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IMb ™ Services Initial Steps for Mailers

IMb ™ Services Initial Steps for Mailers. Agenda. Vision Direction Make It Happen Resources Questions. OneCode ACS®. IMb. ACS. MERLIN. IMcl. TMS. Mail.dat®. Confirm®. Mail.XML®. MLOCR. PostalOne!®. MID. FAST. IMtb. CRID. IMb ™ Vision. Mail - a Key Communication Medium.

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IMb ™ Services Initial Steps for Mailers

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  1. IMb™ Services Initial Steps for Mailers

  2. Agenda • Vision • Direction • Make It Happen • Resources • Questions OneCode ACS® IMb ACS MERLIN IMcl TMS Mail.dat® Confirm® Mail.XML® MLOCR PostalOne!® MID FAST IMtb CRID

  3. IMb™ Vision Mail - a Key Communication Medium • Identifiable & Verifiable • Traceable & Accountable • Efficient & Predictable • Valuable & Responsive

  4. IMb™Options • Basic • IMb on mailpieces • Full-Service • Unique Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) on mailpieces • Unique Intelligent Mail barcode (IMtb) on trays, sacks • Unique Intelligent Mail barcode (IMcb) on containers • Electronic mailing documentation (PostalOne!®) • Scheduled appointments (FAST®) • Services/benefits included with Full-Service: • Full-Service ACS™ • Start-the-Clock

  5. IMb™- Business Customer Gateway Advance Notification Electronic Documentation (PostalOne!®) and Transportation Management System (TMS) Advance Notification (FAST®) Automated Payment Automated Payment Business Customer Gateway Tracking (Confirm® & PostalOne!) Start-The-Clock (PostalOne!) Verification and Postage Payment (PostalOne!) 5

  6. Nesting of Data IMb™- Nesting Intelligent Mail barcode Pieces Tray Pallet Intelligent Mail tray barcode Tray Pieces Example Data for eDoc Intelligent Mail container barcode

  7. IMb™ Timeline • Ongoing • Intelligent Mail barcode, OneCode ACS® & OneCode Confirm® • Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) • Testing submission of electronic documentation (Mail.dat® 8-2 & 9-1) • Migrate to Full-Service in production • Enable Mail.dat and Postal Wizard tools for electronic documentation • Receive Start-the-Clock and Full-Service ACS™ • November 2009 Onward • Discounts for Full-Service • Enable Mail.XML® tool for electronic documentation • USPS® ended support of Mail.dat 8-1

  8. Getting Started • Acquire knowledge • Determine mail presentation practices • Interact with the Postal Service® • Interact with software and/or service providers • Construct implementation plan • Acquire software, fonts and aids • Initiate implementation plan • Test and validate

  9. Acquire Knowledge • Postal Service®, Service Providers & Vendors • What is this Intelligent Mail®? • What’s its value to me? • What existing & new services can each support and when? • Customers & Internal Departments & Resources • Document current practices and equipment • Document future vision, expectations & constraints • Training • Review Postal Service™ & industry Intelligent Mail information opportunities

  10. Determine Mail Presentation Practices • Do I the “mail owner” present all, some or none of my mail to the Postal Service®? • If a service provider presents some or all of my mail, determine Mailer ID, mailpiece uniqueness and extra service options. • If a service provider acquires some or all of my tracking and/or address data from the USPS®, determine data acquisition options. • How will your current practices change with IMb™?

  11. Interact with thePostal Service® • Familiarize yourself with the Business Customer Gateway • Establish logon for interaction • Use the Gateway to: • Set up your MID • Determine services needed • Determine electronic data exchange needs • Highly recommended: Have your mailpiece, tray, and container barcodes tested by your local Mailpiece Design Analyst (MDA)

  12. Business Customer Gateway • The Business Customer Gateway gives you a single, unified landing point to access certain online business offerings from the Postal Service®. • These channels include the services that support the IMb™ Full-Service option. • These include PostalOne!®, FAST®, CLDS (Customer Label Distribution System), and Mailer IDs (MIDs). • https://gateway.usps.com/bcg/login.htm

  13. Interact with Software and/or Service Providers • Base discussions on data from acquired knowledge activities • Current state of functions, features, interfaces, and services • Available new functions, features, interfaces and services • Desired state factoring expectations and constraints • Determine custom software requirements

  14. Construct a Plan • Incorporate findings, expectations & constraints • Target timeline • Internal and external resource and funding allocation • Procedural, operations, hardware and technical changes and opportunities • Test criteria to ensure content and print quality • Implementation sequence through applications and customers • Testing and validation

  15. Software, Fonts & Aids Intelligent Mail® Data Encoder Encoder software Converts Intelligent Mail data into printing instructions Font software Converts printing instructions into barcode Font

  16. Software, Fonts & Aids To download software and font files visit the RIBBS® website at https://ribbs.usps.gov/index.cfm?page=intellmailmailpieces

  17. Fonts Check out the new shorter-height fonts (close to the minimum 0.125") IMb™ Technical Resource Guide Appendix C. Encoding Software Packages and Fonts Available on RIBBS® 17

  18. Fonts - Barcode Placement Same placement as POSTNET™ barcode Letters Address block OR Barcode clear zone Flats On address side AND At least 1/8 inch from any edge of the piece

  19. Fonts - Clearance and Voids A minimum clear zone of 0.125 inch between the left and right edges of the barcode is required. A minimum clear zone of 0.028 inch above and below the barcode is required. 0.010 Maximum dot matrix spacing must not exceed 0.010 inch.

  20. Font – Barcode Tilt • Same as POSTNET™ except you look at the centerline not a baseline! Barcode Skew Bar Rotation

  21. IMb™ Aids • Manual tools for visual inspection • Plastic templates • Optical comparator • Online encoder/decoder • Scanners and verifiers

  22. Initiate the Plan • Some BIG things: • Software and databases: • Data structures and management, • Interfaces to existing systems, • Electronic distribution and acquisition of IMb™ and mailing data, • Production hardware, workflow and practices • Business Customer Gateway – (PostalOne!®) as the electronic data exchange portal

  23. Initiate the Plan • Some NEW outputs: • Mailpieces with the IMb™: ALWAYS 65 bars • Barcodes on tray labels, IMtb • Barcodes on container labels, IMcb • Electronic documentation (eDoc) & data exchange (Mail.dat® / Mail.XML®)

  24. Test & Validate…Repeat, Physical Output • Ensure the test plan has pre-established results • Know the CORRECT results and use available tools to ensure outcomes match them • Validate input • Ensure all data elements for barcode content match either yours or your customer’s specifications • Validate output • Print samples from each piece of equipment that could be used in actual production • Provide samples to USPS™ MDA / service providers

  25. Test & Validate…Repeat, Electronic Output • Participate in the USPS™ Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) • Ensure the test plan has pre-established results • Know the CORRECT data content & structures, transmission protocols and reporting schemes • Use available systemic tools to ensure outcomes match and transmission acknowledgements are processed • Validate eDoc • Ensure all data elements for the record structures meet defined specifications • change control for updates is properly defined and executed • Validate downloadable reports • Establish Mail.XML® practices • Validate receipt and internal practices 25

  26. IMb™Key Takeaways • Major project for mailers • USPS™ MDA, service providers, and vendors are valuable resources • Mailer ID, encoders and fonts are free • IT involvement is required to: • Integrate the encoder into existing software, • Manage uniqueness, • Generate eDocumentation • Change font and spacing in documents, • IMb is just another font to your printer

  27. IMb™Key Resources • IMb Services Update, DMM® Advisory • RIBBS® Webside: www.ribbs.usps.gov • Intelligent Mail® Services • Latest News • Benefits Calculator • Guides & Specifications • Tools • Services • Guidelines • USPS® publications • USPS & industry training: National Postal Forum, Postal Customer Council (PCC) Seminars, and other vendor conferences and various association meetings • Local USPS Mailpiece Design Analyst

  28. IMb™Getting Started Additional information about all of the topics covered in this presentation can be found on RIBBS®. Click on Intelligent Mail® Services and then click on “Guides & Specs” as shown here. All of the supporting documentation references are shown under “Important Links”.

  29. Intelligent Mail® Education • National Postal Forum sessions • Additional Presentations • MIDS/CRIDS • Working with Your Mail Preparer • IMb™ and ACS® • IMb Service Type Identifiers • Mail.dat® and PostalOne!® • Start-the-Clock

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