 Governmental
Agency Uses Address Cleaning Software
The Arkansas Dept. of Health needed a solution – a
way to cleanse its database of constituents’
information. Its goal was to perform a thorough and
complete cleansing of its address database. Enter
Melissa Data.
The Arkansas Dept. of Health tapped Melissa Data for
its MAILERS+4 software. The department uses
MAILERS+4 to verify, correct and standardize
delivery address information. The organization also
uses the software to obtain DPV (point of delivery
validation), add a ZIP + 4 and append latitude and
longitude coordinates to verify address location.
The department has used MAILERS+4 since 1997 – and
it’s very pleased with the product. “The software
does pretty well in standardizing and detecting
address errors,” says John Douglas Morgan, a data
processor and senior project leader with the
Arkansas Dept. of Health. “It’s very helpful in
doing address cleanup.”
Morgan says the organization uses MAILERS+4 mainly
to clean up its database. It does not use it for
mass mailings, because it doesn’t send out bulk
mail. Most MAILERS+4 customers utilize the software
to correct addresses, but users can also presort and
process mailings, and print labels from their
computers.
Morgan says the most common address errors he finds
are missing address elements or incorrect routes.
For example, for an address listed as 134 Jones
Street, sometimes, an address won’t contain the
right or complete predirectionals – such as 134 N.
Jones Street or 134 S. Jones Street. Using MAILERS+4
will correct that component.
How often does the organization clean up its
database? Morgan says it varies, depending on the
project. The group can clean up to a few hundred
records, to as much as thousands of records. It
receives the data from multiple sources, mostly from
vital records data or from other state agencies.
Request a free 45-day trial of MAILERS+4 here
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