October 9, 2009

Intelligent Mail Services Update

* Reminder! * BUSINESS CUSTOMER GATEWAY Webinar:  The Business Customer Gateway is the portal to doing business electronically with the USPS^®.  Customers who register on the Business Customer Gateway can gain access to PostalOne!^®, FAST^®, Mailer IDs, Full-Service reports and much more.  A Business Customer Gateway Webinar is scheduled for Friday, October 9, 2:00-4:00 PM EDT and Wednesday, October 14, 2:00 from 4:00 PM EDT.  The link, phone number, and meeting ID for this presentation are posted on RIBBS™>Intelligent Mail^® Services>Latest News.

More Webinars:  Webinars on the following topics will be held during the month of October:

Full-Service Troubleshooting, October 16 and 21:  This webinar is designed to help mailers navigate through frequently experienced issues such as By/For Conflicts and non-uniqueness of the Intelligent Mail barcode in a Full-Service mailing.

Full-Service Changes in November, October 23 and 28:  The November PostalOne! Release 22.0 software upgrade for Full-Service will address functionality to support the discounts for Full-Service and enhanced Mail.XML^® capabilities.  This webinar will explain the new functionality and enhanced Mail.XML capabilities

Additional information on these webinars will be in future Intelligent Mail Service Updates and the links, phone numbers, and meeting IDs for these webinars will be on RIBBS>Intelligent Mail Services>Latest News .    

 *Reminder!*  FAST Outage (October 18) - FAST maintenance has been scheduled for Sunday, October 18, 2009.  A system-wide outage for FAST is planned for Sunday, October 18 during the scheduled maintenance window of 4:00 am CT to 8:00 am CDT.  During this outage, FAST online scheduling will not be available.  FAST Web Services messages sent during this time will be queued and processed after the maintenance is complete.  If appointments are needed during the outage window, please schedule these appointments by October 18, 2009 at 3:00 am CDT.

Guides & Specifications Updates:  On October 9, updated guides will be posted to RIBBS>Intelligent Mail Services>Guides.  Changes include:  A Guide to Intelligent Mail for Letters and Flats, Section 4 was enhanced to improve the descriptions on Full-Service feedback and distribution methods.  In the User Access to Electronic Mailing Information Reports Guide: Access to Electronic Mailing Reports, Full-Service Address Correction Data Elements (Exhibit B), two new fields were added to the layout of the ACS download report as the industry requested.  The old address delivery point ZIP Code^® and the new address delivery point ZIP Code which will be available in the PostalOne! Release 22 scheduled for November 15. 

A draft updated Postal Service™ Mail.dat^® Technical Specification is on RIBBS>Intelligent Mail Services>Guides.  This update enhances the description of existing file validations and the features that will be available in PostalOne! Release 22.  It describes the use of the USPS^® Mail.dat Client to upload the version 08-2 file available November 15 and includes a description of workstation requirements for Mail.dat large file submissions.  An updated version of this specification will be published October 16 taking into account industry feedback received during the review period. 

A draft updated Postal Service Mail.XML Technical Specification will be posted for industry review from November 2 – November 6.  All three volumes, i.e., Postal Service Mail.XML Technical Specification for Postage Payment and Reporting (eDoc), Postal Service Mail.XML Technical Specification for Appointment Scheduling (FAST), and Postal Service Mail.XML Technical Specification for Profiles and Full-Service Feedback, will be updated with this publication.  This updated version will include enhanced descriptions on the use of Mail.XML messaging for receiving Full-Service ACS™.  It will include server security specification for mailers who wish to receive Full-Service feedback via the Mail.XML push method.  It will also include enhanced WSDL files to help with software development.  Old WSDL files will remain available and backward compatible to avoid any impacts to existing software.  The final Mail.XML Technical Specification will be published on November 12.

Full-Service Issues: Some mailers are experiencing problems submitting and finalizing Mail.dat files for large Periodical co-mail jobs.  The Postal Service is deploying a fix in PostalOne! Release 22 to address this issue.  The fix will reduce the length of time it takes to process the large periodical Mail.dat jobs and correct a related problem with viewing these jobs on the dashboard.

The Mail.XML push method is being enhanced to include a secure data transfer method which is scheduled for PostalOne! Release 22 scheduled for November 15.  Mailers who wish to retrieve Full-Service feedback can use the online reports or the Mail.XML pull method until then. 

Full-Service Intelligent Answers:  We conduct weekly telecons entitled Full-Service Intelligent Answers.  The calls continue this Friday from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT.  These calls are for customers who are testing file submission in the Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) or for customers who have migrated to using Full-Service in production and have questions or are experiencing issues.  Mailers can exchange information among themselves and postal experts are available to answer questions.  If you are currently testing in TEM or have successfully completed the TEM process, but have not received an invitation to the calls, please contact the PostalOne! Help Desk at 1-800-522-9085.

National Postal Forum:  Save the date.  The 2010 National Postal Forum is scheduled for April 11-14 in Nashville TN.

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.  The PostalOne! Help Desk is accessible from Canada at no charge.