After running the Global Postal Matcher you can review the ACR codes and match level codes to identify specific conditions that occur for each row being processed. The ACR code details the result of the comparison of the input data with the data in the Global GAV Tables. Match level codes are determined based on the ACR code.
There are two levels of ACR code - extended ACR, which details the status of all address component attributes, and standard ACR, which details the status of a subset of address component attributes. The ACR code is stored in ga_gout_acr, the extended ACR is stored in ga_gout_ext_acr, and match level code is stored in tq_gout_match_level in the output.
Both extended and standard ACR codes contain three segments:
Validation Level
The first two characters of the ACR code specify the type and level of validation and is stored in the acr_level or ext_acr_level attribute.
The first alphabetic character specifies the type of validation:
- U - unable to standardize address
- C - address is in component form
- L - address has been formatted into address lines
- R - address has been reverted as has not reached acceptable level
The second numeric character specifies the level of validation. The higher the level, the better the validation will be. The levels that can be achieved are:
- 0 - no components validated
- 1 - country only validated
- 2 - city and country validated
- 3 - city, postcode and country validated
- 4 - street, city, post/zip code and country validated
- 5 - premise number, building name, sub-building, PO box, company, street, city, post/zip code and country validated
Component Status
The second segment of the ACR code provides the status of the main address components.
Standard ACR Code
The address components for the standard ACR code are identified as follows and stored in the redefined attributes within the ga_gout_acr attribute in the output schema:
|
Component |
Description |
Output Attribute |
|---|---|---|
|
P |
Premise/house number |
acr_premise |
|
S |
Street |
acr_street |
|
A |
Subcity (city area) |
acr_subcity |
|
T |
City |
acr_city |
|
R |
Region/state |
acr_region |
| Z | Post/zip code | acr_postcode |
|
C |
Country |
acr_country |
Extended ACR Code
The address components for the extended ACR code are identified as follows and stored in the redefined attributes within the ga_gout_ext_acr attribute in the output schema:
|
Component |
Description |
Output Attribute |
|---|---|---|
|
D |
Department |
ext_acr_department |
|
M |
Company |
ext_acr_company |
|
B |
Building |
ext_acr_building |
|
U |
Sub-building |
ext_acr_sub_building |
|
P |
Premise/house number |
ext_acr_premise |
| S | Street | ext_acr_street |
|
Q |
Sub-street |
ext_acr_sub_street |
| X | PO Box | ext_acr_po_box |
| A | Sub-city | ext_acr_sub_city |
| T | City | ext_acr_city |
| E | Extra city/Cedex | ext_acr_extra_city |
| R | Region/State | ext_acr_region |
| W | Principality | ext_acr_principality |
| Z | Postcode/Zip code | ext_acr_postcode |
| Y | Extra postcode/DPS | ext_acr_extra_postcode |
| C | Country | ext_acr_country |
A number follows each component can take one of the following values:
- 0 - not found/empty
- 1 - derived using position in input data
- 2 - recognized using Global GAV Tables
- 3 - recognized and updated to standard form using Global GAV Tables
- 4 - validated using Global GAV Tables
- 5 - updated/corrected using Global GAV Tables
- 6 - added using Global GAV Tables
- 7 - correctly empty
- 8 - partial recognition using Global GAV Tables
- 9 - needs correcting to match Global GAV Tables
Validation Match Score
The final three digits of the ACR code provide the match score in percentage and is stored in the acr_val_match_score or ext_acr_val_match_score attribute. This is a comparison between the standardized data (in component format) and the suggested match returned from the Global GAV Tables.
The score is calculated by examining all fields returned from the Global GAV Tables and comparing them individually with the input component data. The overall match score is then calculated by combining these individual values into an average score, taking into account the match score weightings, which can be set from the Global Postal Matcher options window. Only the components that contribute to the validation level are used; for example, if the validation level is 3 (country, city and postcode validated), then only the country, city and postcode fields will be used to calculate the match score.
- Example 1
-
Input Data
Standardized Data
Global Postal Matcher Output AddressLine1: 11 High Street
City: Anytown
Country: UK
Premise: 11
Street: High Street
City: Anytown
Premise: 11
Street: High Street
City: Anytown
Postcode: ZZ9 9ZZ
Comparing the Global GAV Tables to the standardized data we get:
- Premise: 100% match
- Street: 100% match
- City: 100% match
- Postcode: not used, because empty on input
Combining these percentages gives us a match score of 100%.
- Example 2
-
Input Data
Standardized Data
Global Postal Matcher Output AddressLine1: bergerstrasse 12
AddressLine2: munich
AddressLine3: 80124
Country: Germany
Premise: 12
Street: Bergerstr.
City: München
Postcode: 80124
Premise: 12
Street: Burgerstr.
City: München
Postcode: 80142
Comparing the Global GAV Tables output to the standardized data we get:
- Premise:100% match
- Street: 90% match (the actual figure is determined by a textual comparison of the two values)
- City: 100% match
- Postcode: 80% match (because the numbers are transposed)
This gives an overall match score of 92%.
ACR Code Example
The following example illustrates an ACR code and describes the significance of each character in the code.
L5 - D0M0B0U0P4S5Q0X0A0T4E0R6W0Z4Y0C4 - 097
- L shows that formatting has been carried out to create the address lines.
- The validation level is 5, meaning that the highest level of matching against the Global GAV Tables was attained.
- The department, company, building, and sub-building (D, M, B, U) are set to zero, meaning that those components were not found or empty.
- The premise/house number (P) is set to 4, meaning that it was validated using the Global GAV Tables.
- The street (S) is set to 5, meaning that it was updated or corrected using the Global GAV Tables.
- The sub-street, PO Box, and sub-city (Q, X, A) are set to zero, meaning that they were not found or empty.
- The city (T) is set to 4, meaning that it was validated using the Global GAV Tables.
- The extra city/cedex (E) is set to zero, meaning that it was not found or empty.
- The region (R) is set to 6, meaning that it was added using the Global GAV Tables.
- The principality (W) is set to zero, meaning that it was not found or empty.
- The postcode/zip code (Z) is set to 4, meaning that it was validated using the Global GAV Tables.
- The extra postcode/DPS (Y) is set to zero, meaning that it was not found or empty.
- The country (C) is set to 4, meaning that it was validated using the Global GAV Tables.
- The overall address matched the Global GAV Tables at 97%.