Effective August 1, 2007, all CASS software will be required to validate the primary house number using technology call Delivery Point Validation. Along with house number validation, software will be checking another file called LACs. The LACs file instructs software to match against it to see if there are any address conversions. Such conversions are changing Rural Route addressing schemes to city like mailing address styles, also known as 911-type addressing.

Today, the USPS sent out a formal communication to the mailing community to update and reiterate the upcoming changes. All users should begin immediate planning. Group 1 software users have had DPV and LACs databases and software for nearly two years and can optionally turn on the parameters or configurations to begin DPV and LACs testing.

It is important to note when running DPV, users should obtain memory for their hardware and properly set up the software parameters to instruct the CASS and DPV engines to take advantage of the memory. Some platforms see very little impact whereas others will need to have very specialized environmental review and setup.

In Group 1 testing, we have seen limited slow down under Windows and Unix. Larger platforms such as mainframes take environmental adjustments and memory allocation in order to optimize the processing. The unfortunate nature of the mainframe computing environment is no two systems are the same. Depending on system configurations, user demand and allocation of memory can affect the processing on these larger complex computing environments.

Over the next few months, you will see further educational materials and guidance from the technical staffs to assist you in your testing and implementation for CASS cycle L.