How to Evaluate the Accuracy of Address Records

8/2/2019 How to Evaluate the Accuracy of Address Records

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How to Evaluate the Accuracy of Address

Records

2011 Informatica Corporation. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means

(electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior consent of Informatica Corporation.


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Abstract

The Mailability Score, Match Code, and Result Percentage ports on the Address Validator transformation provide you with

general information about the deliverability and accuracy of address data. This article tells you how to use the ports to

evaluate the data quality of address records. This article also shows you how to simplify the output codes from the ports so

that they are easy to understand.

Supported Versions

Informatica Data Quality 9.1.0

Table of Contents

Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

When to Use the Status Info Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Status Info Port Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Using Mapplet Rules to Read Status Info Port Outputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Installing the Core Accelerator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Rule Descriptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

How to Read Mailability Score Output Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

How to Read Match Code Output Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Overview

The Address Validator transformation uses reference data to evaluate the accuracy and deliverability of postal addresses.

The transformation can correct errors in an address, add data to an address, and provide status information on address data

quality.

For example, the United States Postal Service (USPS) provides reference data that identifies every mailbox in the United

States. When the Address Validator transformation reads a United States address record, it compares each address record

with reference data that the USPS provides to Informatica.

The Address Validator transformation handles the input addresses in the following ways:

If the transformation finds a perfect match between the input address and the USPS reference data, it writes the

address information to the output ports with no change.

If the transformation finds a partial match in the reference data, it selects the correct address elements from the

reference data and writes the correct elements to the output ports.

If the transformation cannot find a match in the reference data, it attempts to write the correct form of each input

element to the output ports. The resulting record may not contain a deliverable address.

In each case, the transformation writes the results of the matching operation to status ports that indicate the data quality ofthe address.

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The following illustration shows the Status Info port group on the Templates tab:

Note: The Status Info port group includes the Address Type port. This output port describes the type of mailbox in a United

States or Canadian address. The Address Type port does not contain information about the deliverable status of the address.

When to Use the Status Info PortsThe Mailability Score, Match Code, and Result Percentage ports provide summary information about the data quality of each

address in the data set. The Element Input Status, Element Relevance, and Element Result Status ports provide detailed

information on each element in each address record.

The Mailability Score, Match Code, and Result Percentage outputs are useful indicators of whether you need to define an

address validation stage in a data project.

If the Mailability Score, Match Code, and Result Percentage outputs indicate that all addresses meet your data quality

standards, you do not need to perform additional address validation.

If you find one or more addresses that are not valid, review the outputs on the Element Input Status, Element Relevance,

and Element Result Status ports. Use the ports to identify the address elements that you need to fix.

Status Info Port Definitions

Each Status Info port provides a different type of information about an address record.

The Mailability Score, Match Code, and Result Percentage ports perform the following types of analysis:

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Mailability Score

This port describes the likely outcome of any attempt to deliver mail to the address. The Mailability Score output is

a text description that summarizes the quality of the address in terms of the risk to mail delivery.

Select this port when you need general information on the quality of the input data that you connect to the Address

Validator transformation.

Match Code

This port describes the results of the validation operation that the Address Validator performed on the input

address. The Match Code output is a two-character string that represents the success or failure of the operation.

Select this port to identify output address records that are valid or not valid.

Result Percentage

This port indicates the degree of overall similarity between an input address and the address validation results.

The Result Percentage output is a percentage value. Higher percentage values indicate greater similarity between

the input and output address.

Select this port to identify address records that changed during address validation and to review the extent of the

changes.

Using Mapplet Rules to Read Status Info Port Outputs

The Mailability Score and Match Code ports provide information about address quality in coded format. You can use

Informatica mapplet rules to parse information from the output codes.

The rules use reference tables to convert each code value into an English-language equivalent.

The rules and reference tables are part of the Core Accelerator, which is available to Data Quality customers. The Core

Accelerator contains a rule for each port on the Status Info output group except the Result Percentage port. Result

Percentage does not write coded output.

To use an accelerator rule in an address validation mapping, complete the following steps:

1. Download the accelerator, and import the accelerator objects to the Model repository.

2. Add a rule to an address validation mapping. The mapping must read address records from a data object, and it

must contain an Address Validator transformation.

3. Connect a Status Info port on the Address Validator transformation to the rule you added to the mapping. The rule

name contains the name of the port that you connect to.

4. Run the mapping, or run the Data Vieweron the Address Validator transformation. If you run the mapping, add a

writable data object as a target and connect the rule output to the data object.

5. Read the rule output. If you ran a mapping, open the data object. If you ran the Data Viewer, resize the Developer

tool so that the Data Viewercolumns are visible.

6. Evaluate the rule output, and decide the next steps you need to take for the address data.

Installing the Core Accelerator

You download the Core Accelerator with the Data Quality Content Installer. You find the accelerator object XML file and

reference table ZIP file the in the Accelerator_Content directory of the Content Installer package.

Use the Developer tool to import the accelerator rules to the Model repository.

The rules and reference tables appear in the Model repository in the project you specified during import. Find the rules you

need for the status information ports in this repository location:

[Content_Project_Name]\[Rule_Folder_Name]\General_Data_Cleansing

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The reference tables install to this location:

[Content_Project_Name]\[Rule_Folder_Name]\Dictionaries

You do not need to open or edit the reference tables.

Note: The reference tables used by the rules are different to the address reference data files used by the Address Validator

transformation. You purchase the address reference data files from Informatica. You cannot open or edit the addressreference data files.

Rule Descriptions

Each rule contains an input data object, a Parser transformation, and an output data object.

The following rules parse the output codes on the Match Code and Mailability Score ports:

rule_Assign_DQ_90_Mailability_Score_Description

This rule writes a description of the output code values on the Mailability Score port.

The Parser transformation in this rule reads the reference table DQ90_AV_MailabilityScores_infa.

rule_Assign_DQ_90_Match_Code_Descriptions

This rule writes a description of the output code values on the Match Code port.

The Parser transformation in this rule reads the reference table DQ90_Match_code_desc_infa.

Note: The Core Accelerator does not contain a mapplet rule for the Result Percentage port. The Result Percentage port

does not write coded output. The port writes a percentage value.

The following illustration shows rule_Assign_DQ_90_Mailability_Score_Description in the Developer tool:

How to Read Mailability Score Output Codes

The Mailability Score port output is a single digit that indicates the likelihood of successful delivery to the output address.

After you run the address validation mapping, review the output data from this port to determine if an address needs further

validation. Connect the port to rule_Assign_DQ_90_Mailability_Score_Description to generate text descriptions of each

output code.

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The following table lists the possible values in the output code and the text that the transformation reads from the reference

table DQ90_AV_MailabilityScores_infa:

Output

Code

Reference Table

Text

Description

5 completely

confident

All address data elements that are relevant to delivery are present and correct.

4 al most certai n The address ha s a uni que mat ch in the add ress re ference data and on e of the fol lowing cases

applies:

- Some data elements could not be checked by the address reference data.

- Some data elements were corrected with a very high degree of confidence.

The validation process returns this output code when the number of unmatched elements is

very low.

3 should be fine Some data elements were corrected with a very high degree of confidence.

The validation process returns this output code when the address has a unique match in the

address reference data and the number of unmatched elements is acceptable.

2 fair chance Address data elements that are relevant to delivery are present, and one of the followingscenarios also applies:

- The validation process did not find a strong match in the address reference data.

- The validation process found multiple matches and has similar levels of confidence in each

match.

1 risky The validation process found a partial match between the input data and the address reference

data. The output address is likely to be incomplete.

0 futile The input address is missing too many elements, or a majority of the elements generated no

matches in the address reference data.

How to Read Match Code Output Codes

The Match Code port output describes the results of the address validation operation performed on the input address.

After you run the address validation mapping, review the output data from this port to establish the data quality of the input

addresses. Connect the port to rule_Assign_DQ_90_Match_Code_Descriptions to generate text descriptions of each output code.

The following table lists the possible values at each position in the output code and the text that the transformation reads

from the reference table DQ90_Match_code_desc_infa:

Output Code Reference Table Text Description

V4 Verified - Input data correct - all elements

were checked and input matched perfectly

The input address is a perfect match with

a single address in the address data. The

input and output addresses in the record

use the same information.

V3 Verified - Input data correct on input but

some or all elements were standardised

or input contains outdated names or

exonyms

The output address matches a single

address in the address data. The Address

Validator transformation edited one or

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more input data elements for one of the

following reasons:

- An input element uses a name other

than the local name.- An input element uses a name that is

out of date.

V2 Verified - Input data correct but some

elements could not be verified because of

incomplete reference data


address in the address data, but the

Address Validator transformation could

not verify every input element because

some address reference data files are not

installed.

V1 Verified - Input data correct but the user

standardisation has deteriorated

deliverability (wrong element user

standardisation - for example postcode

length chosen is too short). Not set byvalidation.

The input address matches a single


Address Validator transformation cannot

write some output data because an output

port has the wrong precision. The outputaddress may be undeliverable.

C4 Corrected - all elements have been

checked

The input address contains information

that matches a single address in the

address data, and the Address Validator

transformation replaced one or more

elements with new elements from the

address reference data. All output

elements are verified correct for the

address.

C3 Corrected - but some elements could not

be checked

The input address contains information

that matches a single address in the

address data, and the Address Validator

transformation replaced one or more

elements with new elements from theaddress reference data. All output

elements are verified correct for the

address. However, the transformation

could not verify every input element.

C2 Corrected - but delivery status unclear

(lack of reference data)

The Address Validator transformation

replaced one or more elements with new

elements from the address reference

data. However, the transformation could

not verify deliverability as some address

reference data files are not installed.

C1 Corrected - but delivery status unclear

because user standardisation was wrong.

Not set by validation.


replaced one or more elements with new

elements from the address referencedata. However, the transformation could

not verify deliverability as some input

elements cannot be corrected.

I4 Data could not be corrected completely

but is very likely to be deliverable - single

match (e.g. HNO is wrong but only 1 HNO

is found in reference data)



Address Validator transformation could

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not verify every input element. The input

data is likely to contain an error.

I3 Data could not be corrected completelybut is very likely to be deliverable -

multiple matches (e.g. HNO is wrong but

more than 1 HNO is found in reference

data)

The output address is very likely to bedeliverable but the Address Validator

transformation found multiple matches for

one or more input elements in the

address reference data. For example, a

house number is incorrect but the number

is in the correct range.

I2 Data could not be corrected but there is a

slim chance that the address is deliverable


cannot find matching address data in the

address reference data. However, the

input record contains data in an address

format that may be deliverable.

I1 Data could not be corrected and is pretty

unlikely to be delivered.


cannot find matching address data in theaddress reference data. The input record

does not contain data that is likely to be

deliverable.

Q3 FastCompletion Status - Suggestions are

available - complete address


found multiple good matches for the input

record data in the address reference data.

The transformation returns this code in

Suggestion List mode.

Q2 FastCompletion Status - Suggested

address is complete but combined with

elements from the input (added or deleted)


found a partial match for the input record

data in the address reference data. The

transformation returned a complete

address.The transformation returns this code in


Q1 FastCompletion Status - Suggested

address is not complete (enter more

information)

The Address Validator transformation did

not find a match for the input record data

in the address reference data. The

transformation returned a partial address.



Q0 FastCompletion Status - Insufficient

information provided to generate

suggestions.

The Address Validator transformation did

not find a match for the input record data

in the address reference data. The

transformation did not return any data for

the address.



RA Country recognized from

ForceCountryISO3 Setting


used the Force Country setting to add

country name data to the address.

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R9 Country recognized from

DefaultCountryISO3 Setting


used the Default Country setting to add

country name data to the address.

R8 Country recognized from name without

errors


identified a destination country from the

input data.

R7 Country recognized from name with errors The Address Validator transformation


input data, but the input data contains

inconsistent data for this country.

R6 Country recognized from territory The Address Validator transformation

identified a destination country from state

or national territory information in the

input data.

R5 Country recognized from province The Address Validator transformationidentified a destination country from

province information in the input data.

R4 Country recognized from major town The Address Validator transformation

identified a destination country from city

or town information in the input data.

R3 Country recognized from format The Address Validator transformation


structure of the address.

R2 Country recognized from script The Address Validator transformation

identified a destination country from data

provided by a script.

R1 Country not recognized - multiple matches The Address Validator transformation

identified several possible destination

countries. The transformation did not

verify a country for the address.

R0 Country not recognized The Address Validator transformation

could not identify a destination country for

the input address data.

S4 Parsed perfectly The Address Validator transformation

parsed all input elements successfully.


Parsing mode.

S3 Parsed with multiple results The Address Validator transformationparsed all input elements, but some

elements match multiple element types.


Parsing mode.

S2 Parsed with Errors - Elements change

position


parsed all input elements, but the

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transformation changed the element type

in one or more cases.


Parsing mode.

S1 Parse Error - Input Format Mismatch The Address Validator transformation

could not parse input elements because

the address structure did not match the

address reference data structure.


Parsing mode.

N6 Validation Error: No validation performed

because input data was insufficient

The Address Validation transformation

could not validate the address because

the transformation lacked usable input

data.


because reference database is too old -

please contact Address Doctor to obtain

updated reference data


could not validate the address because

the address reference data is out of date.


because reference database is corrupt or

in wrong format


could not validate the address because it

could not read the address reference data.


because country could not be unlocked



could find an address reference data

license.


because required reference database is

not available



could not find address reference data forthe destination country.


because country was not recognized



could not associate the input address with

a country.

Conclusion

The Status Info ports contain detailed information about address accuracy and deliverability.

Select a Mailability Score, Match Code, or Result Percentage port when you need general information about the

deliverability of an address. Use the Informatica accelerator rules to convert the port output codes into text descriptions thatyou can more quickly understand.

Author

David Handy

Principal Technical Writer

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How to Evaluate the Accuracy of Address Records

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