[November 1, 2004]

Reminder: QAS Ensures Address Data Validity

BY DAVID R. BUTCHER

Before moving to New York City some years back, where I can now pick up The New Yorker at any credible magazine stand, I was not receiving my subscription in the mail. The publication had my address incorrectly labeled in its system for months. Not only was I losing money and my fix of both John Lahr’s monthly solid theatre reviews and Jonathan Franzen’s frequent, inimitable fiction contributions, but the publication was also losing money because it was continually paying to both print and attempt delivery of my subscription.

A recent briefing with QAS re-revealed that the London-based company offers address management software that can minimize the potential of such an occurrence taking place.

QAS, a provider of software that captures, cleans, maintains and enhances address records within any organization, not long ago announced its newest release of QuickAddress Batch, a component of its total address management solution. QuickAddress Batch is used as part of QAS’ overall address data quality solution to clean existing address records in a database and maintain the validity of those records over time. The latest version, Version 4.0, verifies, corrects and standardizes address records with enhanced delivery point validation (DPV) from the United States Postal Service (USPS).

The customary process for address management takes place by entering the address information from multiple sources into the company’s database and then verifying it on the back end with a batch product. This process is flawed. Rapid addressing can now increase a company’s address data integrity, driving down costs and increasing efficiencies.

The software compares each address against the USPS data file of valid addresses. For each address, QuickAddress Batch is intended to verify and correct existing ZIP codes, append ZIP+4 extensions, correct spelling/formatting errors and append delivery point barcodes, as well as standardize addresses according to USPS Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) specifications.

The USPS DPV enables easier identification of erroneous or non-existent addresses. This validation checks to ensure that house numbers are actually tied to existing addresses, reducing the number of undeliverable-as-addressed returned mail and delivery bill-backs.

The delivery point barcodes supported by QuickAddress Batch can help the sender qualify for special bulk mail discounts. The DPBC represents the nine-digit ZIP+4 code, the last two digits of the delivery point (primary address or post office box) and a single check digit.

QuickAddress Batch’s reporting function allows the company to produce a detailed report to show how successful the software has been in automatically fixing and standardizing the addresses in the database, as well as which records require manual maintenance.

QuickAddress Batch’s intuitive wizard-driven interface guides the user through the process of selecting the to-be-cleaned database and specifying the output database. The software is available as a wizard-driven standalone product or as a set of APIs. If implemented as a set of APIs, QuickAddress functionality can be integrated into most database applications. The software is currently available for all versions of Windows since 95, as well as on UNIX for non-U.S. data.

For more information regarding QAS’ QuickAddress software, visit www.qas.com.

David R. Butcher is assistant editor for Customer Inter@ction Solutions Magazine.

Purchase reprints of this article by calling (800) 290-5460 or buy them directly online at www.reprintbuyer.com.

Respond to this article in our forums!