Address Cleansing using CASS/RDI
Learn how the CASS™-certified process validates U.S. addresses for postal delivery and how it compares to non-CASS address cleansing in Reltio.
Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS)
- A certification for Address Validation and Geocoding software vendors.
- A process leveraged by customers of CASS™ - certified software vendors to obtain output specified by the U. S. Postal Service®. Note: The following points help you understand how CASS and RDI functions:
- CASS is used for United States addresses only. Hence, CASS must not be used to cleanse nonAmerican tenants when data includes non-American addresses.
- CASS can be bundled with Residential Delivery Indicator (RDI) data pack providing delivery type information, namely, whether an address is residential or business.
- CASS-enabled cleansing returns results in uppercase.
CASS for Software Vendors
The U. S. Postal Service Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) software certification program provides hardware and software developers, service bureaus, and commercial mailers a common measure to test the quality of their address-matching software. Software tests for CASS certification are graded by the U. S. Postal Service (USPS), National Customer Support Center (NCSC) and the results are returned to the developer to provide useful diagnostics for correcting software deficiencies. This certification is specific to any particular vendor’s use of the proprietary CASS API and encrypted reference data, both belonging to the USPS.
- 98.5 percent for ZIP + 4, carrier route, Five-digit Postcode and LACS
- 100 percent for delivery point coding, eLOT, DPV or DSF2, and RDI
Choosing the CASS Certified Process
A CASS™ - certified process can only be deployed by a CASS™ - certified vendor. In Reltio’s case, leveraging the CASS™ - certified process instead of the standard (non-CASS) process requires extra commercial arrangements that must be sorted out at the time of the contract with the customer.
If you choose to use a CASS™ ‑ certified process, your addresses are validated by a CASS ‑ certified engine from a USPS ‑ certified vendor. The vendor applies USPS reference data and certification rules to parse, standardize, and validate each address. You receive only the CASS ‑ verified output and delivery indicators.
Non-CASS US Reference Data
The non-CASS US reference data includes all the address information in the CASS data file including the postcode information, with the exception of the additional indicators.
More importantly, the non-CASS data file combines USPS reference data with additional data from third-party sources to provide a more complete view of U.S. addresses.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When should Reltio customers leverage a CASS process?
There are two distinct use cases for CASS:
- Postal Discounts for Mass Mailing in the United States - When sending large quantities of mail in the United States, using CASS-certified address standardization and validation to meet USPS requirements and qualify for bulk-mail postal rate discounts.
- DPV (also DSF2) - Delivery Point Validation, the CASS process outputs a flag that indicates whether or not an address is a valid delivery point for receiving mail or packages from the USPS. This can be important for you, especially in some regulatory use cases.
- Does using CASS guarantee 98.5% accuracy?
CASS guarantees only that the vendor deploying the CASS™ - certified software obtained a minimum resolution of 98.5% against a database of test addresses for a subset of USPS address coding indicators: ZIP + 4, carrier route, five-digit postal code, and LACSLink.
- What are the key differences between CASS™- certified and non-CASS address processing?
Capability CASS™-certified Non-CASS Address quality focus USPS postal deliverability and compliance Broader data quality, enrichment, and identity resolution Reference data sources Encrypted USPS postal data only Conflated dataset combining USPS and third-party sources Output formatting flexibility Fixed per USPS standards; cannot be customized Configurable for business or brand presentation needs Delivery validation indicators Includes DPV, RDI, ZIP+4, carrier route, and eLOT Not USPS-certified; indicators may be unavailable Use case alignment Bulk mailing and postal compliance Enterprise data quality, analytics, and MDM