Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS)

The Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) improves the accuracy of carrier route, five-digit ZIP, ZIP+4, and delivery point codes that appear on mail pieces. CASS is offered to all mailers, service bureaus, and software vendors who want to evaluate their address-matching software and improve the quality of their ZIP+4, CRIS, and five-digit coding accuracy. This process is graded by the United States Postal Service's National Customer Support Center (NCSC), and the results returned to mailers in order to provide useful diagnostics for correcting deficiencies.

CASS enables the Postal Service to evaluate the accuracy of address-matching software programs in three areas: (1) ZIP+4 delivery point coding, (2) carrier route coding, and (3) five-digit coding. CASS allows vendors/mailers the opportunity to test their address-matching software packages and, after achieving a certain percentage of compliance, to be certified by the Postal Service. CASS does not measure the accuracy of ZIP+4 delivery point, five-digit ZIP, or carrier route codes in a mailer's existing files. CASS enables mailers to measure and diagnose internally written, commercially-available, address-matching software packages. The effectiveness of service bureaus' matching software can also be measured.

Presort Accuracy, Validation, and Evaluation (PAVE)

The Presort Accuracy, Validation, and Evaluation (PAVE) program is a process designed in cooperation with the mailing industry to evaluate presort software and determine its accuracy in sorting address files according to Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) standards. PAVE is available only to software and hardware developers, i.e., companies that develop presort software or manufacture presorting equipment for resale or internal use. Participation in the program is purely voluntary.

Although this program evaluates and validates presort products manufactured by developers, PAVE does not guarantee acceptance of mail prepared using PAVE-certified hardware and/or software; however, it does provide national approval of computer-generated facsimiles of United States Postal Service (USPS) postage statements, standardized documentation, and other presort documentation.

The USPS defines a PAVE-certified software product as a presorting product with source code specifically written to operate on a particular platform or operating system and assigned a specific version number. Many products use different language compilers to process files within different operating systems or on different hardware platforms. Therefore, to maintain the highest standards of quality assurance, PAVE will certify each product that operates on a particular platform at the current version number. One platform will be tested completely according to the test files ordered, and additional platforms will be tested randomly. The developer may either submit all platforms or just a few for certification. PAVE will evaluate each platform of the presort product separately and will issue a certificate for each platform that meets the PAVE accuracy requirements.