430 likes | 626 Views
Full Service™ ACS™ and Intelligent Mail® Barcoding. Lisa West, USPS April 13, 2010. Full Service ACS™. In the beginning, there was ACS™. Early-1980s, ACS™ designed and deployed Provided enhanced address correction process
E N D
Full Service™ ACS™ and Intelligent Mail® Barcoding Lisa West, USPS April 13, 2010
Full Service ACS™ In the beginning, there was ACS™ • Early-1980s, ACS™ designed and deployed • Provided enhanced address correction process • Address corrections generated and distributed in an electronic format • Reduced USPS cost for address correction collection and delivery • Reduced mailer costs partially automating mailing list updates
Full Service ACS™ Traditional ACS™ • Mailer completes a profile, selecting various treatment options • USPS® assigns a Participant ID -- 7 alpha characters • Mailer prints Participant ID and optional keyline at the top of the address block on each mailpiece requesting service • Mailer send samples to (National Customer Support Center) NCSC for review and approval • Mailer prints ancillary service endorsement on each piece where required • Records pulled by mailer from RIBBS, or mailed on CD
Full Service ACS™ OneCode ACS™ • In 2006, OneCode ACS™ introduced • Designed as part of the Intelligent Mail ® barcode • Required same setup, class and endorsement assignments • Record format same as Traditional, with an added field • Records pulled by mailer from RIBBS • Scanners added to Computerized Forwarding System (CFS) • Postal Automated Redirection Service (PARS) could either read and interpret text, or read the barcode
Full Service ACS™ Full Service ACS™ • In May of 2009, Full Service ACS™ was introduced • New setup process • Provided new data format • Delivered in new ways – records viewed/pulled from Gateway, pulled from site, or pushed from USPS • Free for First-Class Mail® participants • Limited no charge records for other classes
Full Service ACS™ Generation of Records • Depends on several conditions • Readable barcode • Mailer ID set up for records from barcode • Mailer ID set up for records from traditional • Service Type ID requesting service • Ancillary Service Endorsement printed where required
Full Service ACS™ Unreadable or Invalid Barcodes • Unreadable Intelligent Mail® barcodes disqualify the IMb™ services requested, i.e. • OneCode Confirm® • OneCode ACS® • Full-Service ACS™ • Services indicated on the mailpiece would be applicable at their regular costs • Traditional ACS™ • Ancillary Service Endorsements
Full Service ACS™ Common Barcode Print Issues • Inkjet on piece less successful than paper labels • Reported barcode inadequacies: • Printing is very light, or light and dark in sections • Voids in the bars • Waviness or curvature in the bars • All or some bars smeared
Full Service ACS™ Barcode Production Issues • Barcode placement too close to address info or to edge of white space • Entire address block skewed off the white space • Barcode is not entirely on paper label or in address white space • Glue attaching label to piece oozes over barcode or makes it lumpy
Full Service ACS™ MID • Mailer ID • Assigned to a company • One MID can only have one Customer Registration ID (CRID) • One CRID can have one or more MIDs • 6 Digit or 9 Digit designed for IMb™ focus on customer identification • authorization of electronic transactions • required for third party data distribution in eDocs and in MID profiles
Full Service ACS™ Service Type ID (STID) • Intelligent Mail® service level • Full-Service, Basic, or non-auto • Class of Mail* • First-Class Mail®, Periodicals, Standard Mail®, Bound Printed Matter • Additional services requested • For example, OneCode Confirm® or OneCode ACS® * While the STID does have a class identity, in Undeliverable-as-Addressed (UAA) processing, the actual class of mail is determined by the postage field of interest or other elements on the piece that indicate class.
Full Service ACS™ Choosing a STID • Data Feedback • Address corrections – Yes or No? • OneCode Confirm® • Mailpiece disposition • Costs • Use “The Guide To Intelligent Mail Letters and Flats”, Appendix A, for making these decisions and assessing business risk
Full Service ACS™ Common STID Issues • May never be all zeros, all nines or blank • Must match the STIDs in the ACS™ Guide • Some presort software will change the Service Type Identifiers for the non-auto portion if desired • When extra services are requested other steps may be needed to use specific Service Type IDs • Common invalid STIDs: • 234 (Where entire barcode appears to be 0123456789012345678901234567890 • 345 (Where entire barcode appears to be 1234567890123456789012345678901
Full Service ACS™ Full Service STID on Basic/Non-Auto • No free Full-Service ACS™ data for the Basic and non-automation portions will be provided • Postal Service™ cannot commit to a specific time when ACS™ data, and the appropriate charges, might be available
Full Service ACS™ After Records are Generated • PARS and CFS generate ACS™ records (Traditional or OneCode) • Records transmitted to NCSC • NCSC performs several edits and deduping processes on COA-related records to validate the record for delivery • NCSC fulfills and bills for Traditional and OneCode ACS® records • All OneCode records bearing a Service Type ID indicating Full-Service are sent to Full-Service for verification
Full Service ACS™ Full Service Record Matching
Full Service ACS™ STID in the Documentation • As part of the total IMb™ • Piece Detail Record (.pdr) • Manifest Individual Record (.mir) • If it's not in one of those two records, it's not in the Mail.dat
Full Service ACS™ Full Service Data Distribution • Mail Owner and Mail Preparer must be identified in the By/For section of the Full-Service electronic documentation • Full Service ACS™ is distributed to One Entity: • Mail Owner or Delegate
Full Service ACS™ Full Service Feedback • Submit eDoc with the Mail Owner and Mail Preparer identified • CRID • PERMIT Number (not Publication Number) • Mailer ID • If the Intended recipient wishes to retrieve the data you can use one of the three options above to identify the Mail Owner/ Mail Preparer • If the intended recipient wishes to delegate the data to a Third Party they should use the Mailer ID in the By/For in the eDoc
Full Service ACS™ CRID • Customer Registration ID • Assigned to a company at a unique location • Every Location has a unique CRID • A Permit should only have one CRID • You can have multiple Permits for one CRID • CRID is used for company identification and authorization of electronic transactions • CRID is the master ID
Full Service ACS™ Managing Full Service ACS™ Data • Who gets Full-Service ACS™ • Mail Owners • Mail Owners can Delegate to One Party A MID can be delegated to an affiliate (Business Entity). The new delegate would then control the data distribution.
Full Service ACS™ Full-Service ACS™ Free Records • First-Class Mail® • All COA and Nixie address correction records without additional charge for subsequent notices • Must meet Move Update requirements • Standard Mail® • The first unique COA/Nixie notice at no additional charge • Subsequent notice at no additional charge for 30 days • Must meet Move Update requirements • Periodicals • The first unique COA/Nixie notice at no additional charge • Subsequent notice at no additional charge for 60 days
Full Service ACS™ Record Contents • COA: Original IMb™, the Move Effective Date, move type (Family, Individual, Business), parsed name from the COA -not the mailpiece, parsed old and new address • Nixie: Original IMb, the Mailer ID, serial number, old address (if it can be derived from the ZIP data in the barcode), and non-delivery reason code. • Temporarily Away: Original IMb, parsed name from the COA, and “Temporarily Away” message
Full Service ACS™ Sample COA Report
Full Service ACS™ Sample Nixie Report
Full Service ACS™ Record Delivery Methods • Browser based download: Online web page allows downloading of compressed files over HTTPS protocol • Mail.XML Pull: Customer sends Request message invoking USPS Web Services to pull data in XML format • Mail.XML Push: USPS invokes a customer’s Web Service method/URL and pushes XML data to the customer Web Service • Postal Service Mail.XML Technical Specification (RIBBS) • User Access to Mailing Information and Reports (RIBBS)
Full Service ACS™ Browser Based Download • Select the “Address Correction Service (ACS™)” link from the Full Service Reports page to access the Address Correction Service (ACS™) Reports page • The Download Full Service ACS™ COA report allows the user to search ACS™ records, display sample data, and download the result set in a CSV or excel format • The Nixie Details Report screen allows the user to search Nixie Detail records, display sample data, and download the result set in a CSV or Excel format.
Full Service ACS™ Mail.XML Pull ACS™ Reports • Submit eDoc with the Mail Owner identified (both By/For is required, ACS™ goes only to owner or designee) • Sign up at the Customer Gateway • Get a Username and Password • Get your CRID for your mailing location • Manage Mailing Activity for access to Electronic Data Exchange (access to XML specs, software tools and TEM) • Mail Owner can assign a designee through MID profiles
Full Service ACS™ Mail.XML Push ACS™ Reports Set Up Mailer ID Push Subscription Profile • Mailer’s Web Services URL • A username and a password that the USPS can use to connect to Mailer’s computer • Subscription types: Notification Or Delivery • Full-Service ACS™ • Full-Service Nixie
Full Service ACS™ Mail.XML Push Data Setup • Submit eDoc with the Mail Owner identified • Sign up to the Customer Gateway • Get a Username and Password • Get your CRID for your mailing location • Manage Mailing Activity for access to Electronic Data Exchange (access to XML specs, software tools and TEM) • Set up a Subscription Profile by service data in the USPS Customer gateway
Full Service ACS™ Full Service ACS™ Fulfillment • There are many reasons that a mailing could be disqualified as Full-Service • If any of the requirements are not met, the mailing does not qualify • If the mailing does not qualify, the record-matching process will not occur • ACS® records will not be provided for non-qualifying mailings or pieces
Full Service ACS™ Invalid IMb™ on mailpiece
Mailpiece data conflicts with Mail.dat® Full Service ACS™
Service Type Codes within the data inconsistent with Mail.dat® Full Service ACS™
Barcodes not unique across mailings Full Service ACS™
Barcodes not unique within the mailing Full Service ACS™
Invalid MID - piece barcode Full Service ACS™
Preparer same MID as Mail Owner Full Service ACS™
Invalid STID in Mail.dat® PDR Full Service ACS™
Full Service ACS™ Summary • Full Service is complex, but constructed of well-defined and documented requirements • Mailers participate by acquiring a Mailer ID, associate it with a Customer Registration ID, manage their accounts in the Business Customer Gateway, and prepare the mail according to the guides and technical specifications • All guides and specifications are located on RIBBS at http://ribbs.usps.govunder Intelligent Mail Services.
Full Service ACS™ Questions • To receive Full Service benefits, the mail must have a Full Service Mailer ID in the barcode. • The principal document to use to prepare for Full Service ACS is the “Guide to Intelligent Mail Letters and Flats”. • Only the mail owner can receive Full Service ACS records.