April 17, 2009

Intelligent Mail^® Services Weekly Update

First-Class Mail Containers (Mail.XML and Mail.dat) – In the event that a mailer is required to schedule appointments for origin-entered mail that is transported by the mailer to a postal processing facility as defined by the CSA, for Full-Service mailings, mailers are required to update the contents for one-time appointments through Mail.XML. Part of this content includes the presort levels of the container. The First-Class Mail origin-entered CSA container sort levels are not supported in Mail.XML version 6.0D. A workaround to allow origin-entered appointment creation is described in the the updated Postal Service Mail.XML Technical Specification which will be available on RIBBS on April 21.

The PostalOne! release 20 will not support the presort level codes defined in Mail.dat 9-1 specification for optional First-Class Mail containers. This functionality will be added in a future release. PostalOne! release 20 will support the First-Class Mail CSA container presort codes that can be used in Full-Service Mail.dat documentation.

Mailer IDs – In preparation for the new Business Customer Gateway and the new online process for acquiring Mailer IDs, we will not issue Mailer IDs from May 1 through May 10. This includes Mailer IDs for OneCode ACS, OneCode Confirm, and for Intelligent Mail barcodes. Mailers can use the new online tool to acquire Mailer IDs starting May 11. We will explain the new online process in the User Access to Electronic Mailing Information and Reports, available April 21 on RIBBS. Mailers should continue to access the Confirm and ACS help desks to attain Mailer IDs as necessary.

Updated Guides – On April 21, we will update the following guides on RIBBS: Resource Map; Guide to Intelligent Mail for Letters and Flats; Intelligent Mail and Electronic Documentation: Ready, Set, Go; Postal Service Mail.dat Technical Specification; and User Access to Electronic Mailing Information and Reports.

PostalOne! Release 21 – We completed our analysis of PostalOne! release 21, scheduled for deployment on November 29, 2009. This release fixes issues in PostalOne! release 20; improves the Mail.dat solution; allows Mail.XML for Full-Service mailing documentation and the lower price for Full-Service mailings; provides a copalletization solution for Full-Service mailings; and improves the Mail Quality reports. We will publish the technical specifications for this release on May 29. Look for more information in upcoming weekly updates.

PostalOne! and FAST Outages – We are preparing PostalOne! release 20 to support the price change on May 11 and the test environment for the Intelligent Mail Full-Service option on May 18. A system-wide outage for PostalOne! and FAST is needed from 10 p.m. on April 25 to 10 p.m. (CDT) on April 26. We are also planning a 12-hour outage over May 9 and May 10. We will provide exact times in an upcoming update. During these outages mailers cannot access PostalOne! or submit electronic mailing documentation. Mailers should review their file submission processes and make arrangements for these outages.

The outage does not affect FAST online scheduling, but mailers will not be able to schedule appointments electronically using Mail.XML or Wizard Web Services. During the outage, mailers who wish to schedule appointments online must log directly into FAST through https://fast.usps.com. Mailers scheduling electronically for the April 25th and 26th outage should do so by 8:00 p.m. (CDT) on April 25. Use the online application to schedule appointments with less notice. Please call the PostalOne! help desk at 1-800-522-9085 or your local FAST facility coordinator if you have questions.

New User Access for PostalOne! and FAST – Beginning May 11 with PostalOne! release 20, users will access PostalOne! and FAST via the new Business Customer Gateway. To support the migration, we cannot add new users to PostalOne! or FAST until May 11. New users who wish to access information contained in PostalOne! should contact their local business mail acceptance employees, as they do today when they have mailing questions. Until May 11, new users who wish to gain access to the FAST system to schedule appointments can contact local facilities to confirm dock availability. USPS facilities will accept new customers without a FAST appointment until they can access FAST and acquire a Scheduler ID. All mailers must comply with the mailing and documentation standards, and present PS Form 8125 as proof of payment for drop shipment mailings.