April 9, 2009

Intelligent Mail^® Services Weekly Update

Reminder — PostalOne! and FAST Outages. We are preparing PostalOne! release 20 to support the price change on May 11 and the test environment for the Intelligent Mail Full-Service option on May 18. Two system-wide outages for PostalOne! and FAST are needed: from 2 a.m. to 12 p.m. (CDT) on April 12; and from 10 p.m. on April 25 to 10 p.m. (CDT) on April 26. During the outages mailers cannot access PostalOne! or submit electronic mailing documentation. Mailers should review their file submission processes and make arrangements for these two scheduled outages.

The outages do not affect FAST online scheduling, but mailers will not be able to schedule appointments electronically using Mail.XML or Wizard Web Services. During the outages, mailers who wish to schedule appointments online must log directly into FAST through https://fast.usps.com. Mailers scheduling electronically for the April 12th outage should do so by 12:00 a.m. (CDT) on April 12. Mailers scheduling electronically for the April 25th and 26th outage should do so by 8:00 p.m. (CDT) on April 25. Use the online application to schedule appointments with less notice. We will make every attempt to accommodate unscheduled arrivals. Please call the PostalOne! help desk at 1-800-522-9085 or your local FAST facility coordinator if you have questions.

New User Access for PostalOne! and FAST. Beginning May 11 with PostalOne! release 20, users will access PostalOne! and FAST via the new Business Customer Gateway. To support the migration, we cannot add new users to PostalOne! or FAST until May 11. New users who wish to access information contained in PostalOne! should contact their local business mail acceptance employees, as they do today when they have mailing questions. Until May 11, new users who wish to gain access to the FAST system to schedule appointments can contact local facilities to confirm dock availability. USPS facilities will accept new customers without a FAST appointment until they can access FAST and acquire a Scheduler ID. All mailers must comply with the mailing and documentation standards, and present PS Form 8125 as proof of payment for drop shipment mailings.

Test Environment for Mailers who wish to engage in the Full-Service option: The Full-Service Intelligent Mail option requires mailers to submit electronic mailing information via Mail.dat 9-1 or the Postal Wizard per the requirements outlined in the DMM and the Guide to Intelligent Mail for Letters and Flats. Mailers must complete a test process of Full Service file submissions through the Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) prior to using the Full Service option. The TEM will be available starting May 18, 2009. Mailers who are currently engaged in electronic documentation options using Mail.dat can continue to use Mail.dat 8-1 or Mail.dat 8-2 starting May 11, 2009 with the new prices. For more information, see the Electronic Documentation and Intelligent Mail Ready, Set, Go guide on RIBBS.

PostalOne! Release 20. Testing for PostalOne! release 20 is under way. This release supports the price change, the Intelligent Mail Full-Service deployment, and the new Business Customer Gateway. We are working to resolve issues with the Gateway to ensure a smooth transition. We will explain how to access the new Gateway in an updated version of the Full-Service Option User Access and Reports Guide, which we will rename “User Access to Electronic Mailing Information and Reports” and post on RIBBS by April 17.