The Customer Data Parser standardizes name and address data by identifying individual elements and recoding the elements according to country-specific rules and tables. The individual elements are called tokens, and each token is assigned an attribute that identifies what the token represents. For example, "120 Main St" comprises three tokens, which are assigned the attributes HSNO, STREET-NAME, and STREET-TYPE.
The CDP stores two kinds of attributes for a token: intrinsic attributes, such as ALPHA, and specific attributes, such as CITY. After assigning specific attributes through the country-specific table lookup, the CDP creates the most detailed Name or Street pattern it can using specific and intrinsic attributes. If that detailed pattern exists in the country table, the CDP identifies fields and recodes the tokens as directed by the pattern. If the pattern does not exist, the CDP has a number of rules it can apply to simplify the pattern until a match is found.
These Name and Street Parser rules can generalize a name or street pattern through:
- The selected replacement of specific attributes with the intrinsic attribute for that token
- The selected removal of known, descriptive or 'extra' data from the line
- The name rules are intended for advanced users. We recommend that you become familiar with intrinsic attributes and specific attributes before changing the settings.
- By default, all name rules are enabled.
To disable or re-enable one of the street rules