SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT Q-CODE When was Q_CODE last SERP-tested? Who needs a Statement of Accuracy? How can I tell what's been corrected from what was good after a batch run? Can I process delimited files as well as fixed & DBF files? How do I batch process multiple files? The manual is not up to date! Can I just correct the Postal Codes and not the address? How about DBase files? Accents and mixed casing? Is there any way to get Latitude/Longitude data for Postal Codes? I have other questions you should answer here. When was Q_CODE last SERP-tested? Q_CODE passed the latest SERP-testing in January 2010, and is SERP-Recognized in all categories until March 28, 2011. Who needs a Statement of Accuracy? As of April 1, 2001, any bulk mailing of over 5,000 pieces will require a Statement of Accuracy. The accuracy must be 95%, or a penalty surcharge will apply to the postage costs. Prior to April 1, 2001, only 10,000 or more required the Statement of Accuracy. Accuracy means accurate address data as well as postal code. "CT", for example, is NOT a valid abbreviation for "COURT" ("CRT" is). The above applies to ALL classes of mail. How can I tell what's been corrected from what was good after a batch run? When you specify an "OUTFILE", all records are written to that file, corrected or not. With "FLAG" and "FLAGLEN" given, then the "V/C/N" flags are written into the output record in this file at the position specified. Using this method, the flag indicates the status of the ORIGINAL record - i.e. before correction. So you can use the flag to separate "good" from "bad". When you specify a "REJFILE", those records originally valid will go to the "OUTFILE", and those with problems (correctable or not) will go to the "REJFILE". This gives you the separation without any extra effort. However, when you also specify "RESTATE", the "V/C/N" flags take on the status of the OUTPUT file(s). So when no "REJFILE" is given, the "V" could indicate "originally valid", or "has been corrected to valid". So now the only way to identify which is which is by using "REJFILE" - any "V" flags in the "REJFILE" indicate "originally bad, but corrected to valid". So the simplest answer is - use both "OUTFILE" and "REJFILE". Can I process delimited files as well as fixed & DBF files? Delimited file logic was added to Q_CODE in September 1999. Essentially, you tell Q_CODE that the file is delimited, and which relative fields contain the address data. The software then examines your file to determine the delimiting character automatically (be it comma, or any other non-data character), and whether you are using a return/linefeed pair or just one of them, and the rest is the same as before. Any inserted fields, flags, etc. are placed in the same format. The use of surrounding quotes when required is performed according to industry standards, and redundant ones are stripped out. How do I batch process multiple files? Both DOS and 32-bit versions of BQCODE (or BQCODE32) can be called from a DOS-type Batch file (xxx.BAT). The same is true of QMAIL (or QMAIL32). Many users process a series of files this way - first Q_CODE to clean up the data, then perhaps a Duplication program or Q_NCOA, then Q_MAIL for LCP, and then perhaps Q_CODE again for an accuracy statement of the net LCP file output from Q_MAIL. Although these "console mode" programs look like DOS, BQCODE32 and QMAIL32 are in fact 32-bit code, with all the inherent efficiencies of 32-bit architecture. Also, don't forget that the 32-bit version does not require the TSR to be loaded, and that memory restrictions are essentially eliminated. The manual is not up to date! Not so any more! The new manuals are ready and are being shipped to users in September and October 2000. Please note that there is also Online Help in the GUI versions of Q_CODE and Q_MAIL, and we do try to ensure these Help Files are as up to date as the software itself. Can I just correct the Postal Codes and not the address? Yes, but why you would want to is a mystery. By removing the keyword "CORR=YES", or changing it to "NO", then ONLY the Postal Code will be changed. This does not mean that addresses which are conflicting (address found to be 1 postal code, but the given postal code points to a conflicting address) will be "correctable" any more so than normally. It also won't result in a "valid" address, unless there is nothing else wrong with the address. How about DBase files? If you specify file names ending in ".DBF", then Q_CODE assumes you are working with DBASE files. However, if the input file is not DBASE, then you cannot create DBASE files as output. Also, this feature is restricted to "REPLACE=YES", since the structure of the DBASE files themselves are not changed during processing. Accents and mixed casing? French accents are handled on input files with no problem, as are lower/upper case characters. By default, any corrections are made in upper-case only, with NO accents. By specifying "LOWER=YES", then mixed-casing is applied to corrected records (and, if "STANDARD=YES", to valid records) when writing output files. Note that this ONLY applies to address data - other fields (name, company, etc) are NOT affected. Similarly, "ACCENTS=YES" will apply accents to these records (upper or lower as appropriate). This is processed on a table-lookup basis, using data supplied by Canada Post. The caution here is that "REGINA" and "ADELAIDE" would also be accented - probably not always what you want. You must therefore pre-split your file by Province or Language into 2 parts, and process each part with "ACCENTS=YES" or ACCENTS=NO" according to your needs. Is there any way to get Latitude/Longitude data for Postal Codes? Not yet. Statscan purportedly has the data, but the last time we looked it was incomplete and 18 months out of date. It was also expensive. We are looking at ways to obtain and provide this data, but CPC does not appear to be looking at this for any time in the next few years. In fact, if you have any suggestions in this regard, we'd be glad to hear from you. I have other questions you should answer here. Please send your suggestions for inclusion to us. If they would be of general help, we'll post the answer here.