You Asked – We Answered - Melissa Data

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< IN THE SP TLIGHT >
You Asked – We Answered
MELISSA DATA Your Partner in Data Quality
Web Service. To get more info on the service,
go to www.MelissaData.com/insidersm.
Sincerely,
A MELISSA DATA PUBLICATION
11/08
Volume 2, Issue 6
INSIDER
Bud Walker and Admound Chou – our resident Data Quality Insider experts – have
their fi ngers on the pulse on our most frequently asked questions on Address Object.
Th eir answers below will give you exclusive, hands-on tips on the most eff ective ways to
utilize the address verifi cation solution. Read on.
Why should I use DPV®, EWS and LACS Link ®?
Companies use DPV because it verifi es that an address actually exists and receives mail
rather than using ZIP+4 ranges to confi rm an address. Addresses that are not DPV validated
may not receive mail and may not even exist. LACS Link will update a rural route
address to a 911 street address, and the weekly EWS fi le will code addresses that are so new
they are not in the USPS® database yet.
How can I customize the validation level with Address Object?
When DPV is enabled a ‘9’ is returned in the StatusCode property, which indicates that
the address is in the range but is not DPV verifi ed. Th is is considered undeliverable by the
USPS. A ‘V’ indicates that the address is DPV verifi ed. However, if the address has a suite
then you should take into account the SuiteStatus property as well. Th e ‘V’ present here will
indicate that the suite is DPV verifi ed. Some companies choose to keep addresses that do
not have DPV verifi ed suites because the postman may know which suite or mailbox corresponds
to the customers’ name.
NCOA Link ® Move-Update processing will be required for
mailers wishing to do a volume mailing of Standard Mail®,
which includes letters, fl ats, parcels, non-machinables, and
First Class Mail® presorted pieces by Nov. 23. Address
updating will increase minimum frequency from 185 to 95
days prior to mailing on that date – all in an eff ort to reduce
undeliverable-as-addressed mail. Make sure that you are
NCOA compliant with our 24/7 NCOA Link SmartMover
continued on page 3
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<
DATA QUALITY TOOLS
Address Object
Canadian Address Object
Data Quality Web Service
DQ*Plus
Email Object
GeoCoder Object
MatchUp Object
Name Object
Personator API
Phone Object
Presort Object
Right Fielder API
SmartMover Web Service
StyleList API
>
>
Bud Walker
DQT Product Manager

2
Data Quality INSIDER NOVEMBER 08 WWW.MELISSADATA.COM
Tips +Tricks
By Admound Chou, DQT Assistant Manager
+ Switching to the New Name Object
As you may have noticed, an enhanced version of Name
Object was recently released on the new Data Quality Suite
DVD. This updated version has more features, and it is cross
platform as well. The new features of the enhanced version
of Name Object will make you want to switch over.
The new Name Object allows you to:
Create salutations
Parse multiple names
Set gender aggression
Detect company and suspicious words
Change codes, correct fi rst names, and confi gure
the object
You can add all of these new features with a few additional
lines of code. First, you will have to change your application
code using Name Object and recompile. This version of
Name Object is not binary compatible with the previous
format.
With these changes, you can quickly start using the new
Name Object. The structure of the new Name Object is
very similar to the previous version, so converting your
code should be very quick and easy. Here, I highlighted the
existing code that will change.
Mr. Ms. Jr. Mrs. Miss. Mr. Ms. Mrs. Prof. Dr.
MELISSA DATA Your Partner in Data Quality
Name Object
1. Creating an instance of Name Object:
Old: VBScript - NameObject.Parse
.NET – NAMEOBJECTLib.NameParse
New: VBScript - mdNameObj.mdName
.NET - mdNAMEOBJECTLib.mdName
2. You will need a new license string. Please contact your
sales representative for a new one.
3. Initialization:
Old: NameObj.Initialize(“Path to Mp4fname.dat”)
New: NameObj.PathToNameFiles=”Path to mdName.dat,
mdName.cfg”
NameObj.InitializeDataFiles()
4. Parsing a full name:
Old: NameObj.Parse(”Joe Doe Jr”)
New: NameObj.FullName=”Joe Doe Jr”
NameObj.Parse()
5. Status Code:
Old: Blank = Good, V = Vulgar, X = Unable to Parse
New: V = Verifi ed (Good), X = Bad (Check Error Code).
Please take a look at the manual for more details and begin
taking advantage of these features. To fi nd out more about
the new Name Object, please go to:
www.MelissaData.com/insiderno

Data Quality INSIDER NOVEMBER 08 WWW.MELISSADATA.COM
< IN THE SP TLIGHT >
continued from Page 1
More answers to Address Object
Th ere is a bit of risk in that approach, so make sure that your
logic accounts a ‘V’ in the StatusCode and a ‘V’ in the
SuiteStatus which signifi es 100 percent verifi ed. Remember,
USPS will not guarantee delivery to a business address
without a suite number.
What are the minimum address components to verify
an address?
Address, City, State or Address, and ZIP Code
How do I validate addresses with data in diff erent
fi elds?
Here are some possible inputs: Address, Address2 and Suite.
Address Object allows you to input the address in several different
ways. You may put the suite in the “Suite” property,
at the end of the address in the “Address” property, or in the
“Address2” property. In addition, if you have a valid address
in the Address2 fi eld, but invalid text in the Address1 fi eld,
Address Object will swap these two fi elds for you and validate
the address.
Here are some possible outputs: Address, Address2, Suite
and PrivateMailbox. Address Object will parse the suite and
the private mailbox out of the address if the address is validated.
For the complete address line on a letter, make sure
to combine the Address, Suite, and PrivateMailbox fi elds.
Th e Address2 fi eld will always be returned back to you in the
Address2 fi eld (unless it was swapped) unchanged.
What are the required and optional inputs for Address
Object?
Company (Optional) Used to return special Plus4s and
append suites (SuiteLink)
Address (Required)
Address2 (Optional)
Suite (Optional)
City (Optional if ZIP present)
State (Optional if ZIP present)
ZIP (Optional if City State present otherwise required)
Plus4 (Optional used for Unique Addresses)
Urbanization (Optional helps to break ties in Puerto Rico
only)
Country Code (Optional used to help determine US or
Canada)
What are unique ZIP® codes?
Sometimes you will have addresses that seemingly contain
garbage but still code. Th is is because of a Unique ZIP Code
which is assigned to a business, school, military base, etc.
where a plus 4 of 0001 is appended regardless of the address
submitted. An example of a unique ZIP is ZIP Code “12345.”
Th e ZIP type property can be used to identify unique ZIPs.
What is a vanity address?
A vanity or alias address is used in some cities and is a holdover
from the past. Examples would be 114th Ave., which
could be called locally River Road. Address Object will
change these addresses from the vanity form to an actual
street address.
What is a vanity city name and how do I return only
the preferred city name?
A vanity city name is an acceptable city name for the address
and ZIP Code submitted. If the city name is an acceptable or
vanity city name, the object will not change the city property.
If the city appended is not acceptable, the object will change
the city to the USPS preferred city name. For example, Hollywood
is a vanity city name for Los Angeles in certain ZIPs.
Some types of applications such as insurance will want only
the preferred city name.
Address Object can be customized to return only the USPS
preferred city by setting the following property to true.
UseUSPSPreferredCityName = True
What is an APO/FPO?
APO/FPO addresses are military bases and can be coded by
Address Object. Examine the ZIP Type to determine if the
address is one of these.
Have more questions?
Send Bud or Admound an email if you’ve got more questions:
bud@melissadata.com or admound@melissadata.com
Your Partner in Data Quality MELISSA DATA
3

News Bytes
Urgent Notice!
Discontinued Notice for Certain Platforms and Interfaces
For the Linux platform, we are now supporting Red Hat Linux 8.0 and
above only, using gcc 3.3 or better. Users who were using the Red Hat Linux
7.2 version compiled with gcc 2.96 (previously located in Linux/compat)
will need to upgrade. Th e old version is still available on the legacy disk, but
will be unavailable starting in 2009.
For the Solaris platform, we are now supporting only Solaris 8.0 and above;
the previous versions compiled under Solaris 7 are available on the legacy
disk, but will be unavailable starting in 2009. All Solaris objects on the new
disk are compiled under Solaris 8.
For both the Linux and Solaris platforms, the old-style legacy interface
code using “libAddr.so” and “libaddr.h” is no longer supported. It is available
on the legacy disk, but will be unavailable starting in 2009. Other than the
above-noted changes, the object code on the new disk is identical to that on
the legacy disk, just moved to the new locations to enable future expansion.
>>Melissa Data Kicks Off New Data Quality Suite DVD Layout
Th e Data Quality Suite objects are now located in their respective folders namely
Address, Email, Name, Phone and Presort on the new disk. Th is makes for a more
logical layout and enables us to further expand our choices for Operating System
(OS) and compilers. For setup on Windows, setup.exe is on the root of the DVD. For
Unix, each product folder contains a setup.sh script to install that product.
In each product directory, we have a folder for each platform we support, a folder
named “data” that contains the data fi les for that product, as well as the PDF manual
and readme. For each supported operating system, we have an individual folder
for each compiler and/or architecture. Also included are “samples” and “interfaces”
folders if available. Th e “samples” folder contains sample code for that product. Th e
“interfaces” folder contains interfaces to connect our product to various languages
that do not have native support.
For example, the native version of Address Object for Solaris will be in “address/
solaris/ws6_32bit”, the java interface for this object in “address/solaris/interfaces/
java” and the data fi les in “address/data.” Included in each directory with the object is
a C++ sample, the compiled sample program, and a makefi le.
Th e old DVD will be
discontinued as of Jan 2009
Th e New Data Quality
Suite DVD
Reduce costs linked with duplicate
records. Download a free MatchUp
Object demo. Call 1-800-MELISSA
or go to:
www.MelissaData.com/insidermup
Clean and consolidate the data in your
Oracle, SQL or DB2 database with
DQ*Plus. Request a demo.
www.MelissaData.com/
insiderdqplus
Append lat/long data to a valid
postal address. Get a free trial of our
GeoCoder Object.
www.MelissaData.com/insidergeo
Editor Abby Telleria
Writers Bud Walker, Admound Chou, Tim Sidor
Art Director Melody Yen
Contact the editor at insider@melissadata.com
Melissa Data Corp.
22382 Avenida Empresa
Rancho Santa Margarita
California, 92688-2112
Ph 1-800-MELISSA (635-4772)
Fax 949-589-5211
www.MelissaData.com
© 2008 Melissa Data Corp. All rights reserved.