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StreamWeaver Forum and Newsgroup What You Always Wanted to Know About Presorting StreamWeaver Visual Engineer And Newsgroup Announced At Xplor User Forum The StreamWeaver Forum held its Xplor Affiliate User Group meeting at the 20th Xplor Global Conference held in Los Angeles, CA. The meeting provided the opportunity to introduce new offerings, including StreamWeaver Visual Engineer, a new application development and testing tool, and the StreamWeaver Newsgroup. Pitney Bowes is planning to continue to hold telephone conferences throughout 2000. Please watch for emails announcing the next meetings, agenda etc. StreamWeaver Visual Engineer StreamWeaver Visual Engineer allows document production professionals to easily create production-ready applications utilizing a seamless and integrated solution. Development and testing tools are now combined in one easy-to-use system that provides a methodology to make application development easier and ensure that applications are production-ready faster. StreamWeaver Visual Engineer enables you to: Return to the top of the Page Maximize productivity: The system s intuitive and simple-to-use environment provide templates that allow high productivity for developing and testing applications. Optimize production trials: The system's highly accurate testing capability shortens the time and effort required to make applications production-ready, so they can be put to work faster. Visual Engineer gives you the ability to actually test the StreamWeaver application you created within the control of your Windows NT desktop or laptop, to gain significant savings in time, resources and money. StreamWeaver Visual Engineer consists of the following components: Print Stream Analyst provides the ability to view and analyze print streams Application Developer provides the ability to create StreamWeaver control and rule files StreamWeaver Application Test provides the ability to actually run the StreamWeaver application on your Windows NT desktop
View Capability integrates current viewing technology to view document changes incorporated into the StreamWeaver application to ensure it is production-ready. Current StreamWeaver customers can take advantage of special upgrade pricing to Visual Engineer. For more information regarding this offer send an email to info@pbss.com. Return to the top of the Page StreamWeaver Newsgroup In response to customer requests, Pitney Bowes launched the StreamWeaver Newsgroup Wednesday, November 3, 1999. The newsgroup offers StreamWeaver customers access to a worldwide "open all hours" venue where they can explore StreamWeaver s wider capabilities and gain direction on how to optimize the use of the software. Newsgroup members can share information, questions, solutions and advice with users both within and outside of their respective industries. This open sharing of information allows customers to learn how StreamWeaver s applications are being used in a range of document production operations to boost productivity, lower costs and improve mail piece effectiveness.1 Any StreamWeaver customer with a current maintenance support contract is eligible to enroll in the newsgroup. Benefits include: 24 hour, seven days per week access at the Pitney Bowes web site address, www.pbss.com The most complete and up-to-date collection of StreamWeaver information ever assembled by the user community Easy-to-use message board where you can read, respond and post questions and answers The ability to search and retrieve from an extensive archive where current StreamWeaver topics as well as past discussions are stored 1The information, opinions and service solutions expressed in the Newsgroup site are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect those of Pitney Bowes Inc. Thus, solutions or use of information suggested by the participants are distributed or used on an "as is" basis. 1999 Pitney Bowes Inc. All rights reserved
StreamWeaver Forum and Newsgroup What You Always Wanted to Know About Presorting More information about Mailer s Choice This interview took place between the editor of techdialogue and Jerry Taylor, the product champion and development manager for Mailer s Choice, the presort solution from Pitney Bowes. techdialogue: Jerry, what is the purpose of presort software like Mailer s Choice? Jerry: There are three good reasons for using presort software: 1. To pay the least amount of postage 2. To get the mail to its destination as quickly as possible 3. To let someone else worry about keeping up with the constant changes in presort regulations, just like most organizations do with payroll systems. techdialogue: How does it work? Jerry Taylor Development Manager for Mailer's Choice Jerry: A presort is nothing more than a "plan," based on a mailing list, that reflects how mail will be built, sequenced, packaged, trayed, sacked, palleted and shipped. The presort plan describes mail pieces that are not even physical yet, and shows all the manufacturing requirements for preparing and delivering that mail to the U. S. Postal Service (USPS). Then, when you re ready to create the physical mail pieces, the production goes smoothly, organizing the mail for the most efficient delivery to the USPS and ultimately to the recipient. techdialogue: How far in advance of the physical mailing does the plan need to be created? Jerry: The presort plan may be produced many days, or even weeks, before the actual mail pieces are prepared. It is actually quite a remarkable and accurate plan indeed. In fact, most project plans don t come close to the accuracy of a presort plan created by Mailer s Choice. techdialogue: Why is the USPS willing to grant postage discounts to mailers who use presort software? Jerry: The way the mail is sequenced and physically put into containers is paramount to how quickly and inexpensively the USPS can process the mail. If the mail is not presorted, the USPS will have to do much more work to get that mail sorted, organized, packaged and delivered. The more presorting the mailer does, the less work the USPS has to do. This saves the USPS time and money. The USPS "shares" these savings with the mailers who presort, by not charging full postage rates for the mail. It may only be pennies saved on each
mail piece, but medium- to high-volume mailers can save enough in just a few mailings to pay for the Mailer s Choice presort software. As an additional benefit, companies that have mail "follow" the presort plan will get the mail pieces to their clients faster. techdialogue: Is Mailer s Choice for high-volume mailers only? Jerry: Small to mid-sized mailers can also use Mailer s Choice to presort their mail. It is a solution that grows as the mailer s needs grow. By growth I mean both in number of pieces presorted as well as growth in different system environments. techdialogue: In which environments does Mailer s Choice run? Jerry: Mailer's Choice supports several UNIX systems, the Windows NT environment, as well as MVS and VSE mainframe systems. techdialogue: Does the USPS certify presort software? Jerry: Yes. The USPS has a Presort Accuracy Validation and Evaluation (testing) Program, called PAVE. Presort software must be PAVE certified, by passing a series of tests, before it can be used to create certain presort plans and related documentation for the mail. Presort software must also be PAVE certified for mailers to be eligible for postage discounts. techdialogue: Does the software ever have to be recertified? Jerry: Recertification, via PAVE tests, is required whenever new regulations are introduced because the presort software engine must be changed to support the new regulations. In addition, the USPS changes their PAVE tests about once a year with each new set of PAVE tests called a "cycle." The latest PAVE Cycle is "D." techdialogue: What is the current status of Mailer s Choice s PAVE certification? Jerry: Mailer s Choice has completed PAVE Cycle "D" certification tests for each class of mail and even passed a whole new set of PAVE Cycle "D" tests for L001 and Package Reallocation. We are also proud recipients of the prestigious USPS PAVE "GOLD" Product Certification! techdialogue: Will Mailer s Choice work in year 2000? Jerry: Mailer s Choice will work just fine as we move into the new millennium. In fact, I have personally tested Mailer's Choice with various dates, even beyond the Year 2000, to ensure it works not only for January 2000 but also through the Year 2000 and into the 21st century as well. Holidays were checked as well as leap years, and even the last day of 1999 as the year turned to 2000 on a test system. Mailer s Choice also tested fine as the year changed from 2000 to 2001, which is when the 21st century really begins. Let me be the first to publicly announce that "I stake my job on the fact that Mailer s Choice will not miscalculate totals, ABEND (tilt) nor even change into a pumpkin at midnight December 31, 1999 due to the century change." Our clients can attend New Year s Eve parties while having absolutely no worries about Mailer s Choice having Y2K problems. (They may be dancing in the dark if the electric grid fails, but Mailer s Choice will not fail!) techdialogue: What do you really feel is the most important advantage of using Mailer s Choice instead of writing presort software in-house, or purchasing presort software from a vendor other than Pitney Bowes?
Jerry: I feel the most important advantage of Mailer s Choice is that it runs the same on ALL platforms with ALL options. This is solid protection for a client s investment in presort software. techdialogue: How does that protect the client s investment? Jerry: Mailer s Choice generates the same great results on all platforms. Because of this, it s the ideal choice for disaster recovery. For example, if a client s UNIX system goes down for an extended period of time, they can install Mailer s Choice on one of many other platforms and still process, without changing any Mailer s Choice parameters, and still get the same results. This keeps their business going. At Pitney Bowes, it s important to ensure our clients don t experience unnecessary down time. Investing in the functionality and portability of Mailer s Choice provides the insurance needed to keep a business running. Mailer s Choice has the entire Pitney Bowes corporation behind it to solve any of our client s mail challenges and to represent them at the many postal and user group events. When choosing a software solution, it s important to take a close look at the company behind the product. The value of being part of the Pitney Bowes "family" should not be taken for granted. This is the first in a series of interviews designed to help promote the understanding and use of Mailer s Choice. The next issue of techdialogue will address the Pitney Bowes Software Systems internal quality assurance processes for maintaining and enhancing the software. 1999 Pitney Bowes Inc. All rights reserved
During the months of September and October, there were no new product issues with Finalist. It is important that you load the latest data and city files you have received from Pitney Bowes Software Systems into your system. The database changes are as follows: Type of Database Copyright Date Maintenance Date Expiration Date Datafile Version Bimonthly 8/15/99 7/16/99 12/1/99 3.4 Monthly 9/15/99 8/31/99 1/1/2000 3.4 Monthly 9/15/99 8/24/99 1/1/2000 3.5 Bimonthly 10/15/99 9/29/99 2/1/2000 3.4 Bimonthly 10/15/99 9/22/99 2/1/2000 3.5 Monthly 11/15/99 10/20/99 3/1/2000 3.4 Monthly 11/15/99 10/18/99 3/1/2000 3.5 ForwardTrak 3.0 will be released in November. It contains the 1999-2000 CASS engine, and other minor enhancements. Mailer s Choice Now Supports Optional Seed Name Record Entry Schedule for Periodicals (ESP) is a joint effort between the mailing industry and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to improve service for Periodicals. The USPS can document arrival of periodicals at an entry point of acceptance on the Mail.dat file. Using the Mail.dat
Seed Name Record, the publisher can identify when seeding has occurred and share the actual delivery information from their seed program. Some large printers require the use of the Mail.dat Seed Name Record so Standard (A) Mailers can participate in tracking programs offered by their printers to track time-sensitive promotions. This option is now available to purchase for use with Mailer s Choice. For more information on acquiring the Seed Name Record option for Mailer s Choice, please call Nevan Rand at 630.435.7386. Mailer s Choice Release 7.10.14 Enhanced To Support Selective Binding Large mailers of catalogues and all Periodicals mailers need to produce mailings where the pieces are not identical. These mailings can also have complicated logistical and regulatory requirements. Print finishing equipment provides for "selective binding" to produce versions or issues of a publication or catalogue which differ in content so that target marketing and customer personalization goals can be achieved. While printers sometimes differentiate themselves by their ability to manage these complicated production scenarios, delivery is often neglected and postage discounts are forsaken because the mailstream has been optimized for the logistics of selective binding. The Selective Bind feature in Mailers' Choice provides for efficient preparation of commingled non-identical pieces while also satisfying the USPS requirements, therefore providing deliverability and postage discounts. This new feature enables companies to enhance the following areas: Identification and management of different sized pieces on the input mailing list file Support for differing advertising percentages, surcharges, etc. at the piece group level Reporting capabilities to satisfy USPS requirements and operations using Selective Bind For further information regarding this feature, please refer to the Mailer s Choice User Documentation. Mailer s Choice For UNIX Distribution Changes Effective with the Mailer s Choice 7.10.10 distribution in early October, the following distribution changes were made. Mailer s Choice for UNIX is now available on CD-ROM. To change your Mailer s Choice distribution media from tape to CD-ROM, send an email to dist@pbss.com with your change request. The tape or CD-ROM you receive will now contain Mailer s Choice for every supported UNIX environment. Micro Focus COBOL run times, or Application ServerTM (OSX), have been upgraded to Application Server 4.1 for all UNIX environments. The installation script and installation process have been modified to support these changes. A copy of the updated installation process was included with the 7.10.10 distribution of Mailer s Choice. As with every distribution, you have the choice to either install the complete Mailer s Choice product, including Micro Focus COBOL run times, or just the updated Superfile database. The mcinstall script will prompt you for the type of installation you want.
More information on ForwardTrak To obtain your FREE copy of the workbook, "Evaluating Your Move Update Costs," use the "Contact Us" tab at the top of this page. Many mailers have found that postal expenses have skyrocketed since the implementation of the move update mandate by the U. S. Postal Service in July of 1997. And they want to know why. One area being investigated is the cost of processing returned mail. Mailers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to revisit the move update option in use at their organization. Initially, many organizations made hasty decisions to comply with the move update requirement and implemented the lowest-cost option, usually ancillary endorsements. But they re finding that the hard- and soft-dollar costs to process returned mail pieces generated by the use of endorsements far outweigh the initial costs to implement their use. So they re looking for help. about viewing the video. In response to a growing demand for more information on how to evaluate the cost of returned mail processing, Pitney Bowes has developed a video titled, "Identifying the Hidden Costs of Returned Mail." Copies of this video have been distributed to all Postal Customer Councils (PCCs) throughout the country. Contact your local PCC for more information In addition to the video, Pitney Bowes has developed a workbook titled, "Evaluating Your Move Update Costs," to help organizations calculate their cost of processing returned mail. To obtain your FREE copy of the workbook, use the "Contact Us" tab at the top of this page. For more information on the workbook, go to FAQs. 1999 Pitney Bowes Inc. All rights reserved
Ray Foster Technical Support Manager As we move closer toward the Millennium, Pitney Bowes Software Systems (PBSS) would like to take this opportunity to make sure you ve made all of the necessary preparations to ensure your mission-critical systems run without interruption through the Year 2000 rollover. One way to ensure this is by installing the most current data file you receive each month (or bimonthly). The October data file, with a copyright date of 10/15/99, is the first data file to rollover the Millennium weekend and will expire on 2/1/2000. Installing this release is the single-most important step you can take to ensure your critical business functions continue without disruption. In the event of any unforeseeable problems, PBSS will have a team of certified experts in place, along with access to additional resources if necessary, to ensure quick resolution of any problems that may occur. State And Regional Database Changes As we move into the new Millennium, PBSS will also be implementing a change with the distribution of our Finalist state and regional databases. These distribution changes will affect Finalist customers who currently receive state and regional databases only. The changes will not affect Finalist customers who currently receive the national database. Effective with the January, 2000 distribution, we will no longer be issuing single state databases. We will be distributing regional and national databases of Finalist in place of the state versions. You will continue to receive all of the data that your current license agreement calls for. There will be no additional fees charged to those customers who need to upgrade to a larger database. Under the new distribution program, the United States will be divided into four regions Northeast, Southeast, Central and West. Customers whose state(s) falls into a particular region will receive the Finalist database for that specific region. For example, if you had been receiving a single state database for New Hampshire (a state that is part of the Northeast regional database), you will receive the Northeast regional database. Customers who have several states that fall into multiple regions will receive the national database. Say, for instance, you received a database for Florida, which falls into multiple regions the Northeast and Southeast. Under the new distribution program, you will now receive the national database. Customers who will be going from state to regional databases could require 200 to 300 cylinders of DASD (to download the entire database) depending on the size of the regional database. Customers who will be moving from a regional to national database could require 900 cylinders of DASD for the initial download. To help with the transition, PBSS will be providing a utility with the regional databases so customers can extract only the states needed. Customers who plan to use the utility will need to load the regional database to a temporary
disk initially. Once the regional database is loaded to a temporary disk, you can then use the utility program to select the specific states you re interested in. We re looking forward to a smooth transition with this new distribution process. If any questions do arise during the new program, PBSS technical specialists will be on hand to resolve any issues you may have at that time. And now, I d like to continue with our "Snapshot Profile." So many of you speak with our technicians regularly, we thought you might enjoy connecting a name and voice with a "snapshot" of the person who assists you. This column s feature technician is: Donna Hahn Senior Technical Support Specialist Responsibilities: Donna has been with Pitney Bowes for 15 years. She supports Finalist, Mailer s Choice, FinalFocus, MasterMerge and DupDetective. Given her extensive wealth of product and industry knowledge, it s likely you ve spoken with her about a software application, postal regulation or platform issue. Donna also takes an active role in providing "second-level" support for StreamWeaver and Finalist Workstation. Challenges: Keeping up with the current and new products, different platforms and, of course, the postal regulations is a real challenge. "My biggest challenge is learning our StreamWeaver product and Finalist Workstation. My background is primarily mainframe, so understanding the differences of the various operating systems associated with the UNIX and Windows NT platforms definitely keeps me busy." Previous Responsibilities: Donna began her Pitney Bowes career in 1984, providing field support to customers. During her first four years in field support, she assisted with on-site product installations and product training. After acquiring a great deal of product and training expertise in the field, she then moved into a new, in-house training position. In this role, Donna created and implemented a training program for new hires and current employees, and managed customer-training seminars. Following her two-year stint as a training manager she moved into a licensing role, establishing strategic alliances with other key software companies to provide total solutions to help customers meet their mission-critical messaging goals. Donna has spent the last seven years in the technical support area, responding to customers product questions, technical concerns and postal issues. Interests Outside of Work: Donna enjoys spending time with her family and selling real estate. She received her broker s license a few years ago and loves to help customers find their "dream" home. She mostly enjoys interacting with people, whether it s at work or at home. ("If you have a technical problem or need a house, I m only a phone call away!") 1999 Pitney Bowes Inc. All rights reserved
This information applies to customers calling Finalist version 7.10 (v7.10) from their MVS StreamWeaver applications only. Finalist returns to StreamWeaver a General Return Code and nine Reason Codes explaining the results of the address cleansing/ standardization process. These codes are represented in StreamWeaver via the system variables %%LPCRC (the General Return Code) and %%LPC_REASON1 - %%LPC_REASON9. These return codes are also represented in the <LPCREPLACE> tag found in the <CASS> tag group. The <LPCREPLACE> tag controls the conditions under which StreamWeaver will automatically replace the values of the input address fields. If not explicitly coded, the default parameters for <LPCREPLACE> are: 2 5 9 6 6 6 4 4 4 2 where StreamWeaver will automatically replace the address fields if the General Return Code (%%LPCRC) does not exceed 2 and each of the Reason Codes do not exceed the respective nine values. Finalist v7.10, however, can now issue a Reason Code 5 with a value of 7, meaning that the standardized address was found based on dual address rules (a new feature of v7.10). This is a valid scenario. Because the default StreamWeaver threshold is 6, StreamWeaver will NOT automatically replace an address with this reason code return value. A change to StreamWeaver is forthcoming. However, to avoid this scenario, you can explicitly code the following <LPCREPLACE> tag in your <CASS> tag group: <LPCREPLACE> 2 5 9 6 6 7 4 4 2 Or, if you already have an <LPCREPLACE> tag coded, be sure that the Reason Code 5 threshold is set to 7. 1999 Pitney Bowes Inc. All rights reserved
Q: How does the workbook, "Evaluating Your Move Update Costs," work?* A: It helps you evaluate the costs to your entire organization from the activities associated with the processing of returned mail: sorting, handling, recreating, reprinting, remailing and manually updating customer information files. Q: Isn t processing returned mail just one of the expected costs of running a mail center? A: It doesn t have to be. First, the cost of returned mail not only impacts the mail center, but also the marketing department whose message may not be received, and the finance department who may experience delay in payment when the returned mail piece is an invoice. Second, the costs of returned mail can be drastically reduced by sending your mail to the correct address the first time. Q: How is that done? A: One of the approved options to meet the Move Update requirement is FASTforwardSM for Mailing List Correction. Software solutions in that category, like ForwardTrak offered by Pitney Bowes, update your mailing list with the latest eight months of information from the USPS change of address database. When integrated into your mail preparation process, changed addresses can be fed directly back to your customer address files, so your mailing will have the most current address. And since the new address has gone into your customer file, future mailings will go to the correct place also. Q: How much can a mailer save by using FASTforwardSM for Mailing List Correction as opposed to other move update options? A: The figures vary, depending on mail volume and the accuracy of your data. But the workbook can help give you an idea of your potential savings. For most companies the savings exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Q: How can I get a copy of "Evaluating Your Move Update Costs"? A: Use the "Contact Us" tab at the top of this page to request your free copy. *The workbook is mentioned in the article, "Help with Returned Mail Costs."
Go to the Pitney Bowes Software Systems Year 2000 Compliance Certificate As a reminder to all customers, the most current release of each Pitney Bowes Software Systems software product is Year 2000 (Y2K) compliant. Our requirement for Y2K states that the software will accurately process date/time data (including, but not limited to calculating, comparing and sequencing) during the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century (including the years 1999 and 2000), to the extent that third-party software when used in combination with Pitney Bowes Software Systems software properly exchanges date/time data. Leap year calculations must be properly performed. Machine readable output files must contain the year in 4-digit format. Pitney Bowes Software Systems is currently offering Y2K compliance certificates through its corporate web site at www.pbss.com. Customers with questions regarding Y2K compliance can contact Pitney Bowes Software Systems Y2K coordinator at 800-283-1527 or by sending an email message to y2k@pbss.com. 1999 Pitney Bowes Inc. All rights reserved