• ADDRESSFACTORY WEB – address maintenance via the Internet (batch matching)
• ADDRESSFACTORY TAPE for large quantities of data (batch matching)
• ADDRESSFACTORY AUTOMATIC for regular updates (batch matching)
• ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT – matching in real time (single matching)

The range of services has a modular structure. When checking the postal plausibility in the BasicAddressCheck module, it is irrelevant whether it is company or private addresses that are being processed. In the name check (FormalNameCheck) and the deliverability check (PremiumDeliveryCheck) of the relevant addressee, however, both the databases used as reference and the matching algorithms are optimised for processing private addresses. The processing of company addresses therefore generally delivers suboptimal results.

You decide which modules you wish to use in your matching for the ADDRESSFACTORY WEB and TAPE product options. Only BasicAddressCheck is mandatory. For all modules other than BasicAddressCheck, FormalNameCheck is also
mandatory.
Your advisor at Deutsche Post Direkt will be happy to inform you about the relevant options and will provide you with the appropriate configurations for your matching for the ADDRESSFACTORY AUTOMATIC and DIRECT product options.  

• BasicAddressCheck (checks an address for the correct street, town/city and postal code).
• FormalNameCheck (correction of names and adding of titles and salutations).
• PremiumDeliveryCheck (person-based, household-based and/or building-based checking of delivery information).
• MoveProfessional (provides relocation addresses).
• DoubleClean (recognition and marking of double entries). This module is not available for ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT.
• FileMatch (address match with own and/ or predefined negative files such as Robinson list or a fake names list).
• GeoMatch (address enhancement with geographic data).
• PhoneMatch (enhancement with telephone numbers).
• LocalMatch (enhancement with socio-demographic and micro-geographic information).

The following matching columns are relevant for a successful matching:

• a unique ID, that you can later use to allocate the data record again
• first name
• last name
• street
• house number
  
• postal code
• town/city
• where possible, specification of the district, in order to resolve any ambiguities in the address

The following file formats for input and output files:

• Text (variable column width):
      - commas                 ,
      - semicolons            ;
      - tildes                     ~
      - hash symbol         #
      - colons                   :
      - tabs
      - vertical bars         |
• Text (fixed column width)

The following character sets are supported: ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, US-ASCII, WINDOWS-1252, UTF-8 and IBM85.

After batch matching, you will receive a ZIP archive with your result data in your download folder or it will be sent to an (S)FTP server specified by you using an FTP forward. It is also possible for the data to be forwarded to another registered user of Deutsche Post Direkt’s online services.
In addition to information from the system – number, data and time of the matching – the file name also includes the name of the input file to make it easier to identify. The content of the ZIP archive varies according to your agreements with Deutsche Post Direkt. In many cases, we will provide you with an overall result file in the archive. Alternatively, we can also provide you with an archive containing various partial results – e.g. deliverable and non-deliverable data records. For the ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT option, you will receive the results directly for each data record.

With the ADDRESSFACTORY batch options, you can have multiple files cleansed if you upload multiple files.
If a duplicate check is performed on your data, the priority order of your files will have an impact on the identification of header duplicates. Your own negative files always have priority over your own positive files.

We process negative files with the same matching settings with which we also process your positive files. This is absolutely essential in order to be able to reliably identify matching records between positive and negative files. It is not possible to download a cleansed negative file.
Please note: If you upload a negative file to the system, a duplicate check is mandatory.

Your positive files are compared against your own negative files in the DoubleClean module. For this, EUR3.00/1,000 input addresses will be charged in addition to the costs for the positive file.

Different configurations can be used in both the interface solution (ADDRESSFACTORY AUTOMATIC and ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT) and the online interface ADDRESSFACTORY WEB. During test operations a maximum of three configurations
can be used.

As a general rule, Deutsche Post Direkt stores the personal data from your matching for 90 days from receipt.
If other deletion periods are required, these should be arranged separate.

In general, Deutsche Post Direkt returns every data record uploaded to the customer. In so doing, every data record is enhanced with a “Status” field in which the status key is saved. This status key provides detailed information on how Deutsche Post Direkt has rated the relevant data record and where this has been changed for what reason.

To ensure the secure transfer of address data, when using Deutsche Post Direkt’s online services (https://service.postdirekt.de/), your data is protected with 128-bit SSL encryption when it is transmitted over the Internet.
You can recognise the SSL protocol from the "https" in front of the URL of the selected page.

There are different ways to test ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT.

• Firstly, there is a free test server. It represents a realisation of the same interface that is very similar to the real ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT server. However the test server only returns static changes to the data you provided and fictional status keys. We need to set up an account for you to be able to use the test server.
• In addition, a test phase can also be arranged, where you can test ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT for eight weeks with real keys and results. For terms and conditions please refer to the price list (see below) or contact our service hotline (see below).
  

A web service interface (client) is a local representation of the ADDRESSFACTORY systems in your system.

• The web service client will either be provided by Deutsche Post Direkt (Java) or
• you can easily generate it yourself (other programming languages).

Web service technology is platform-dependent and is now standard in software development. Thus the ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT web service can be used from practically any programming environment (e.g., C++, .NET, PHP etc.). The networks of a large number of companies are penetrable for web service enquiries since some WWW accesses are permitted there. In many cases it is therefore not necessary to extend the firewall.

For sporadic single record inquiries, we offer you access to the online user interface on which you can enter your data directly and check them. Simply log in using your user name and password at https://service.postdirekt.de/ and follow the links to ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT in order to reach the user interface.

ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT’s online interface has been tested successfully with Windows Internet Explorer 8. Version 9 can be used in compatibility mode. Mozilla Firefox can also be used. Alternative browsers such as Safari are not officially supported but they have already been used successfully.

To perform a comparison, specify the configuration settings in advance. Your advisor at Deutsche Post Direkt will be happy to inform you about the relevant options and will provide you with the appropriate configurations for your comparisons.

Response times depend on the selected network connection. Where there is a good connection over the public Internet, the response time is less than two seconds.

Requests are processed through serially. Each address requires less than 2 seconds on average. To increase the number of requests, ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT can be run on several clients at once.

The connection to ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT web services is mainly over the public Internet. The protection of your data is ensured by the encrypted transmission protocol HTTPS.

The system for operating the web service client must be able to make enquiries on the public Internet via port 443. Only you or your provider can activate this port.

The web service interface is platform-dependent. You can therefore use it in all commercially-available operating systems (e.g., Unix, Linux, Solaris, HPUX, Windows, Mac OS).

ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT should be embedded in your application the moment a new address is recorded in the system, i.e., the address is sent to the data centre and compared immediately after it is entered. You are responsible for establishing a data connection to Deutsche Post Direkt. Data encryption will generally be taken over transparently from the web service infrastructure. You will be provided with the information relevant for the connection.

Deutsche Post Direkt will provide Java programmers with a ready-to-use web service client which is integrated as a type of library in proprietary programs. Together with the web service client, we will send an example application with which the first tests can be performed even without programming. The web service interface provides programmers who work with other programming languages with tools for their relevant programming environment via the standard web service. For some programming environments, Deutsche Post Direkt will also provide short examples in the web service documentation.

Deutsche Post Direkt is in charge of registering ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT users and activating their accounts. Your Internet provider manages the Internet connection. You integrate the web service interface into your application, control the application flow and system failure management (e.g., timeouts).

• You must be activated as an ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT user.
• The web service client must be integrated in your application.
• Port 443 in the firewall must be activated in both directions.
• A data connection from the web service client to Deutsche Post Direkt must be established over the public Internet.

The Deutsche Post Direkt website certification key (SSL server certificate) is only valid for a certain period and must then be replaced by a new certificate. If the certificate is accessed online via a link, it is updated automatically. On the other hand, if the certificate is stored locally, it must be replaced manually by the up-to-date certificate in order to continue to provide secure access to our web server.

With ADDRESSFACTORY DIRECT, Deutsche Post Direkt offers a solution in which all essential system components are designed redundantly. You do not need to take any special measures.

The data are transmitted between the web service interface and the reference database of Deutsche Post Direkt using the industry-standard Transport Layer Security (TLS, here https), which is also used in online banking, for  example.

The number of enquiries you make is logged, counted and invoiced accordingly by Deutsche Post Direkt.

The system is available to you seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. Advance notice will always be provided for scheduled maintenance-related shutdowns etc.

Please see the current price list for prices:

http://www.deutschepost.de/de/d/deutsche-post-direkt/addressfactory/downloadsaddressfactory-
direct.html

Service-Hotline:
Telefon: +49 228 182-57111
E-Mail: info@postdirekt.de