The Address Change Service (ACS) Import accepts USPS generated ACS Fulfillment files in both "Traditional" and "OneCode" formats. ACS files contain address changes that mail recipients filed with the Postal Service and "nixies" that result from the Postal Service being unable to either deliver or forward a mail piece.
For Traditional ACS each record in the ACS file contains a key field which includes the QuickFill customer and order number plus a check digit that is used to verify that the numbers are in fact QuickFill numbers and did not originate in some other system. For Traditional ACS this key field is printed at the top of the address label in a format that is both human and machine readable.
For OneCode ACS the key field is replaced by a bar code which includes, among other things, a "mail piece ID number". The mail piece ID number is the key data that enables QuickFill to identify which customer the address change refers to. Unfortunately the mail piece ID number field in the bar code only has room for the QuickFill customer number and not the order number.
For Traditional ACS you must print the key field on the address label. The key field is named ACSKEY and can be found in the issue label files generated by QuickFill.
For OneCode ACS you must print the bar code on the address label according to the USPS specifications. QuickFill does not have the ability to print the bar codes. Generally that capability is provided by the sorting and mailing software used by your mail shop. The mail piece ID number that the mail shop will need to construct the bar code is named either ONECODE9 or ONECODE6 in the QuickFill issue label files. The ONECODE9 field contains a nine digit mail piece ID and should be used by publishers that were assigned a six digit mailer ID by the USPS. Conversely, the ONECODE6 field contains a six digit mail pice ID and should be used by publishers that were assigned a nine digit mailer ID by the USPS.
The ONECODE9 ID field consists of a prefix digit of 1, 2 or 3 followed by the customer number, zero filled and without a check digit. The prefix digit is based on the current month, where 1 is January, April, July and October, 2 is February, May, August and November and 3 is March, June, September and December. The idea is that the same mail piece identifier number will not reoccur within any 45 day period, provided the publication is published no more than once a month. USPS specifications state that the mail piece ID should be unique within any 45 day period, but do not say how this rule is enforced or what happens if you break the rule.
The ONECODE6 ID field contains the customer number stripped of its check digit and with the top one or two digits removed if needed to fit within the six digit limit. The resulting number should be unique for databases with less than one million customers. If you frequently import and then subsequently purge lists of prospects, your customer numbers may be too long and the ONECODE6 field will not contain a unique number. In that situation the ACS importer attempts to resolve ambiguous OneCode mail piece ID numbers by checking the zip codes associated with all of the possible matching customer numbers.
For address changes only the customer number is needed to apply the address change. The address change will apply to all prospect and subscription records owned by that customer. An entry will be made in the subscription history for all of the subscriptions affected.
For nixies, the handling depends on whether the file is in Traditional ACS or OneCode ACS format. For the Traditional ACS format, where the order number of the subscription is available, the subscription status will be changed to 'suspended indefinitely' and an entry will be made in the subscription history. For the OneCode ACS format, where the order number is never available, the customer's postal address allowed usage flag will be set to 'N' and an entry will be made in the subscription history of all of the customer's subscriptions.
Notes
Changes of address where the new address is in a foreign country are not processed. The record is copied to the reject file and a warning message appears in the report file.
The importer may be run while other users are working in the same database. The importer is protected against system errors. In the event of a failure during an import run it is not necessary to restore the database.
Input file
Enter the file name and path of the ACS file you received from the Postal Service. You can click the 'Browse' button on the right to locate the file using a traditional Windows file browsing window.
Reject file
Enter the name for a file in which any rejected records will be placed. Records that are rejected due to data errors will be written to this file which has the same format as the input file, but with the addition of one extra field on the end which contains the text of the error message. You can use a text editor application such as Notepad to view and correct the rejected records.
Only process records with this mailer ID
Leave this box blank to process all records. If a mailer ID (or participant code, in Traditional ACS terms) is entered, only records with the designated mailer ID will be processed. This is useful when you have multiple QuickFill databases, each of which corresponds to a different mailer ID.
Test run, no changes will be made
Check this box to perform a dry run with your input file. No changes will be made to the database, but you will get a report of any errors found by the importer.
Process address change records
Normally the ACS import processes both address change and nixie records in the input file. Uncheck this box to skip the address change records.
Change to upper and lower case
Change to upper case
The importer gives the option of converting incoming addresses to upper and lower case or all upper case. QuickFill uses a special user-customizable text file to identify words which have special upper and lower case formats. For example, company names such as IBM or AT&T would look strange if they were printed as Ibm or At&t. The file named QFCONVERT.INI in your QuickFill program directory contains a section labeled [SPECIALCAPS] which identifies words that require special treatment. You can customize this file as desired using a text editor application such as Notepad.
Process "Nixie" records with order numbers by suspending the subscription
If the incoming data includes order numbers (Traditional ACS only) then QuickFill can identify the specific subscription that was undeliverable and will suspend that subscription to prevent further mailings until you are able to make contact with the subscriber and get a corrected address. There are many different types of nixies, each of which has a corresponding check box. If you wish you can choose to ignore some of those types of nixies by unchecking the appropriate box.
Process "Nixie" records without order numbers by setting the allowed usage flag to N
If the incoming data does not include an order number then QuickFill can identify the customer but not the specific subscription that was undeliverable. It would be a mistake to suspend all of a customer's subscriptions since some of those subscriptions may be delivered electronically, not through the mail. Accordingly, QuickFill takes a less drastic action and marks the customer record with an 'N' in the postal address allowed usage field. It will be up to you to remove customers with 'N' flags from any future mailings that you make— QuickFill will not do so automatically since it does not know exactly how each mailing will be delivered.