed mailing reports

Then PrintForm can:

 merge the sorted and standardized addresses back into statements

 duplex statements, if you choose

 apply intelligent-inserter marks, if you choose

 write out a new file in one of several available formats

The statements are then ready to be printed in presort sequence, if you want, fully prepared for inserting and finishing.

Who uses PrintForm? PrintForm is used by companies that mail large volumes of business documents

(for example, invoices, account statements, and form letters). Companies such as hospitals, utilities, financial institutions, and mailing service bureaus are among the companies that process millions of mail pieces each year with PrintForm.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Systems supported by PrintForm

Print-image file generating systems

PrintForm supports print-image files created on the following types of computer systems:

 systems generating ANSI print files (EBCDIC data with ANSI carriage

control)

 systems generating ASCII print files or fixed-length ASCII records

 IBM 3090 and IBM ES/9000 systems generating IBM POWER/VS, IBM

POWER/VSE, and IBM POWER/VSEII print files

 Burroughs B2500, B2700, B3500, B3700, and B4700 systems generating

Medium Burroughs print files

 Burroughs B6700 and Unisys A-Series computers generating Large

Burroughs tape format

 other common system print files

Printers PrintForm can interpret and produce Printer Carriage Control (PCC) codes used

by the following printer manufacturers:

 Bull  Data General  Delphax  Digital Equipment (DEC)  Eastman Kodak  Genicom  Hewlett-Packard  IBM  Océ (Siemens)  Xerox

PrintForm also supports most PC-level printers for printing reports and container labels.

Intelligent inserters PrintForm is compatible with any intelligent inserting equipment that can read

one of the eight different inserter marks that PrintForm can generate (see Chapter

9), including inserters manufactured by these and many others:

 Bell & Howell  Pitney Bowes  Böwe

Memory requirements For details on the amount of disk space and memory that PrintForm requires, see

the System Administrator's Guide.

Systems supported by PrintForm

Files needed by PrintForm

To perform its many tasks, PrintForm needs several files, one supplied by you and the rest supplied by Business Objects, but chosen by you, or generated during PrintForm setup:

 print-image file (.dat)  printer carriage control file (.pcc)  printer driver file (.pfp)  PrintForm job file (.pf)  map file (.map)  inserter file (.ins)  design file (.dft or .dfs)

Important! Before selecting any file supplied by Business Objects, be sure to

rename it before using it in PrintForm. Make a copy and give it a new file name. When we ship software updates, we always ship new copies of these files. If you don’t change the file name, your customized file will be overwritten the next time you install PrintForm.

Print-image file It’s up to you to supply PrintForm with a print-image file that contains the data

for your statement-printing job. This is the file that is generated by your accounting or database program, and that contains the address data that PrintForm needs to do its work.

A print-image file contains not only the text for your statements, but also may contain printer-control commands that are embedded in the file. These commands instruct your printer to perform such tasks as changing a font or moving to another area of the form before printing more text.

PrintForm accepts one print-image file per job. If you have multiple print-image files, you must process them separately or concatenate them into one file before processing with PrintForm. These files should be of the same format. You must delete file header information in all but the first file.

For a listing of the types of print-image files that PrintForm accepts, see “Input and output file formats” on page 14.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Printer Carriage Control file

The Printer Carriage Control (PCC) file is supplied by Business Objects. There are several PCC files from which to choose and you must tell PrintForm which one to use when it processes your print-image file. Your choice depends on the format of the print-image file.

The PCC file contains information that tells PrintForm what carriage control information it can expect to find embedded in your print-image file, as well as information about the host system on which the print-image file was created.

When you create your output files, PrintForm will again ask you to choose a PCC; this time, the PCC should reflect which format PrintForm should use when generating the output file. That format, and therefore the output PCC, can be the same or different from the one you used on input.

For example, if my input file format is ANSI, I would select the ansi.pcc file on input. If I want my output file also to be formatted in ANSI, I would again choose ansi.pcc on output.

Printer driver file To produce Postnet barcodes, the software also relies on a printer driver file

(.pfp). The .pfp files contain options that control printer initialization and font switching. Business Objects supplies several printer driver files from which to choose. For details on Postnet printing, please refer to Chapter 8.

PrintForm job file All of the settings that you make in the PrintForm windows are stored in the

PrintForm job file. You can use a job file again and again, if needed; for example, if you process the same mailing in the same way every month.

Map file The map file stores field size and position information for PrintForm’s extraction

process.

Inserter file Business Objects supplies you with an inserter file for each of the different types

of inserter marks that PrintForm supports. You’ll need to choose the inserter file that corresponds to the type of inserter marks you plan to print. We’ll show you how in Chapter 9.

Design file With your PrintForm software, you’ll receive a number of pre-set label Design

Files to help you print container labels. Those files give PrintForm information such as printer type and paper dimensions. In Chapter 8, we’ll help you choose the right Design File for your printer and paper stock.

Files needed by PrintForm

Input and output file formats

PrintForm accepts your print-image file in any of the following formats:

 ANSI  ASCII PCC  ASCII Top  ASCII Bottom  ASCII Fixed  Large Burroughs  Medium Burroughs  Power VSE  RMS Var  RMS VFC  slight variations on the formats listed above

PrintForm takes your print-image file, regardless of format, and translates it into a format that is unique to PrintForm. We call this the internal format. PrintForm’s internal format is variable-length ASCII. Processing your records is easier for PrintForm if the data is in this format; PrintForm does the translating automatically.

After all processing is complete, PrintForm translates your data back into the original format or into one of the formats of your choice from the list shown above.

Picopy: Translating AS/400 & System 36

EBCDIC: If your print-image file uses EBCDIC characters, note the

following. When you set up your PCC file to help PrintForm translate your print-image file, you must enter the decimal equivalent of the EBCDIC character whenever you are asked to enter font and color characters, movement values and DJDEs.

However, when you set up your PrintForm job and you select the fonts for such features as inserter marks, endorsements, and Postnet barcodes, you must define the fonts using ASCII characters. PrintForm will translate those ASCII characters to EBCDIC on output as necessary.

If your print-image file is in either of the formats listed below, you can use a PrintForm utility called Picopy (print-image copy) to translate your file into ASCII before processing with PrintForm.

 AS/400 Print Control  IBM System 36

See complete instructions for using the Picopy utility in Appendix A of this manual.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Extraction After PrintForm translates your print-image file into the internal format, it

extracts information from each record and builds a database called the statement file (STM). Each record in the STM file represents a statement from the printimage file. This is the file that PrintForm uses to process your data.

PrintForm gives you control over which fields to include in the STM file. See Chapter 4 for more details.

Input and output file formats

Steps in a PrintForm job

A typical PrintForm job will involve each of the steps shown below. Your jobs may vary, depending on the features you choose to use.

Step PrintForm Program

Job control

image file.

Define statement fields

processing. PrintForm stores this data in a file called a Statement file (STM).

Input Processing

the PCC file, PrintForm determines what format you’ve used to structure the data. PrintForm translates the data from that format into PrintForm’s own internal format to help simplify processing.

Mark statement fields

record.

Address assignment.

Views, can assign the correct ZIP Code, ZIP+4 Code, delivery-point barcode (DPBC), line-oftravel (LOT) code and order, and carrier route number (CART). ACE also generates USPS and mail-management reports.

Combine statements.

same customer for placement into the same envelope.

Piece description.

mail-piece weights. Any selective inserts are also assigned to the appropriate statements during this step.

Grouping and sortation.

Business Objects’ presorting software, Presort Views, sorts addresses according to USPS mail class. Then it adds other postal information, such as a P ments. Presort also generates USPS and mail-management reports.

. First, choose which general process you want PrintForm to perform on your print-

. Define fields that will be needed for PrintForm, ACE, Presort, and label

. Tell PrintForm where to find your print-image file. Through information in

. Show PrintForm where to find the input address data in each input

To each address, Business Objects’ address-assignment software, ACE

If you want, PrintForm will combine statements that are destined to the

Using measurements and weights supplied by you, PrintForm calculates

Each address is assigned to a group according to your instructions.

OSTNET

barcode and optional endorse-

PrintForm

ACE

PrintForm

PrintForm /Presort

Container labels.

sack tags for printing.

Output merge.

addresses back into the proper forms and outputs them in sorted sequence. This step also includes duplexing pages, and adding printer instructions and inserter marks.

Address layout.

block.

Create reports.

PrintForm User’s Guide

From the container label file generated by Presort, PrintForm prepares tray or

Define the output files and assign groups to them. PrintForm merges the

Determine the content and position of the address fields in the output address

PrintForm generates reports for mail management. PrintForm

Label Studio

PrintForm

Chapter 2: PrintForm features

This chapter describes PrintForm features in general terms, offering an overview of the kinds of tasks you can accomplish with PrintForm.

Features in every PrintForm job

In every PrintForm job, there is a set of features that you will likely use regardless of the type of job. Those features are listed below. The only step that is required involves defining groups—a task that you must perform in every job. The rest are optional, but applicable to almost any job.

 define groups—required  assign postal codes and clean addresses  presort to gain USPS discounts for postal automation  sort nonpresorted statements  control printing  generate reports  control print order

See a brief discussion of each of these features on the following pages and more detailed information later in this manual.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Defining groups

In most jobs, you will want to presort statements to prepare them for mailing. But we know that every job is different and some are not as simple as presorting every statement in the job together.

That’s why PrintForm lets you control which statements are processed together and which method is used to sort them. It does that by letting you define groups of statements in a single job. You determine the criteria that a statement must meet to be placed into a group and you determine how, or even if, the statements are sorted within a group.

Here are some examples of reasons why you might form groups:

 You want to divide your job and presort certain statements together. For

example, if you do not own intelligent inserting equipment, you might want to presort one-page statements, then two-page statements, and so on.

 You want to presort some statements one way and other statements another

(letters and flats, for example).

 You have some statements that you do not want to presort at all (confidential

or undeliverable statements, for example).

Two steps Grouping statements is a two-step process. First, you decide how to group

statements—by department, by ZIP, by account balance, or whatever field you choose. Then you choose how to sort the statements within each group⎯by Presort, by field, or no sorting at all.

You can create up to 50 different groups, although most jobs require much fewer.

For more information on defining groups, see Chapter 6.

Defining groups

Cleaning addresses

Business Objects’ address-assignment software is called ACE, an abbreviation for Address Correction and Encoding. If you purchase ACE, you can access the full-featured ACE software directly from your PrintForm software.

You can access ACE Views directly through windows in the PrintForm program. ACE will offer you many options for cleaning and coding your address data.

So, in the midst of processing your file with PrintForm, you can hand off the STM file to ACE Views to take advantage of the full power of that cleaning and coding software. Afterward, ACE will hand the STM file back to PrintForm with a complete, corrected, and standardized version of that address data. And at the same time, ACE can give you codes for postal automation and other purposes.

Below we describe just a few of the functions offered by ACE. For complete information on ACE and instructions on how to use it, please refer to the ACE User’s Guide.

Address correction and data hygiene

Postal automation codes

For each address in your print-image file, ACE can perform many functions. First, ACE verifies that each city, state, and ZIP Code agree with one another. If an address contains only a city and state, ACE usually can add the ZIP. If you have only the ZIP, ACE usually can add the city and state. ACE can standardize the address line, too. For example, it can correct a misspelled street name, fill in missing information, and strip out unnecessary punctuation marks.

ACE can convert your address data to UPPER CASE or Mixed Case. If your address list contains any undeliverable addresses (vacant lots, condemned buildings, and so on), ACE will identify these for you. And ACE can assign its own diagnostic codes to help you find out why certain addresses were not assigned or how they had to be corrected.

You can use ACE to assign these postal codes:

 ZIP, ZIP+4, delivery point barcode (DPBC), and check-digit for Postnet

barcoding.

 Carrier-route number (CART) for carrier-route presorting.

 Line-of-travel (LOT) codes for Standard Mail (A), Enhanced Carrier Route

Subclass.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Directories ACE assigns postal codes using directories based on data from the USPS. The

directories contain address range, street, city, state, ZIP Code, ZIP+4, LOT, and CART numbers for firms and residential addresses throughout the nation.

To keep your mailing lists current and to ensure compliance with USPS regulations, Business Objects publishes monthly and bimonthly updates of these directories on a variety of media, including tapes and compact discs (CD-ROM). For details, please refer to the System Administrator’s Guide.

Cleaning addresses

Presorting

Presorting is the task of sorting mail and preparing it in containers so that it can be transported through the postal system. It’s called “pre-”sorting because you sort the mail before you submit it to the USPS instead of paying them to sort it.

To sort your addresses, PrintForm can turn to Business Objects’ Presort program. If you’ve purchased Presort, you’ll access it directly through the PrintForm screens. Think of Presort as a system that turns your print-image address data into prepared mailings with container labels, reports, and USPS forms.

So, while processing your file with PrintForm, you can hand off the STM file to Presort Views to take advantage of the full power of that presorting software.

Based on information about your mailing that you provide—piece and container dimensions, for example—Presort figures out how many pieces will fit into each package and container. When this is done, Presort can:

 calculate postage

 generate a container label file

 generate reports for your management and clients

 generate USPS forms, including all documentation required for mailing

acceptance; this includes mailing statements, postage listings, and so on

When Presort is done with all of these tasks, it hands the STM file back to PrintForm for further processing.

USPS compliance Presort implements many USPS rules automatically. And when it’s not fully

automatic, Presort still helps you comply with USPS rules by guiding you through the choices you need to make.

Because Presort processes according to USPS regulations, your mailing is eligible for all available postage discounts. Whenever rates or regulations change, Business Objects updates the Presort program to keep you current. With Presort, mail is always compatible with USPS automation regulations so that it can be processed quickly and delivered promptly. See the Presort User’s Guide for more details on presorting and mail regulations.

USPS rules are published in the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), Postal Bulletin, and other USPS publications. If you want to become an expert presort mailer, you’ll find subscriptions to those publications worthwhile.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Sorting statements

Even if you choose to presort statements, there may be some statements that you will want to keep out of the mailstream. You can set up separate groups for these statements and filter them from the presorted statements.

Within these groups, you also can sort statements to best suit your needs, based on your choice of criteria. Not only can you sort on PrintForm fields, such as a ZIP Code, city, and state, you can define your own fields for sorting as well, such as account number or account balance.

You can sort on any portion of a field or an entire field. You can also sort more than once on different portions of the same field. For example, in an account number where the first three digits indicate the type of account, you can sort on the account type first, then sort by the entire account number.

PrintForm lets you choose up to 20 sort keys for sorting statements.

For more information on sorting statements, see Chapter 6.

Sorting statements

Controlling printing

For greater control over your printer functions, PrintForm lets you add special printer instructions to specific impressions in each statement.

For example, suppose you’re printing a multiple-page simplex letter (print on one side of each sheet) in which the first page should be printed on letterhead. You might instruct your printer to pull letterhead from bin #1 to print the first impression, and to pull plain bond paper from printer bin #2 for the remaining pages in the letter.

Or suppose you’re using PrintForm’s duplex feature to print bank statements. On the back of the first sheet, you want to print a reconciliation form. You could use printer instructions to signal your printer to print a form on the back of the first page in each statement (from a printer-resident form file).

For more information on printer instructions, see the Chapter 8.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Generating reports

PrintForm, ACE, and Presort each produce a variety of reports to help you manage your statement processing and to submit your mailing to the USPS. We’ve listed all of the reports that are available from each program below. For descriptions and examples of the PrintForm reports, see Chapter 10. For information on the ACE and Presort reports, see the respective user guides.

PrintForm reports  Job Summary (.psm)

 Group Report (.pgp)  Piece Description Report (.pds)  File Detail Report (.pfd)  Inserter Report (.pin)  Statement Combining Report (.pcm)

ACE reports Reports that show address assignment results are generated directly by the ACE

program. You may choose from any of the many reports available through ACE, including:

 Address Accuracy Statement (.aas)  CASS Report (.353)  Error Report (.err)  Executive Summary (.aex)  Job Summary (.ajs)  NDI Report (.ndi)  Standardization Report (.std)  Geocensus (.geo)  Mover ID (.mia)

Presort reports Reports that show mail-sorting results are generated directly by the Presort

program. You may choose from any of the many reports available through Presort, including:

 Job Summary (.pjs)  Mail Sort Listing (.msl)  Manifest Listing (.man)  Pallet Mixed-Zone Listing (.mzl)  Postage Statements for all mail classes (3600, 3541, 3602, 3605, and 3608)

(.360/.354/.362/.365/.368)

 Processing Center Listing (pcl)  PVDS Consolidated Postage Statement Register (.pvd)  Qualification Report (.pqr)  Register of Mailings for Centralized Postage Payment (.cpp)  Summary Listing (.sum)  ZIP Code Listing (.zcl)

Generating reports

Controlling print order

Because methods of printing, cutting, stacking, and feeding sheets to folders and inserters vary from vendor to vendor, PrintForm provides two valuable features to help you control statement printing order.

With PrintForm, you can:

N-up Reorder statements if you print more than one page on a sheet, then

Reverse Reverse the output so that statements are printed last page first and

For more information on print order, see Chapter 8.

cut and stack. The n-up feature enables you to print statements side by side—for example, two-up or three-up.

first page last. The Reverse feature changes the output order of pages within statements. This feature is useful to customers who own certain types of inserters.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Advanced features

In addition to the features that you’ll probably use in every PrintForm job, there are advanced features for those sophisticated printing and inserting equipment.

PrintForm’s advanced features include:

 statement combining  duplex printing  selective inserting

Each of these features is introduced on the following pages and described in detail later in this manual.

Advanced features

Combining statements

PrintForm’s statement-combining feature lets you consolidate multiple statements that are destined to the same customer.

For example, a company might generate a separate invoice for each transaction with a customer, but they want to save envelope and postage costs by mailing the invoices in one envelope.

Or a customer might have several different accounts with the same company; for example, a customer has several investment accounts with the same investment broker. The brokerage firm can consolidate the account statements and mail them in one envelope.

Statement combining presents a more polished image to the customer. You’ll reduce paper, envelope, and postage costs and save your customers the confusion of receiving multiple mail pieces.

PrintForm’s ability to reorder the processes allows you to perform address correction after combining statements. If you choose to perform processing in this order, you need to set up an input filter in ACE. Here is an example of a filter you can use to produce accurate counts on you ACE reports:

db.combflag = "Y"

Combine and duplex Since the whole idea behind combining statements is to save money, you

probably will want to also duplex the job to save paper (see the next page for more information on duplexing).

For details on combining statements and duplexing, see Chapter 7.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Duplex printing

To help you save paper and postage, you can set up your job to print on both sides of a sheet of paper; this is called duplexing.

PrintForm ensures efficient, accurate duplexing of your statements and lets you choose from two modes, depending on your document-processing requirements.

Standard mode In the standard mode, PrintForm duplexes statements from sheet to sheet, front to

back, regardless of the number of pages in the input file. To ensure that PrintForm does not print data from two different statements on one sheet, it can insert a blank impression where needed so that all statements are output with an even number of impressions. You wouldn't want to print page 5 from one customer’s statement and page 1 from another customer’s statement on the same sheet of paper.

Reconciliation mode Reconciliation mode is handy for banks, investment firms, and other financial

institutions that send monthly account statements to their customers. These firms often provide a reconciliation form on the back of the first page of each statement⎯a form to help you balance your account. These forms are often preprinted and you wouldn’t want PrintForm to print account information there.

In reconciliation mode, PrintForm duplexes all sheets, but leaves a blank impression on the back of the first sheet for your reconciliation form. If you don’t have preprinted forms, you can print a reconciliation form at the same time that you print your statements, using printer instructions to signal your printer to generate the form from a printer-resident form file.

Combining and duplexing

While duplexing is an excellent way to cut paper costs, you’ll find even further reductions on paper usage when you duplex statements and then use PrintForm’s statement-combining feature to combine multiple statements that are destined for the same person.

For more information on duplexing, see Chapter 7.

Duplex printing

Selective inserting

To help you totally automate your laser-printed mailings, PrintForm supports selective inserting for up to 12 inserts. You can choose several styles of inserter marks to place on individual pages. The mark signals your inserter equipment, conveying which inserts belong with each statement.

In PrintForm, you’ll use a database-type filter expression to define the criteria for placing each insert into an envelope.

For custom needs, you can use PrintForm to instruct your intelligent inserter to insert different types of materials, depending on the attributes of the statement. For example, you could instruct your equipment to insert one brochure for statements in a certain ZIP Code, a different brochure for past-due accounts, and still another for those with account balances over an amount you specify.

PrintForm is compatible with many different intelligent inserting machines and can generate eight different styles of inserter marks. In addition, PrintForm lets you place inserter marks at various locations on the document to meet the exact requirements of your particular inserter.

For more information on selective inserting, see Chapter 9.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Chapter 3: PCC: The Printer Carriage Control file

The Printer Carriage Control (PCC) file is critical to the successful processing of your print-image file. It contains information that tells PrintForm what carriage control information is embedded in the print-image file.

Business Objects supplies several PCC files from which to choose. This chapter provides details on choosing and customizing the PCC file.

Getting started: The PrintForm window

PrintForm’s main window is the PrintForm window. It is the first window that you’ll see whenever you start the program.

All buttons are grey, initially

All of the buttons on this screen will be de-activated (that is, they will be greyed out and you will be unable to use them) when you first open PrintForm. That’s because PrintForm is waiting for you to load an existing job or create a new one.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Sample jobs

PrintForm comes equipped with several sample jobs that you can use to:

 practice setting up and running PrintForm.

 use as the basis for your own job⎯a starting point, if you will.

We strongly urge you to rename the sample file before using it as the basis for

your job. Make a copy and give it a new file name. When we ship software updates, we always ship new copies of the sample jobs. If you don’t change the file name, your customized file will be overwritten the next time you install PrintForm.

All sample PrintForm jobs are set up with a default set of fields needed for posting through ACE and Presort.

If you want to do this kind of PrintForm processing…

Add inserter marks and form groups.

Complete all PrintForm processes except

Choose this .pf file as a starting point:

sample1.pf

sample2.pf

statement combining, and perform address assignment using the

Complete all PrintForm processes, including

sample2.ace

file.

sample3.pf

statement combining; also perform address assignment using the presort using the

sample3.ace

sample3.pst

file and

file, and print

container labels.

Create a new job If you want to build a PrintForm job from scratch (this will require more work),

create a new job without using a sample job as a starting point. To do this, choose File > New.

Sample jobs

Execute after each task

Notice that many of the tasks in the PrintForm window are accompanied by their own Execute button. As you set up your job (defining groups, setting up reports, and so on), you must check your work after each task by signaling PrintForm to execute that task. And you must execute tasks in the descending order shown in the PrintForm window. If PrintForm cannot execute that task because of the way that you set up the job, it will issue warning messages. In this way, you can ensure that the way you set up the job is correct and that the job will run.

When you finish setting up the PrintForm job, and you click the Process button, PrintForm returns to the beginning of the job and processes the job in its entirety.

But executing each process one at a time as you set up your job could be timeconsuming, particularly if your print-image file is very large. So PrintForm gives you the option of using just a few of the input records when it checks your setup. At the Input Processing window (see next page), choose to translate the first, say, 100 pages.

Remember to re-execute if you go back and change any part of your PrintForm setup. We suggest that you return to the Input Processing step and re- execute each step through the job.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Select the input file

Of course, you’ll need to tell PrintForm where to find your print-image input file so that it can get busy extracting and translating the data.

To do that, click the Input Processing button in the PrintForm window. At the Input Processing window, choose your input file.

Map file Next, you’ll be asked to tell PrintForm where it can find the map (.map) file for

this job. The map file is a field mapping file, which stores field size and position information for PrintForm’s extraction process.

Unless you’ve set up a PrintForm job before, you will need to create a new file for this purpose. Click the new file icon and type a name for a new map file. PrintForm will create the file with the base name you supply here and give it a .map extension. Your work on the map file is complete; PrintForm does the rest.

Select the input file

Choosing a PCC file

Before you edit a .pcc file

A Printer Carriage Control (PCC) file tells PrintForm what carriage control information it can expect to find embedded in the input print-image file. This file contains the codes for actions such as skipping to new page or spacing two lines and printing. PrintForm must have this information to correctly extract and merge the address data.

Business Objects supplies PCC files for many common formats from which you can choose. They're located in the PF directory and can be recognized by their PCC file name extension.

The PCC files that Business Objects provides are ready for use. You might need to customize one of these files if you process a print-image file that doesn’t quite fit any of the “off the shelf” PCC files. That’s easy to do. Choose a PCC file that most closely correlates with your print-image file; copy and rename it. Then, at the Edit PCC window in PrintForm, you can change settings and supply new information to customize the file.

Important: We strongly urge you to rename this file before changing any of

its settings at the Edit PCC File window. Make a copy and give it a new file name. When we ship software updates, we always ship new copies of the PCC files. If you don’t change the file name, your customized file will be overwritten the next time you install PrintForm

How to choose a .pcc file

Choose a PCC file from the table shown on the next page or by using the chart on page ASCII chart for selecting PCC files. Your choice depends on the manufacturer or protocol of your laser-printing system.

Printer Carriage Control Files

.pcc file name Description Carriage control character

examples

ansi.pcc

asciifix.pcc

asciipcc.pcc

asciibot.pcc asciitop.pcc

powervs.pcc

largebur.pcc

Standard ANSI carriage control for fixed-length EBCDIC print records

Standard ANSI characters to process fixed-length ASCII records

Variable-length ASCII records with ANSI carriage control A, P, and T

Standard ASCII files with carriage return, line feed, form feed, and tab. For tom of the page; for

POWER/VS, POWER/VSE, POWER/VSEI, and POWER/ VSEII files with variable-length EBCDIC records

Large Burroughs (or Unisys Series A) mainframe-generated print files

asciibot.pcc

asciitop.pcc

, the form feed is at the bot-

, it is at the top.

1, +, space, Ø, and -

Carriage control in position 1

No fixed PCC position

Record length in positions 1 and 2; carriage control in byte 3

First six bytes contain Input Output Control Word (IOCW)

PrintForm User’s Guide

.pcc file name Description Carriage control character

examples

rmsvfc.pcc

rmsvar.pcc

medbur.pcc

RMS file format for VAX and VMS Alpha (AXP) systems Carriage control in positions 3 and 4

RMS file format for VAX and VMS Alpha (AXP) systems No fixed PCC position

Medium Burroughs mainframe-generated files First four bytes contain carriage control

information

Choosing a PCC file

ASCII chart for selecting PCC files

Start

Print Records are fixed or variable length

Fixed Variable

Are PCC codes present?

No Yes, First byte Yes, first byte No Yes, RMS

Nonstandard; number of lines per page probably is fixed

asciifix.pcc

asciipcc.pcc

Where are the form feeds?

Top Bottom

asciitop.pcc asciibot.pcc

First two bytes are record length (0x87 0x00). Byte 2 and 3 are PCC bytes (0x01 0x8d). Odd length records are terminated by 00.

Are PCC codes present?

How do the records start?

First two bytes are record length (0x8 0x00). Odd-length records are terminated by 00.

rmsvfc.pcc rmsvar.pcc

PrintForm User’s Guide

EBCDIC chart for selecting PCC files

Start

Print records are fixed or variable length.

Fixed Variable

Where are the PCC files?

First byte

ansi.pcc

First four bytes; record length = 136 bytes

medbur.pcc

Data blocked at 1,800 bytes.

Byte 0 = Hex (0E or 06)

Byte 1 = Skip count

Byte 2 = Space count

Byte 3 = Residue count

Bytes 4 and 5 = Record length

How are the records formatted

Data blocked at 2,016 bytes.

Bytes 0 and 1 = Record length

Byte 2 = General-purpose byte

Byte 3 = IBM 1403 carriage control

largebur.pcc powervs.pcc

EBCDIC chart for selecting PCC files

PCC file setup

The Printer Carriage Control file, or PCC file, contains information that tells PrintForm what carriage control and file format information it can expect to find embedded in the print-image file.

Once you’ve chosen a PCC file, you will need to customize it by telling PrintForm some specific characteristics of your print-image file. You’ll do that at the Edit PCC File window.

It is very important to set the options in this window correctly to ensure that PrintForm interprets the carriage controls in your print-image file without error. So, over the next few pages, we’re going to take a step-by-step look at all of the elements of this window.

Record Length When you first open this window, PrintForm will always display the default

record length for your file’s format. You can accept the default or change it if you know that your record length is shorter or longer. If your record length is shorter, you could save some memory by changing the value in this box from the default.

If you are processing fixed-length records, the record length you note here must be exact.

Truncate Non-White Space

PrintForm User’s Guide

If the output record length cannot accommodate all of the text in a record, PrintForm will stop processing and issue a warning. If you know that you have extra text at the end of some records and that the text is unimportant, you can

select this option. PrintForm will truncate the text to fit the record length and will not issue a warning.

Font Controls in File Color Controls in File

At these two options, indicate whether there are index bytes in the file that control the font and the color. For example, a font index byte will signal which font to print.

Byte Offset

Indicate the position in which PrintForm can find the font or color byte by entering the offset value. Remember that the first byte of a line is considered offset zero.

Default Value If there are no fonts in the print-image input file, but you intend to add fonts on

output, indicate which font you want PrintForm to use in the output file when no font is defined. The same idea applies to the color default value.

Interpret as Character This option applies to EBCDIC print-image input files.

When PrintForm translates your print-image file, it will convert EBCDIC characters to ASCII if you select this option.

If your input-file uses a non-standard EBCDIC character set, do not select this option. PrintForm will retain the current character value during translation.

Pad Blanks to Offset

If your output includes variable-length records and you put the font value at the end of the record (not recommended), select this option if you want PrintForm to pad with spaces when needed to ensure that the font value is indeed placed at the end of the record.

Block Size Fill Character

These two options apply to systems for which records are written to disk as blocks. Two such systems are Large Burroughs and Power VS. Indicate the block size and the character that you want PrintForm to use when, if needed, it pads the block.

Page Length This option applies to files that don’t have a top-of-form character, but do have a

fixed number of lines per page (usually ASCII formats). Indicate the page length in lines so that PrintForm knows when it has reached the top of a new sheet. If there is no top-of-form character, each page must be the same length.

If your file has a top-of-form character, set this to zero.

Movement Many file formats include a byte that contains a movement value. That value

indicates how the printer should space down the page.

For some file formats, that movement is consistent down the entire page; for example, the printer always spaces one line at a time. For those formats, use the Movement Length and Movement Offset options, and then click the New Movement button.

PCC file setup

For file formats in which the movement can vary as the printer progresses down a page (spacing two lines, then spacing one line, and so on), click the New Movement button.

At the Movement Control window, you will define which characters represent each movement; in the example shown below, the control character 32 indicates that the printer should space 1 line.

When you define a character in the Movement Control window and click OK, you will see the movement listed in the Edit PCC File window. Once you have defined all of the movement characters for this file, you can click the Default Movement button to choose which character to use as the default whenever PrintForm is unable to find a movement character that you defined.

Delimiters Many file formats include a byte that contains a delimiter value that indicates the

end of a line or the end of a variable-length record. Use the New Delimiter button to set delimiter values.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Headers, alignment, and trailers

In the Edit PCC File window, you’ll see an Advanced button. This is where you can tell PrintForm whether or not your print-image file contains headers, trailers, or an alignment page.

Directions for each of the tabs are simple; we’ll use the header tab as an example.

Indicate whether or not the file contains a header and then choose whether PrintForm should translate the header or not (this option is not available for alignment pages, which are used by line printers to align the forms). If you choose not to translate the header, provide the size of the header in bytes. If you do choose to translate the header, indicate the header size in pages.

You may also choose whether or not to strip the header from the file. You might strip it if you know that you don’t need the file header on output; for example, if it serves only as a beginning banner page.

PCC file setup

DJDEs for Xerox printers

The last tab at this Advanced Properties window, the tab titled Other, applies only to those of you who print using a Xerox printer.

Here, you can make global settings that are common to all Dynamic Job Description Entry (DJDE) commands that are embedded in your input printimage file, as well as those that you embed in your output files.

First, indicate whether or not there are DJDEs in the print-image file on input. Then type the character string (separated by commas) in decimal values to represent the characters in the DJDE prefix.

Note: If you want the DJDE prefix to be different in your output files than they were on input, simply set up a different PCC file for you output file, being sure to rename it so that it differs from the input PCC file. You’ll be asked to do this at the Output Merge step in PrintForm setup.

At the Offset option, tell PrintForm where the prefix starts.

At the Skip option, tell PrintForm the number of bytes from the offset to the end of the prefix.

Non-DJDE printer instructions

PrintForm User’s Guide

If you choose to strip DJDEs from the file on input, PrintForm will use these two values to find the prefix and remove them. If you select the Strip From File option, PrintForm will strip DJDEs on input, but will not remove any DJDEs that you add to statements during PrintForm setup.

Although the printer-instruction feature in PrintForm is designed specifically for DJDEs, you could write non-DJDE printer instructions, if you want. To do so, indicate that DJDEs are not present on input and set up no prefix here. You can still write printer instructions for output-file printing. PrintForm will not add a prefix.

Chapter 4: The statement file

The statement file contains data extracted and translated from your print-image file. You determine which input fields are included in the file. This is the file that is passed among PrintForm, ACE Views, and Presort Views for processing.

Building the statement file

PrintForm will take the data in your print-image file and translate it into a format that is unique to PrintForm. We call this the internal format. PrintForm’s internal format is variable-length ASCII. Processing your records is easier for PrintForm if the data is in this format; PrintForm does this translation automatically.

Rest assured! After all processing is complete, PrintForm will translate your data back into the original format or into your choice of available formats.

Fields in the STM file After PrintForm translates your print-image file into the internal format, it

extracts information from each record and builds a database called the statement file (STM). Each record in the STM file represents a statement from the printimage file.

The data in the STM file is made up of fields from three different sources:

 All PrintForm fields (see “PrintForm fields in the STM file” on page 47).

 Your choice of existing fields from the print-image file, particularly address

fields. You choose these fields by marking them for PrintForm at the Mark Fields window (see “Mark statement fields” on page 49).

 Any new fields that you define at the Statement Definition window (see

“Adding new fields to the statement file” on page 57). These fields can be used to place new data that is generated by ACE and Presort. For example, you might create a field for an optional endorsement that will be generated by Presort.

We will help you build your statement file using the instructions shown on the following pages.

PrintForm User’s Guide

PrintForm fields in the STM file

Your STM file will always include all of the PrintForm fields. You do not need to define them at the Statement Definition window.

PrintForm fields are added automatically to the STM file to serve as a place to store information that you provide during job setup and data generated by ACE, Presort, and PrintForm during processing.

For example, during job setup, you will tell PrintForm the weight of the mail pieces. PrintForm will store the piece weight in the Ouncewt field.

You can use many of these fields later for writing filters; for example, when you define a group or when you determine which statements receive inserts.

The table below lists and describes all PrintForm fields.

B = Binary, N = Numeric,C = Character

PrintForm field Length Type Description

BlankAdrLn 2 N Number of lines that are blank in each address

CtnBreak 1 C The container break, if posted from Presort

CustID 15 C The customer field that was marked in Mark Fields

ExactWt 12 C The exact weight of the mail piece

OunceWt 6 C The weight of the mail piece in whole ounces

PageCount 8 N The number of pages (sides of paper) printed for this statement

PkgBreak 1 C The package break, if posted from Presort

SelectFlag 12 C A binary representation of what selective inserts are used

SheetCount 8 N The number of single sheets of paper in this statement

SortSeqNo 9 N The sequence number of the sort, posted from Presort

StaticFlag 6 C A binary representation of what static inserts are used

Thickness 12 C The thickness of the mail piece in inches

UsrBreak 1 C A generic break field, if posted to

UserGrpName 20 C The name of the group, defined at the Group Setup window.

BlankPages 4 B These PrintForm fields are used internally.

These are, for the most part, binary fields and we recommend that you do not use them when writing filters.

Also, do not post any data from ACE or Presort Views into the binary fields; if you do, PrintForm might not process your job correctly.

CombFlag 1 C

CombNextRec 9 N

CompID 12 C

FileLocatn 8 B

FlySheets 1 N

PrintForm fields in the STM file

PrintForm field Length Type Description

PagesIn 4 B

PagesOut 4 B

ReconPages 4 B

SelectID 4 B

SheetsIn 4 B

SheetsOut 4 B

StaticID 4 B

RecNumber 4 B

PrintForm User’s Guide

Mark statement fields

Your first task in building the STM file is to tell PrintForm which fields from the print-image input file to include in the STM file. That is, you need to build an STM file that contains all of the input data that you want PrintForm to process; data such as the:

Input address Address data that you want standardized and corrected. In the STM

User fields Data that you want available when you write filters to define

Customer field Data that you want to define as a Customer ID.

To define these fields for PrintForm, you need to show PrintForm where to find those fields in each statement. You will do that at the Mark Fields window.

1. At the PrintForm window, click the Mark Statement Fields button. The Mark Fields window will appear.

2. To mark fields, you will simply draw a rectangle around the data. You’ll find step-by-step instructions for marking on the next page.

file, lines of address data will be stored as inaddr1, inaddr2, and so on.

statement groups (see Chapter 6) and add inserts (Chapter 9).

3. At this window, you can also show PrintForm where to place the output address, if you want it placed in a location that is different from the input address. We’ll talk about that on page Marking the output address block.

Mark statement fields

How to mark statement fields

Follow these step-by-step instructions when marking fields. Remember that you must Execute at the Input Processing step before you can mark fields.

1. From the PrintForm window, click the Mark Statement Fields button.

2. At the Mark Fields window, the first page in your print-image file will be displayed. If the file begins with “dummy” forms (usually used to check print quality and alignment), skip past these until you reach the first mailable statement (to avoid viewing these header or alignment pages at all, you can strip them from the input file at the PCC Setup window). Use your Page Down key to move through the file.

PrintForm User’s Guide

3. From the toolbar at the top of the window, click the icon that represents the type of field that you want to mark.

When you mark the address data, you will mark the entire address area, not field by field. For all other statement data, you will mark individual fields.

Input Address Block

Output Address Block

Unique Field

User Field

Search Field

Search Area

Customer Field

Grid

4. Right click at the upper-left corner of the area that you want to mark and drag the cursor to form a rectangle around the area and release. The rectangle will be shown in a color that differs from the background color.

5. The properties for your marked field will pop up automatically. You can use

the options at the properties window to refine the boundaries of the area that you marked, if you want.

6. That’s it! If you made a mistake and want to delete the rectangle and start

again, right click on the rectangle and select Delete.

Tips for marking each type of field are discussed below and on the following pages.

Tips for marking the input address block

When you mark the input address block, be sure to mark a large enough area so that you include all of the address data in all records. Since some records could have larger address blocks than others, page through the file in the Mark Fields window (by pressing the Page Down key) to ensure that the block that you mark is large enough to surround the address data in all statements.

If you draw the rectangle too small, PrintForm may extract incomplete addresses. When this happens, you'll notice on the ACE Job Summary that only a small percentage of addresses were assigned. If you draw the rectangle too large, PrintForm may extract some nonaddress data.

How to mark statement fields

Marking a unique field

For jobs in which statements vary in length (a two-page statement, followed by a three-page statement, and so on), you must mark data that appears only on the first page of each statement or whose value is different for each customer. This is called a unique field and PrintForm uses it to determine when it has reached the first page of each statement.

Find unique data Your task is to locate some word, phrase, or mark that PrintForm can use to

identify the first page in each statement. You can either find something that:

 appears only on the first page of each statement

 or a field whose value changes for each customer

Appears only on first page For example, you might find something that appears only on each first page, such

as “Page 1” or “Page 1 of” or an inserter mark.

It is extremely important that the word, phrase, or mark that you select appears only on first pages. If PrintForm finds your identifier on the second page of a statement, it treats that page as a separate statement. Your presort will be invalid and your statements may be corrupted irreparably. When you mark “Page 1,” remember to include a space after the “1.” If you do not, PrintForm might find “Page 1” on “Page 1

0.”

Field value changes Another example might involve a customer’s social security number. If that

number appears on each page of each statement, we could instruct PrintForm to look for the social security number and, when that value changes, to use it as a signal that it has reached the first page of a new statement.

Find the spot Once you have marked the unique field, the Unique Field Properties box will

automatically appear. Here, tell PrintForm exactly where to look for this data in each statement. You can specify an exact row and column location, or ask PrintForm to search a particular row or column, if the data floats.

Be sure to indicate whether PrintForm should look for the same data (as in our “Page 1” example) or different data (as in our social security number example).

PrintForm User’s Guide

Marking a user field

As you mark fields, you’ll want to plan ahead and mark any data that you will want to use later if you plan to write filters for grouping, statement combining, or inserts.

For example, if you plan to create a group of unpaid invoices, you might want to filter on a balance or finance charge field. Be sure to include it here so that it is available to you later as you set up the rest of this PrintForm job.

You can mark up to 20 user fields.

Examples You can use the data in Usern as you would any PrintForm field to filter or sort.

You can sort records in groups by such fields as an account number, internal mail code, or social security number. Here are some examples:

Example 1 A hospital wants to filter based on the account balance. When the account balance

is zero, no business reply envelopes are inserted into the statement.

Example 2 A credit union wants to filter on a mail code that flags those statements that are

confidential. By channeling these statements to a separate group, you can keep them from the mail stream and from being mailed.

Example 3 A utility company wants to presort and mail its statements, then reprocess the

print-image input file, this time sorting by account number. The new output file, with statements sorted in account sequence, can be transferred to microfiche and used by the utility’s customer service department to access current account information.

How to mark a user field

To mark a user field at the Mark Fields window, click the Mark User Fields icon on the toolbar. Then draw a rectangle around the data, just as you did when you marked address data.

Field name The data that you select is stored in a PrintForm database field that you may

name. That field will be stored in the STM file. To assign a name:

1. Right click on the rectangle you drew around the data (this menu box will

appear automatically when you first draw the rectangle).

2. Select Properties.

3. Type a name. Be sure to use standard characters and avoid using spaces.

If you choose not to assign a name, PrintForm will give the field the default name Usern.

Guidelines for marking filter data

To mark data, follow these guidelines. The data:

 Can float; that is, it can be in a different location from record to record. You

can use a search field to help PrintForm find the data in each record. See Chapter 6 for an example.

 Can be up to 20 lines.  Must not exceed 50 characters per line.

Marking a user field

Marking a search field

If you have data that floats, that is, it is located in different places from statement to statement, you can instruct PrintForm to search for the field that contains that data. You can then place that data in a field in the STM file so that it is available for writing filters.

For example, suppose we want to place an insert about investment opportunities in the envelopes of customers whose savings account contain more than $10,000.

The position of the balance data varies from statement to statement, so first we’ll ask PrintForm to search each statement for the word “balance.”

We ask PrintForm to search up and down column 53, since we know that the word “balance” always begins in that column. Since the location varies by row from statement to statement, we ask PrintForm to begin searching in Row 1 (and in each row thereafter) to be sure that it will always find the balance.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Next, we’ll set up a user field in our statement file to hold the balance value that PrintForm finds. And we’ll ask PrintForm to copy the balance from the statement into our user field.

Finally, we’ll use our new balance field to write a filter to form a group of customers with large savings.

Marking a search field

Marking a customer ID field

As an added security measure, some users print inserter marks based on a customer identification number. The inserter then checks to ensure that all sheets in a statement are destined for the same customer. This is one way to detect an error that otherwise would result in sheets from two different customers going into the same envelope.

PrintForm can generate Customer ID-based inserter marks for the following types of marks:

 3 of 9

 OCR

 CodeLite

At the Mark Fields window, you can mark as a customer ID field any account number or other number that is unique to the customer. PrintForm places the data into the PrintForm field CustID.

For details on combining statements based on this field, see Chapter 7.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Adding new fields to the statement file

You may want to define new fields in the statement file to provide a place for any new data that is generated by ACE and Presort; data that did not exist in your print-image file on input. You might want to use this data for determining the criteria for selective inserting or to ensure that Presort has all the data it needs to presort your mailing.

For example, perhaps your input file did not contain carrier-route information, but you want ACE to generate a CART field for Presort to use to prepare a carrier-route mailing. You need to add a CART field here to provide a place for ACE to store the new data.

Much of the work is done

We’ve done much of the work for you. When you open the Statement Definition window, you’ll see that we’ve already defined many of the fields that users will typically need. If you want to delete any of these fields, simply highlight the field name, press Enter, and press Delete.

Adding new fields to the statement file

Marking the output address block

You will most likely want to print the output address in the same area as the input address. If so, then you needn’t mark the output address block.

You’ll want to mark an output address block if:

 You plan to add a lot of new information to your output address and you need

to mark a larger space than the input address allowed.

Note: Another option is to mark the input address block larger than the actual input address data, allowing room for additional data, such as an optional endorsement or a barcode.

 You want PrintForm to print the output address in a different location from

where the input address is located.

In Chapter 8, we will talk about telling PrintForm which address components to include in this block. For now, we’ll discuss how to mark the output address block area.

How to mark the output address

Size should be just right

PrintForm User’s Guide

To mark the output address, click the Mark Output Address Block icon on the toolbar and draw a rectangle around the area, just as you did for the input address area. However, be sure to mark a large enough area that you are able to fit all new data that you may plan to include, such as the barcode and endorsement line. PrintForm will use the entire area you mark.

If you make the rectangle too small, PrintForm may not have enough room to fit the ZIP+4, barcode, endorsement, or other components. If you draw the rectangle too large, PrintForm may place some components either outside the area of the envelope window or over other areas on the form.

PrintForm is most often used to mail statements that are printed and inserted into envelopes with windows. The address block may grow by up to 75 percent

(horizontally and vertically) if you add a barcode, an endorsement, or a manifest keyline (if you are mailing under the USPS Manifest Mailing System). You might need to use a larger address area on the form and a new envelope design with a larger window.

When there is not enough room horizontally in the address block to add all the requested packaging codes or endorsements, PrintForm omits components from the manifest keyline, endorsement, or break mark (symbols that signal the end of a package or container of mail). If there is not enough room to print the barcode, PrintForm does not add one.

If there is not enough room vertically for all of the components that you have added to the address block, PrintForm will erase components until the remaining components fit, starting with the manifest keyline, then the endorsement, and finally the barcode.

Create a sample mail piece

To ensure that your new, output address will fit in your envelope window, we suggest that you create a sample mail piece.

First, place a folded sheet in the envelope. Next, remove the cellophane window, then trace a line around the window opening. Move the statement up and down, and side to side in the envelope to check for “slop.” If the statement has a lot of room to move around within the envelope, you won’t be able to use the whole window area as your address block.

Remove the statement and measure the size and position of the window rectangle you traced. Use a special printer’s rule, which measures in lines and characters instead of inches.

The tap test If you plan to add barcodes to your statements, you may want to conduct a “tap

test” on your sample. The USPS acceptance clerk might conduct this test on a sample from your mailing when you submit it to the USPS. If your envelopes fail the tap test, the USPS will refuse to accept your mailing.

 Use a sample of 10 envelopes that include statements with barcodes.

 Measure the space between the barcode and the top edge of the window. It

should be 1/25 inch.

 Tap each mail piece on a flat surface on its bottom edge (parallel to the

address). Measure the distance again to ensure that it remains at least 1/25 inch.

 Tap each mail piece on its left edge and then on its right edge. After tapping,

measure the distance between the barcode and the edge of the window. It should measure no less than 1/8 inch.

If your sample pieces did not pass the tap test, you will need to modify your mail piece design to ensure that the barcode is readable by USPS sorting equipment.

Marking the output address block

PrintForm User’s Guide

Chapter 5: Assigning and presorting addresses

This chapter explains how to work with address-assignment and presorting software from within PrintForm.

Why assign and standardize addresses?

PrintForm, by itself, does not assign and standardize addresses. Instead, it hands off those tasks to other software during PrintForm processing. That other software can be powerful assignment software available from Business Objects or from the vendor of your choice.

To make this discussion easy to follow, we’ll assume that you want to use the ACE Views program for address assignment and correction. However, you can follow the same procedures to link to a different vendor’s address-assignment software product if you want.

What is address assignment?

Why do I want to do it?

ACE Views is an address assignment and standardization graphical user interface. ACE is an abbreviation for Address Correction and Encoding.

By address assignment, we mean that ACE can supply you with a corrected, complete, standardized form of each address, and that it can correct and add postal codes.

For example, ACE verifies that the city, state, and ZIP Code agree with one another, and it can add one of those components if it’s missing. It can correct a misspelled street name, fill in missing information, and abbreviate street type.

It can also assign postal codes such as ZIP, ZIP+4, delivery-point barcode (DPBC), carrier-route (CART), and line-of-travel (LOT) codes.

Why bother to clean and code your address data?

 Statements with correct addresses have a better chance of getting to their

destination and getting there faster.

 Postal codes help your mailing to qualify for postal automation discounts and

may speed delivery.

 An accurate address presents a more professional statement to your

customers.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Before you work with ACE or Presort Views

Before you can process addresses with ACE or Presort Views, you must perform two tasks, one within PrintForm and one using a text editor.

Definition file First, you must set up definition (DEF) files: one for the file that you use as input

to ACE and another for Presort. The DEF file tells ACE and Presort which fields to process.

This is an important step that you must perform with care.

You can use one of two methods to create a DEF file:

 Use a text editor and follow the detailed instructions in our Database Prep

manual.

 Or, use the DefMap utility. You can access this utility directly from ACE or

Presort Views. At the Set Input File window, click the Map button to activate DefMap. You can rely on the DefMap online help to guide you.

If you plan to use both ACE and Presort to process your addresses, you will need to set up a separate DEF file for each. So when you name the DEF files, be sure to use two different file names. For example, for ACE you might use jobname_a.def and for Presort you might use jobname_p.def.

When you set up your ACE and Presort Views jobs, at the Auxiliary Files window, you’ll be asked to specify the name of the DEF file that you created.

Set options There is another preliminary task that you must perform before you can set up

and run an ACE, Presort, or Label Studio job. You must set file options in PrintForm.

To set PrintForm options:

1. In the PrintForm window,

choose Tools > Options.

At the Job Setup and Job Execu-

tion options, tell PrintForm where to find the executable files for each program.

For example, at the Address Assignment option in the Job Setup Application section, indicate the location of acevws.exe (usually c:\ pw\ace\acevws.exe).

At the Address Assignment option in the Job Execution Application section, indicate the location of pwace.exe (usually, :\pw\ace\pwace.exe).

2. While you’re in the Options window, go ahead and set these options for

Presort Views and Label Studio as well.

3. At the Default Directories option, tell PrintForm where to find the default

Work, Output, Report, and Job directories.

Before you work with ACE or Presort Views

Required in ACE and Presort: Post back to the input file

When you set up your ACE or Presort job, you must choose to post the

processed data back to the input file. This ensures that the data generated by ACE goes into the Statement (STM) file and continues on to further PrintForm, and possibly Presort, processing.

You may also create output files from ACE and Presort that contain report data or even address data for your own needs (see “ACE output files” on page 69 and “Presort output files” on page 75), but you must place the cleaned and coded address data from ACE and the sorted data from Presort back into the STM file.

Add no new fields When you post back to the input file in ACE and Presort, you may not add any

new fields to STM file. For example, if you decide to use ACE to add carrierroute codes to your addresses, you must have a designated carrier-route field in the STM file ready to receive that data. That is, you should have already defined a carrier-route field at the Statement Definition window to provide a place for ACE to store the carrier-route data.

So, plan ahead So, you must plan ahead. When you begin to set up your PrintForm job and you

reach the Statement Definition window (by clicking on the Define Statement Fields button in the PrintForm window), you must add any new fields that you may need in your STM file. That is, you need to think about the new data that you want ACE and Presort to generate for you and add in the fields to accommodate that new data before you try to run ACE or Presort.

Default fields At the Statement Definition window, PrintForm already lists some basic fields

that we think you’ll want to include in the STM file. You may remove any that you want. For a full discussion of defining statement fields, see Chapter 4.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Strategies for using ACE and Presort Views

ACE and Presort Views provide a wealth of features from which to choose. No single job will require all of this functionality, but it is all available to you to pick and choose from according to your mailing needs.

Mail classes Most PrintForm users prepare First Class and Standard (A) mailings, since most

of their jobs consist of automated letters.

You are not limited to preparing mail in just these two classes, however. If you have purchased all modules of Presort, you have the full power of Presort at your fingertips, you can use it to prepare a Periodicals or Standard (B) job.

Please note, however, that PrintForm is not specifically designed to prepare Periodicals and Standard (B) types of mailings and does not fully support them. For example, you might use Presort through PrintForm to prepare a Standard (B) palletized mailing, but PrintForm does not support printing of pallet labels. To prepare Periodicals and Standard (B) jobs, we suggest that you use stand-alone Presort and DataLabel, not PrintForm.

Sample job files With your PrintForm software, we’ve included four sample ACE job files and

five Presort job files that you can use as the basis for your own job. Each sample file is already set up to run a specific type of job; each one is described below.

Choose the sample job that most closely mirrors the goals of your mailing job, and use ACE and Presort Views to customize it. This step saves you from setting up the entire job from scratch.

Strategies for using ACE and Presort Views

Rename it

Before editing any of the sample files, make a copy and give it a new file

name. When we ship software updates, we always ship new copies of the sample files. If you don’t change the file name, your customized file will be overwritten the next time you install PrintForm.

You’ll find the sample job files in the jobs subdirectory (c:\pw\pf\jobs).

If you want to do this kind of address assignment… Choose this .ace

file as a starting point:

Standardize only the ZIP Code and ZIP+4.

Standardize address lines; create a Bad Address report and a

ace1.ace

ace2.ace

Standardized Address report.

Leave the input address fields untouched and post the standard-

sample2.ace

ized address to newly created address-line fields in the input file.

Perform full standardization of the input address, including

sample3.ace

conversion to upper and lower case letters.

If you want to do this kind of presort… Choose this .pst

file as a starting point:

First Class with carrier-route scheme; all pieces are the same

pst1.pst

weight.

Standard A

First Class; create a postage accounting file.

First Class with multiple segments for each ounce group.

pst2.pst

pst3.pst

pst4.pst

PrintForm User’s Guide

First Class with automation letter, regular letter, and single piece schemes; pieces vary in weight, so the Auto Dimension feature is used (see the

Presort User’s Guide

for details about

this feature).

sample3.pst

How to connect to ACE Views

As we said, PrintForm does not clean and code addresses, but it does allow you to take a sidestep during PrintForm processing to perform those tasks with other software.

That means that, during PrintForm processing, you need to hand off processing to your choice of address-assignment software. It also means that you’ll need to take a few minutes to set up the instructions that will tell that software how you want your addresses cleaned and coded.

You can use the address-assignment software of your choice, but for purposes of this discussion, we’ll assume that you are using ACE Views.

Begin at the PrintForm window. After marking statement fields, click the Address Assignment window.

Choose an executable At the Address Assignment Executable box, you’ll be asked to show PrintForm

where the executable file is located for the assignment software you plan to use. If that software is ACE, you can use the browser or type in the location of pwace.exe (usually, c:\pw\ace\pwace.exe).

Command line parameters

If you’ve ever started a software program using a DOS command line, then you know what we mean by command-line parameters. They’re the extra instructions that you can type after the executable file name. They control such tasks as where to send warning messages and what to do if the program issues a verifier error.

You can find a complete list of command-line options and descriptions can be found in the Quick Reference Guide. Type them here just as you would on a DOS command line, with forward slashes and spaces between commands (see example in the window shown above).

How to connect to ACE Views

Job file Next, you’ll need to type the name of the job file. A job file is a file that holds all

of the instructions that you set up using ACE Views: such choices as the way that you want your addresses assigned and standardized, the reports that you want ACE to generate, and so on.

When you type the job file name, follow these guidelines:

If you type: Then: ACE Views will: Then:

The name of one of our existing sample jobs (renamed, of course!).

The name of an existing job file that you’ve used to run this job in the past.

How to use ACE Along with your PrintForm software, we provide you with the ACE User’s

Click Setup. PrintForm will launch the ACE program and you can change settings to customize the job to your address-assignment and standardization needs. Be sure to check the settings at the Auxiliary Files block and change path names as needed, and add the location and name of the DEF file that you created.

Click OK, then click Execute. Process your addresses.

After you make any necessary changes to the job settings and save the job, ACE will save those instructions to the sample job file name that you type here.

Click OK, then click Execute

Guide. You can rely on that manual, as well as the ACE Views online help, for specific instructions for setting up and running your ACE job.

Perform address correction after combining statements

db.combflag = "Y"

PrintForm User’s Guide

ACE output files

Although you must post data back to the input file, as we discussed on page Required in ACE and Presort: Post back to the input file, you may also choose to send data to one or several output files from ACE.

Why would you want to post to output files too? You might use ACE to create these two output files:

Bad Address fileAll addresses that ACE could not standardize

Address Change fileAll addresses that ACE did standardize

By using the Bad Address file, you can identify statements that contain incomplete or inaccurate address information, and repair or complete them at a later date. ACE also identifies undeliverable addresses; that is, addresses that are assigned and are valid, but according to the USPS, delivery to these addresses is not possible. You can identify and remove these addresses from future jobs.

The Address Change file allows you to accurately report any standardization changes made to a particular address. You may choose to display the before-andafter standardization appearance of an address, in addition to a status code assigned by ACE.

You can produce both of these files in report format as well, if you want.

ACE output files

ACE Reports

When you set up your ACE job, we recommend that you select some of the unique reports that ACE can generate. All available reports are listed and described below.

Report Description

CASS Report ACE is certified by the USPS and meets the Coding

Accuracy Support System (CASS) standards for accuracy of postal coding and address correction. ACE can produce a facsimile of USPS Form 3553, the CASS Summary Report. You will need this 3553 form to qualify mailings for postage discounts.

Error Report The Error Report shows you exactly which records

were assigned error codes during processing. ACE uses these error codes to indicate why it was unable to match the address to those in the USPS directories. By reading these codes, you might be able to correct the data in specific records or find a pattern of incorrect data entry.

Executive Summary This is a concise statement of the most crucial infor-

mation about your ACE job. We’ve designed it to meet the information needs of managers and clients.

Job Summary We recommend that you produce a Job Summary

for every ACE job. It is a concise statement of your job setup, input data, and results.

NDI Report The National Deliverability Index (NDI) is a USPS

program. It is a method of measuring and scoring the quality of address lists performed during processing by ZIP+4 matching software such as ACE. The result is a printed report, called the NDI Report. The USPS uses the NDI Report to verify that the software is capable of determining the input-record quality.

Standardization Report This report shows which addresses were standard-

ized, offering a before-and-after view of each standardized address.

For examples of each of these reports, see the ACE User’s Guide.

PrintForm User’s Guide

What is presorting and why do it?

PrintForm, by itself, does not presort addresses. Instead, it can hand off that task to other software during PrintForm processing. That other software can be the powerful presorting software available from Business Objects or from the vendor of your choice.

To make this discussion easy to follow, we’ll assume that you want to use the Presort Views program.

What is presorting? Presorting is the task of sorting mail and preparing it in containers so that it can

be transported through the postal system. It’s called “pre”sorting because you sort the mail before you submit it to the USPS, instead of paying them to sort it.

When you run Presort, it will plan for you how packages and containers will be formed, according to the USPS rules. Every package and container has a destination—either a local office or a larger, central facility— and a label or mark that identifies that destination. When it reaches its destination, the package or container is opened and processed—perhaps for further routing, eventually for delivery.

Why do I want to do it?

Presort helps you turn a database into a prepared mailing with labels, reports, and USPS forms. Based on a lot of information from you—for example, piece and container dimensions—and following USPS rules, Presort figures out how many pieces will fit into each package, tray, sack, or pallet. When this is done, Presort:

 Produces files (databases) containing the data needed to print statements and

container labels in correct USPS sequence. You can use Presort output files as input for Label Studio or other label-printing software.

 Calculates postage and produces USPS forms, including all documentation

required for mailing acceptance.

 Produces reports to guide you in assembling packages and containers.

What is presorting and why do it?

Before you presort: Defining the piece description

To correctly calculate the weight of each mail piece in your mailing, PrintForm needs information about each component of your mail piece, including the:

 envelope  statement sheets  static inserts (up to 6)  selective inserts (up to 12)

Size and weight Accurate size and weight information is critical, so we urge you to create a

sample for each type of component in the mail piece. Start by forming a sample of 20 empty envelopes or more, measure the thickness (in inches) of the sample and weigh it (in ounces). Record these measurements at the Piece Description window and let PrintForm calculate the thickness and weight of a single envelope. You’ll then do the same for statement sheets and inserts.

You’ll enter all measurements at the Piece Description window. You can reach this window by clicking the Piece Description button in the PrintForm window.

Static and selective inserts

You’ll notice that you can record the measurements of both static and selective inserts. Let’s take a moment to talk about the difference between the two.

Static inserts are those that you want placed in every envelope.

Selective inserts are those that you want placed into the envelope of recipients that meet certain criteria, perhaps based on purchase history, current balance, or where they live.

To determine who receives a selective insert and who doesn’t, you’ll write a filter. For instructions on setting up a selective insert, see Chapter 9.

You’ll notice that you can set up a filter for static inserts as well in the Piece Description window. The filter you write for a static insert determines which group or groups receive the insert. Every statement in that group or groups will receive the insert. So the filter for static inserts affects which groups receive the insert, while the filter you write for a selective insert affects which statements within a group receive an insert.

Piece calculator The Piece Calculator button at the bottom of the Piece Description window serves

as a convenience. You can use the calculator to determine the weight of your mail piece with various combinations of inserts added. You might use the calculator to determine whether or not to add an insert; you might choose not to if doing so will raise the weight of the mail piece to another postage rate level, for example.

PrintForm User’s Guide

How to connect to Presort Views

As we said, PrintForm does not presort addresses, but it does allow you to take a sidestep during PrintForm processing to perform t hos e t as ks w it h o th er so ftw ar e.

That means that, during PrintForm processing, you need to hand off processing to your choice of presorting software and set up the instructions for presorting your addresses.

Define a Presort group

When you click the Grouping and Sortation button in the PrintForm window, the Grouping Window opens, where you can define all of the different groups into which you want PrintForm to sort your statements.

If you want Presort to process your addresses, you must define a group (or groups) and choose presort as the sortation type. Follow these steps at the Grouping window:

1. Click Add.

2. Type a name for the presort group.

3. At Sortation Type, select Presort

Note: If you plan to presort your statements, but don’t plan to define any other groups, you can actually choose to define no groups. Remember that PrintForm always creates a General group. Simply set the Sortation Type for the General group to Presort. PrintForm will place all of the statements in the General group and presort them.

Indicate file locations In the Application box, indicate the location of the presort executable file,

presort.exe (usually, c:\pw\pst\presort.exe).

How to connect to Presort Views

Job file Next, you’ll need to type the name of a job file. A job file is a file that holds all of

the instructions that you set up using Presort Views: the way that you want your addresses presorted, the reports that you want Presort to generate, and so on.

When you type the name of a job file, follow these guidelines:

If you type: Then: Presort Views will: Then:

The name of one of our existing sample jobs (renamed, of course!).

The name of an existing job file that you’ve used to run this job or a similar job in the past.

Click Setup. PrintForm will launch the Presort program and you can change settings to customize the job to your address assignment and standardization needs. Be sure to check the settings at the Auxiliary Files block and change path names as needed, and type the name of the definition (DEF) file that you created.

Click OK, then click Execute. Process your addresses.

After you make any necessary changes to the job settings and save the job, Presort will save those instructions to the sample job file name that you type here.

Along with your PrintForm software, we provide you with the Presort User’s Guide. You can rely on that manual, as well as the Presort Views online help, for detailed instructions for setting up and running your Presort Views job.

Click OK, then click Execute.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Presort output files

Although you must choose to post data back to the input file, as we discussed on page Required in ACE and Presort: Post back to the input file, you must also create at least one output file: the container output file.

Container output file The container output file holds information generated by Presort. It includes one

record for each tray or sack that your mailroom staff will need to prepare. You can use the information in this file to print container labels with Label Studio.

You are required to create a container output file, even if you do not plan to print container labels.

Postage Accounting file

In addition to creating a container output file, you might choose to send data to other output files in Presort.

For example, you might ask Presort to create a Postage Accounting file. That file enables you to track postage for each statement. You might use that information to bill back postage to a particular department, for example.

Presort output files

Group statement file

This new feature optimizes the functionality between PrintForm and products that are unable to post back to the input file.

Products that can create and post to an output database file, such as our ACE Canada and Presort Canada products, can work seamlessly with PrintForm now. To work with these products, PrintForm creates a separate statement (STM) file for each Presort group. Then the external assignment and sortation products can process a single group without posting back to the input file or filtering. These products create new output database files with a specific name for PrintForm to combine together for processing.

How it works Let’s look at how PrintForm makes the STM file for products that don’t post back

to the input file. PrintForm creates a statement file for each defined group at the Grouping and Sortation step. These statement files are named in this format: jobname_groupname.stm.

Products that don’t post back to the input file read the jobname_groupname.stm file and create a new statement file called jobname_groupname.out.stm. For example, let’s say that you’re processing a job called utilities.pf with Presort Canada, and you have created two groups: letters and flats. PrintForm creates two statement files: utilities_letters.stm and utilites_flats.stm. The Presort Canada program reads these two statement files as input. When Presort Canada finishes processing, you have two statement files in the jobname_groupname.out.stm format: utilities_letters.out.stm and utilites_flats.out.stm. PrintForm looks for these .out.stm files, combines them, and renames them to the original utilities.stm file, created at the Mark Statements step.

How to create separate STM files

Note: You can’t add any fields or change the format of any file when creating the output file. Otherwise, the job won’t process properly.

In the Grouping and Sortation window (shown below), PrintForm offers a new option: Create Statement (STM) File for Each Group.

If you set this new option, PrintForm creates separate STM files for programs that don’t post back to the input file.

If you select this option, PrintForm creates separate STM files for programs that don't post back to the input file (like ACE Canada and Presort Canada). If you don’t select this option, assignment and sortation programs (like U.S. ACE and U.S. Presort) post back to the input file.

PrintForm User’s Guide

If you use this option, you have to follow some extra steps in order to ensure that the proper sortations are set up and processing correctly. If you don’t select this option, then PrintForm creates a single STM file that becomes the input file for Presort. You must have an input filter set up in Presort.

If you select this option, PrintForm looks for each Presort group to create a separate STM file that is named PFJobFileName_GroupName.stm. When you first set up your Presort job, this file is not there yet, because it is created during processing. To continue with your setup of Presort you must follow these steps:

1. Name your Presort input file jobname.stm. You don't need to set up a filter.

2. After you have the Presort job file set up and verified, rename your input file

in the PFJobFileName_GroupName.stm format. In the previous example, you would specify the input file name as utilities_letters.stm.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each Presort group.

4. Execute the Grouping and Sortation step in PrintForm.

Note: If you don't follow step 1 above, you won't be able to see all of the options when you set up the Presort job.

Group statement file 77

Presort output file If you are processing with a presorting product that doesn't post back to the input

file, you must have an Output File section. You should set the Select File to Copy Format Of parameter in the Presort Views job to Yes. Make sure that you do not add any additional fields. If you do, PrintForm will fail. The new output file name should be in the following format: PFJobFileName_GroupName.out.stm.

How PrintForm merges STM files

When the presorting is complete, PrintForm looks for an output file name of PFJobFileName_GroupName.out.stm. If PrintForm finds this file, it merges these results back into the original STM file. If it doesn't find the file, PrintForm assumes that you posted back to the input file and used PFJobFileName_GroupName.stm. PrintForm checks to make sure that this file was modified by the application. If it was not modified, you receive a warning message stating this fact.

ACE output file If you are processing with an address assignment product that doesn't post back to

the input file, such as ACE Canada, you must have a Create Output File block. You should set Copy Format of Input to Yes, and make sure that you do not add any additional fields. If you do, PrintForm will fail. The new output file name should be named in the following format: PFJobFileName.out.stm.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Presort reports

When you set up your Presort job, we recommend that you select some of the unique reports that Presort can generate. All available reports are listed and described below.

For more details and an example of each report, see the Presort User’s Guide.

Report Description

Job Summary We recommend that you generate a Job Summary report in every job. This report

gives you a synopsis of your setup, and an overview of your results. It is a quick way to make sure that your job ran as expected.

Qualification Report You must submit the USPS Qualification Report to the USPS with every mailing.

Postage Statements (3600, 3541, 3602, 3605, and 3608)

Mail Sort Listing We recommend that you produce a Mail Sort Listing in every job. It is very helpful

Manifest Listing The Manifest Listing is required if you prepare mixed-weight or non-identical pieces

Pallet Mixed-Zone Listing You must submit a Mixed-Zone Listing with any palletized Standard (B) Bound

Processing Center Listing The Processing Center Listing is useful especially for mailers who drop-ship to Sec-

PVDS Consolidated Postage If you drop-ship, but you are not paying for the mail at the facility where you enter it,

Summary Listing The Summary Listing can help you manage and analyze your mailings. It contains

You must submit the Postage Statement to the USPS with any mailing. Choose the correct version of the Postage Statement according to the class of mail.

in the mail prep room and at the post office because it shows how Presort has placed mail pieces into packages and containers.

under the USPS Manifest Mailing System (MMS).

Printed Matter mailing.

tional Center Facilities (SCF) or Bulk Mail Centers (BMC).

or if you drop-ship and pay at one facility (local), you’ll need the PVDS (Plant Verified Drop Shipment) form.

Centralized Postage Payment (CPP). The report shows the number of containers, weight, and postage for each mailing.

one line of data per entry point, per segment, per version, or per combination of version and entry point. The information on the report includes piece counts at each rate level, total copies, total weight, and total postage.

ZIP Code Listing The ZIP Code Listing can help you find out where your mail is going. The report lists

the number of pieces at each rate level.

Presort reports

PrintForm User’s Guide

Chapter 6: Defining groups

When PrintForm processes records, it places each statement into one of several groups. Your job is to define those groups and determine the criteria upon which each statement is judged.

This chapter explains how to define groups.

Introduction to groups

If you’re like most PrintForm users, your jobs involve large mailings. For those jobs, you want PrintForm to standardize addresses and presort statements so that you can benefit from postage discounts.

Among the statements that you want to presort, you may want certain statements presorted together, but not with others. For example, you may want 1-ounce statements presorted together, and then 2-ounce statements, and so on.

In addition, in almost every job, there will be some statements that either cannot be presorted (perhaps they lack enough address data) or that you will deliberately choose not to presort (such as confidential statements).

Separate groups So, in almost every job, you will want to set up separate groups of statements so

that you can control which ones are presorted and which are not, and perhaps, which ones are presorted together.

Your job, then, is to tell PrintForm what groups to form, which statements to place into each of those groups, and how to sort them.

You can create up to 50 different groups, although most jobs will require much fewer.

Two-step process Defining groups is a two-step process:

1. First, set up a group by determining what criteria a statement must meet to be placed into that group.

2. Second, choose how to sort the statements within each group.

We’ll show you how in the following pages.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Examples of groups

Here are some examples of different types of groups that you might want to define. In each of these examples, you would filter on a statement file field to determine which statement to assign to each group. We’ll discuss filters further on the next page.

Grouping by weight Most PrintForm users mail First Class, and they set up several groups. In one

group they presort one-ounce statements, in another two-ounce statements, and so on. The groups are submitted to the USPS as separate mailings, and Presort generates USPS mailing statements for each mailing in the job.

If you have USPS permission to do so, you can mail pieces of varying weights in the same mailing; that’s called Manifest Mailing. You can read more about it in the Presort User’s Guide.

Confidentiality For confidentiality, some customers request that no statement be mailed to them.

You can siphon those statements into a separate group and keep them from being passed to Presort for processing and mailing.

Undeliverable statements

ACE will often find some addresses that are undeliverable; that is, a postal carrier cannot physically deliver to those addresses, such as to a vacant lot, cemetery, or park. By directing those statements to a separate group, you avoid mailing and paying postage on undeliverable mail.

Large statements Let’s suppose that your inserter can handle statements up to 12 pages, but no

more. You want to divert statements that are 13 pages and larger to a separate group, and avoid processing them on your inserter.

Unqualified pieces Perhaps you anticipate that this job will contain several unqualified mail pieces.

You want to separate them into a group and keep from out of the mailstream.

Examples of groups

Setting criteria with filters

To determine which statements will be placed into which group, you can use filters. A filter determines the criteria under which a statement is tested for inclusion in a group.

So, a filter is used to include certain records and exclude others. The results of a filter are either true or false. True will result in including the record in processing and false will result in excluding the record.

Filter on weight For example, to set up a group of one-ounce statements, we might write a filter

like:

db.ouncewt<1.0

And our filter to define our group of two-ounce statements would look like this:

db.ouncewt >1.0 AND <2.0

Our results might look like this:

1-ounce group

2-ounce group

Filter on number of pages

If you do not own intelligent inserting equipment, you will likely choose to group by page so that you can process all of the one-page statements first, then the twopagers, and so on.

If you group by page number (), your group filters might look like this:

db.pagecount = 1 db.pagecount = 2 db.pagecount = 3 db.pagecount = 4

And our results would look like this:

1-ounce group

2-ounce group

PrintForm User’s Guide

Sorting statements in a group

As you define each of the groups, you can also choose how to sort the statements within those groups. You can choose from these three sortation types:

 presort  by field  none

Presort In most jobs, you’ll be using Presort Views to presort your mailing according to

USPS regulations to benefit from postage discounts. In those jobs, you will want to define a group or groups of statements and hand them off to Presort Views for processing.

In the Edit Group window, you would choose presort as the sortation type.

By field If you want to keep some of your statements from being presorted, you will need

to define a separate group or groups for those statements. Then, if you want to sort those statements by some other criteria (but not presort them), you can choose to sort by a field value.

Here are two circumstances under which you might want to control how statements are sorted:

Sort foreign by country You may want to cull certain statements from those that are mailed; for example,

foreign or confidential statements. Then you can sort within those small groups of statements; for example, you might sort foreign statements by a country field.

Sort by department For some jobs, you might not want to presort any statements because you don’t

plan to mail them. In this case, you can assign all statements to the general group (simply don’t define any groups) and tell PrintForm how to sort the statements within the general group; for example, by department, by account number, and so on.

Sorting statements in a group

None In some cases, you will not want to sort the statements in a group at all. Rather,

you want to retain the order in which the statements were found in the printimage file. That is also a sortation type option.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Nonpresorted and unqualified statements

In every mailing, there will probably be some statements in a presort group or groups that could not be presorted.

Nonpresorted These nonpresorted statements that do not “fit” into any of the presort schemes

that you select when you set up the Presort portion of this job. Since presorting is a sifting process, and because of the way packages and containers are formed, some pieces may not be included in any package or container.

Usually, these pieces are gathered in a final container at the tail end of the mail stream. They won’t fall out of the group, but they will fall to the end of the mail stream. This “catch-all” container (or containers) is entered at the local post office at the single-piece rate.

The number of nonpresorted pieces is reported on the Presort Job Summary. Nonpresorted pieces are not included in the postage calculations or USPS forms.

Unqualified Unqualified records are statements that cannot be included in the presort because

they are missing a ZIP Code or the ZIP is bad. For this reason, foreign records fall into this category.

There is no point in including these pieces in the mailing. You can set up a separate group for these pieces to keep them out of the mailstream.

For an example, see See “Group example: Unqualified pieces” on page 97..

Nonpresorted and unqualified statements

General group

Regardless of how many and what types of groups you create, you will need a group to catch all of the statements that don’t fit into any of the defined groups. PrintForm provides a catch-all group for you automatically⎯you don’t have to define it and you can’t turn it off. It is called the general group.

Statements fall to General Group

In a typical job that involves presorting, you can use this general group to catch any statements that don’t fit the requirements set by your presort groups filters.

For example, suppose you are preparing a job with statements of varying weight, but you do not have USPS permission to prepare a Manifest Mailing. You set up two groups: one to catch the one-ounce statements and another to catch the twoounce statements.

You’re sure that these two groups will catch the majority of the statements in this job. However, there are a few very large statements that weigh 3 ounces. The General Group is there to catch these pieces.

For some jobs you can even use this general group in your sorting strategy. We’ll show you how on page General group example.

PrintForm User’s Guide

How to set up a group

To set up a group, begin in the PrintForm window. Click the Grouping and Sorting button. The Grouping window will appear.

This window displays the names of the groups as you create them. If you are using a sample PrintForm job, you will see some groups already listed here. At the very least, you will see that a general group already has been defined for you. PrintForm automatically creates this catch-all group. You cannot turn it off; however, you can control how statements within this group are sorted (see “General group example” on page 98 for general group strategies).

How to add a group

To add a new group, click Add. The Edit Group window appears.

If you are defining only one group, you needn’t type anything at the Filter box. Just be sure to choose a sortation type.

However, if you are defining multiple groups, you will need to write a filter to set the criteria that PrintForm uses to place a statement into a particular group. For help writing filters, use the Filter Builder (see “The Filter Builder” on page 90).

How to set up a group

The Filter Builder

If you haven’t had much experience writing filters, you’ll appreciate the Filter Builder feature. It can help you build a filter step by step.

To access the Filter Builder, click the Filter Builder icon to the right of the Filter option at the Edit Group window. The Filter Builder window will appear.

At the top of this window, be sure to give the filter a name. That way, you can easily re-use this filter in other jobs, if needed, without rewriting the entire filter.

This window provides the tools that you need to build a filter: Fields, operators, and functions. We urge you to read the Database Prep manual for detailed instructions and examples on how to write a filter.

You can also see filter examples in each of our group examples:

 See “Group example: Confidential statements” on page 92.

 See “Group example: Undeliverable addresses” on page 94.

 See “Group example: Large statements” on page 95.

 See “Group example: Internal mailing” on page 96.

 See “Group example: Unqualified pieces” on page 97.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Group order counts

The order in which you define the groups in a job determines the order in which PrintForm sorts statements into groups. So be sure to define your groups in a logical order.

For example, suppose we defined the four groups shown below (remember that PrintForm creates the general group). We would define them in the following order:

1. Confidential

2. Undeliverable

3. Presorted one-page statements

4. Presorted two-page statements

5. General

Using this order, PrintForm will separate the undeliverable and confidential statements into separate groups and keep them from being presorted.

The remaining statements will be placed into groups by page count and handed to Presort Views for processing.

Any statements that do not fit into any of these groups (for example, a three-page statement) will fall to the general group. You cannot move the general group⎯PrintForm will always place it in the last position.

Group order counts

Group example: Confidential statements

Suppose that for confidentiality or other reasons, some customers request that no statement be mailed to them. A common way to cull such statements out of the mail stream is to assign to “no-mail” statements a bogus ZIP Code (ШШШШШ or

99999) and sort statements in ZIP Code order. Thus, all such statements will all

be printed together at the end of the mail stream.

However, remember that ACE will correct the ZIP Code, so it will change your bogus ZIP Codes to the correct codes and mail the statements! To avoid that, you can use PrintForm to “capture” the original bogus ZIP Code and place it in a newly created statement field. You can then create a group of “no-mail” statements by filtering on that field.

Step 1: Define a search area

Your first step is to define a search area in which PrintForm should be able to find the ZIP data.

1. In the PrintForm window, click Mark Statement Fields.

2. At the Mark Fields window, click the Search Field toolbar button.

3. Click and drag to the size of the search area that PrintForm should search. Define the entire address area. If you know where the ZIP should be, you can define part of the address area.

4. Right click the defined Search Field, select properties, and fill in the name of the Search ID and the value that PrintForm should search for in the Search area; in this case, “00000”.

5. Click OK.

Step 2: Define a user field

PrintForm User’s Guide

Next, define a user field in which to place the ZIP data.

1. Click the User Field toolbar button.

2. Click and drag to the size of the User Field (same size as the search value).

3. The Properties window will appear automatically. Fill in the field name, select Search By Search ID, and then select the search field that you’ve defined prior to this step.

Step 3: Filter the input to ACE

When you define your input file in the Set Input File window in ACE Views, set up an input filter to weed out the confidential statements. You might write an input filter like this:

Step 4: Define a confidential group

The next step is back in PrintForm, after ACE has processed your statements. Define a confidential group by writing a filter that will create a separate group that contains all addresses with the ШШШШШ ZIP Code. For example:

db.confide = “00000”

For this method to work, you must be sure to define the confidential group before you define the Presort group at the Grouping window in PrintForm. This will ensure that the no-mail statements are separated before PrintForm hands the remaining statements to Presort from processing.

Be sure to print a banner page before the beginning of this group, so you can easily find these statements and remove them from those that you plan to mail. For information on banner pages, see Chapter 8.

Group example: Confidential statements

Group example: Undeliverable addresses

When ACE assigns addresses, it detects those addresses that are undeliverable. An undeliverable address is one to which a postal carrier cannot physically deliver mail, such as a vacant lot, condemned building, cemetery, or park.

In this example, we'll cull those pieces that the USPS has determined are undeliverable by separating them into their own group. There is no point in wasting postage on these pieces.

For every address, ACE places a “T” or “F” in the statement file field Match_Un (for this example to work, you must define a Match_Un field at the Statement Definition window).

We can define a group for these undeliverables by setting up our filter to check the contents of the Match_Un field.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Group example: Large statements

In our next example, let's suppose that our inserter equipment can accept statements with up to seven pages. In addition, our standard envelopes are big enough to accommodate statements up to seven pages. We want to ensure that very large statements, those over seven pages, are separated from the rest of the mailing. Thus, we bypass our inserter and avoid jamming the equipment.

First, we would set up two groups to separate large statements from small, filtering on the number of pages.

Our filters might look like this:

db.pagecount <

db.pagecount >7

When we set up our Presort jobs to process these groups, we would use input filters to ensure that only one group at a time is presorted. For example, when we set up our Presort job to process our large statements, we might write an input filter that looks like this:

db.usergrpname= “Large statements”

And when we set up our Presort job to process our small statements, we might write an input filter that looks like this:

db.usergrpname= “Small statements”

Then we set up separate output files for each group, sending our small statements through our inserter and preparing our large statements manually.

Group example: Large statements

Group example: Internal mailing

If you don’t intend to mail the pieces in a job, but you do need to sort them, you can set up a group for those pieces and choose a field on which to sort them.

For example, suppose your company needs to distribute 401k statements to all employees except those who have been with the company for less than a year. Rather than mail these statements, the company plans to distribute them through the company mail room along with all other incoming mail.

In this example, we would set up a group that will filter on a start-date field.

You also want to sort the statements by department. Here is what you’d do:

PrintForm User’s Guide

Group example: Unqualified pieces

Unqualified records are statements that cannot be included in the presort because they are missing a ZIP Code or the ZIP is bad. Statements destined to foreign countries fall into this category.

There is no point in including these pieces in the mailing. Instead, you can set up a separate group for these pieces to keep them out of the mailstream and to have them available in case you want to determine why they are unqualified.

There are several ways that you might do that:

 Post db.foreign from ACE to a foreign field that you defined at the

Statement Definition window, and set up a group based on whether or not this field contains an “F”.

 Or set up a filter to determine whether or not db.zip is empty.

 Or set up a filter to determine whether or not ap.match_5 contains an “F”.

In each of these examples, be sure to define the field in your statement file so that ACE has a field in which to post the data. For example, be sure to set up a foreign field in your STM file if you want to post ap.foreign from ACE.

Group example: Unqualified pieces

General group example

For some jobs, you may not need to define any groups at all. For example, perhaps you want to preserve the order of the records in the input file. You want every statement in the input file to be distributed and you don’t want the statements to be sorted in any way.

In this case, you needn’t define any groups at all. You can let PrintForm place all statements in the general group⎯the one group that PrintForm creates automatically⎯and then choose not to sort the statements in that group.

Presort all statements You also needn’t form any groups if:

 You want to presort all of the statements in the print-image file, if you don’t

intend to filter out any statements first.

 All of the statements fall into the same weight class or, if they differ in

weight, you have USPS permission to prepare a Manifest Mailing.

In this case, you would let PrintForm place all statements into the general group and choose presort as the sortation type.

PrintForm User’s Guide

Subgroup count reporting

In addition to sorting by groups, you can count by subgroups when the sortation type is Presort.

When you specify a subgroup for a group, you can see the subgroup count reflected on PrintForm's Grouping report and on banner pages.

You specify a subgroup when you add or edit a Presort group via the Edit Group window (see below). This window includes the Sub-Group Count Field box where you can choose from all the fields previously defined in your Statement (.stm) file.

Note: Your subgroup field doesn't have to be a Presort-related field. To choose a field not currently listed, you have to add data to a new STM field that you define. You can add data to the STM file via address correction/ Presort software.

Specify a subgroup: 1. Access the Edit Group window, shown below.

2. For Sortation Type, choose PRESORT. This enables all the fields in the

Presort box.

3. Enter the appropriate Presort information. (For more information about a

specific Presort item in the window, use PrintForm’s context-sensitive help.)

4. From the Sub-Group Count Field drop-down list, select the STM field that

you want.

Subgroup count reporting 99

100

PrintForm User’s Guide

Business objects PRINTFORM 7.80C User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

PrintForm

User’s Guide

Preface

About this guide In this guide, we explain what PrintForm can do and how you can apply it in

Installation To install PrintForm, please follow the instructions in your System

Related guides and resources

Conventions This document follows these conventions:

Contents

Introduction to PrintForm

What is PrintForm? PrintForm is a powerful program that forms a link between accounting or

Who uses PrintForm? PrintForm is used by companies that mail large volumes of business documents

Systems supported by PrintForm

Print-image file generating systems

Printers PrintForm can interpret and produce Printer Carriage Control (PCC) codes used

Intelligent inserters PrintForm is compatible with any intelligent inserting equipment that can read

Memory requirements For details on the amount of disk space and memory that PrintForm requires, see

Files needed by PrintForm

Print-image file It’s up to you to supply PrintForm with a print-image file that contains the data

Printer Carriage Control file

Printer driver file To produce Postnet barcodes, the software also relies on a printer driver file

PrintForm job file All of the settings that you make in the PrintForm windows are stored in the

Map file The map file stores field size and position information for PrintForm’s extraction

Inserter file Business Objects supplies you with an inserter file for each of the different types

Design file With your PrintForm software, you’ll receive a number of pre-set label Design

Input and output file formats

Picopy: Translating AS/400 & System 36

Extraction After PrintForm translates your print-image file into the internal format, it

Steps in a PrintForm job

Features in every PrintForm job

Defining groups

Two steps Grouping statements is a two-step process. First, you decide how to group

Cleaning addresses

Address correction and data hygiene

Postal automation codes

Directories ACE assigns postal codes using directories based on data from the USPS. The

Presorting

USPS compliance Presort implements many USPS rules automatically. And when it’s not fully

Sorting statements

Controlling printing

Generating reports

PrintForm reports  Job Summary (.psm)

ACE reports Reports that show address assignment results are generated directly by the ACE

Presort reports Reports that show mail-sorting results are generated directly by the Presort

Controlling print order

Advanced features

Combining statements

Combine and duplex Since the whole idea behind combining statements is to save money, you

Duplex printing

Standard mode In the standard mode, PrintForm duplexes statements from sheet to sheet, front to

Reconciliation mode Reconciliation mode is handy for banks, investment firms, and other financial

Combining and duplexing

Selective inserting

Getting started: The PrintForm window

All buttons are grey, initially

Sample jobs

Create a new job If you want to build a PrintForm job from scratch (this will require more work),

Execute after each task

Select the input file

Map file Next, you’ll be asked to tell PrintForm where it can find the map (.map) file for

Choosing a PCC file

Before you edit a .pcc file

How to choose a .pcc file

Printer Carriage Control Files

ASCII chart for selecting PCC files

EBCDIC chart for selecting PCC files

PCC file setup

Record Length When you first open this window, PrintForm will always display the default

Truncate Non-White Space

Font Controls in File Color Controls in File

Byte Offset

Default Value If there are no fonts in the print-image input file, but you intend to add fonts on

Interpret as Character This option applies to EBCDIC print-image input files.

Pad Blanks to Offset

Block Size Fill Character

Page Length This option applies to files that don’t have a top-of-form character, but do have a

Movement Many file formats include a byte that contains a movement value. That value