July 20, 2009

 

Intelligent Mail^® Services Weekly Update

Intelligent Mail^® Full-Service Feedback Sample Data Files:  With the Full-Service option, mailers receive address correction information to include Change of Address and Nixie records at no charge. This data is available via downloadable reports and Mail.XML^® electronic messages. Mailers also receive Start-the-Clock and Container Visibility data at no charge. This data is available via online reports and Mail.XML electronic exchange messages. Sample data files illustrating Intelligent Mail Full-Service feedback formats will be posted on our RIBBS™ Website on July 22. We will also post sample Customer Supplier Agreement files. This data will be accessible via the Important Links on the Intelligent Mail Services, Guides page and the Intelligent Mail Services, Latest News page. The sample data will be as follows:

 

Full-Service ACS™ Change of Address (COA) Data in comma delimited (CSV), Excel (XLS), and Mail.XML.

Full-Service ACS Nixie Data in comma delimited (CSV), Excel (XLS), and Mail.XML.

Full-Service Start-the-Clock Data in Mail.XML.

Full-Service Container Visibility Induction Scan Data in Mail.XML.

Full-Service Customer/Supplier Agreement (CSA) Data.

 

PostalOne! Patch Release 20.1 (July 19):  Previously we reported issues with the downloadable Full-Service address correction reports that are provisioned as part of Full-Service. We will address these issues in the July 19 software upgrade. The functionality supported in this upgrade is explained in PostalOne! Version 20.1 Pre-Release Notes on RIBBS, under “Intelligent Mail Services,” then “Guides”. The User Access to Electronic Mailing Information and Reports Guide demonstrates the Full-Service address correction data elements that are provided by the software today as illustrated in Appendix A and has been updated to reflect how the data elements will be provisioned in the July 19 patch as illustrated in Appendix B.

9-digit Mailer ID Renumbering:  Mailer IDs are numbers assigned by the Postal Service for mailers to use within Intelligent Mail barcodes. A Mailer ID can be a 6-digit or 9-digit number depending upon the mailer's volume. 9-digit Mailer IDs (MIDs) must start with the number 9. Over the past years, some mailers have been allowed to use their unique Dun & Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (D-U-N-S®) number as a Mailer ID. Although D-U-N-S numbers are 9-digits in length, many do not start with the number 9. D-U-N-S numbers that do not begin with the number 9 and are used as MIDs will be replaced with MIDs that start with the number 9. We will issue the new MIDs to mailers beginning in mid-August. Mailers will have 60 days to convert to the newly assigned MIDs. Parcel and Confirmation Services mailers are not affected at this time.   

Customer Registration Identification (CRID) Consolidation:  A CRID is a customer registration number that is assigned for each unique business location that is or has been identified in our postal systems applications. A new CRID is created whenever a user enters a new address location when signing up for a business account through the Business Customer Gateway. Currently, CRIDs are created when the combination of business name and address is unique. In many cases, multiple CRIDs have been created by many users of the same location. Such multiple CRID assignments are generally due to the manner in which the user creating the location account has entered the business name and/or location. Over time, numerous users have entered business name and location data into several postal systems.  As part of the May 11^th software release to support Full-Service Intelligent Mail, data from postal systems were centralized and were made available as part of the Business Customer Gateway customer user identification system. Some customers may have discovered having multiple location accounts (i.e., CRIDs) in the system. The intent of the CRID consolidation effort is to eliminate as much of the overpopulation of CRIDs as possible so that users have one CRID for each location and all services are attached to that one CRID. We will engage in CRID clean up during the months of July and August and will notify mailers of the results of any affected CRIDs. As part of the CRID consolidation effort, we will: 

1.  Consolidate CRIDs for locations with same and/or similar addresses and assign one “winning” CRID to replace all related CRIDs. 

2.  Replace the old CRIDs across the various systems in Full-Service supporting functions of payment, scheduling, mail induction, and mailer identification with the winning CRID value.

3.  Merge records for Business Service Administrators (BSA), opt-in/opt-out choices, and pending requests.

 

Intelligent Mail Symposium:  An IMb University session, sponsored by the National Postal Forum, was held on July 16 in Dallas/Fort Worth. The next IMb University is scheduled for Tuesday, October 6, in Columbus OH. The presentations made at the July 16 symposium will be posted on RIBBS on July 22.

 

Assistance: Please call the PostalOne!^® Help Desk at 1-800-522-9085 if you have any questions or problems accessing the Business Customer Gateway, your accounts, or submitting electronic documentation.