The challenge of Mail.dat Conformance is one that must be met by all vendors, users, and recipients of the Mail.dat standard. In the now distant past, there was the possibility of reverting to hardcopy, manual, or some other alternative if the Mail.dat fields were inaccurate. That time is past!

The Mail.dat Conformance Committee firmly asserts that conformance is a responsibility of everyone within the industry who uses Mail.dat for the benefit of everyone within the industry who uses Mail.dat. Conformance is the appropriate use of the Mail.dat standard structure, values, and design. Accuracy is not implicit within the basic characteristics measured by conformance, but is a desired side-effect.

Mail.dat conformance and accuracy can be verified on three broad levels:

1. Basic Conformance -- various software engines within the industry can evaluate if the presented Mail.dat files, and hence the authoring software, comply with the specification structure, the permitted values contained therein, and the relational aspects of Mail.dat design.
   
   
2. PAVE Conformance -- the USPS' PAVE certification process, using Mail.dat as an input format, not only validates that the Mail.dat conforms with the specification but also evaluates the accuracy with which the tested software communicates known data via the Mail.dat. The is an evaluation in the abstract.
   
   
3. PostalOne! Conformance -- the USPS' PostalOne! electronic data exchange platform, besides having its own Conformance evaluation tool, provides the ultimate in Mail.dat quality analysis by running parallel verification of the Mail.dat structure/content against a conventional set of documentation for the same mailings. This is conformance and accuracy evaluation in the day-to-day world.

Conformance Principles:

• "General" Principles
  • Valid User License Code (should be 4 characters)
  • All Required files are present
  • All File Names are valid - same root across file names, with appropriate extensions
  • The User License Code is valid
  • If Zipped Files, then should have same File Name (+ .ZIP) as External File Name
  • External File Name should match internal User License Code
    
    
• "Content" Principles
  • If Required, then check it  ("check it" = data compliant with data definitions: "type"/"value"/"content"; and check data such as min/max in context defined by "Class", "Proc Category", etc)
  • If not Required AND blank, then okay
  • If not Required, BUT populated, then check it
    
    
• Relational Principles
  • Is Key (set of Keys) Unique (required of all Key Sets)
  • Do all Child Record have a Parent Record (required of all Child records)
  • Do all Parent Records have a Child Record (all Parent records containing "roll-ups")
    
    
• Inter-Record/ Inter-Field Principles
  
  • Validate DMM rules as identified by IDEAlliance Conformance Group

There are several Conformance tools to support the industry's interest in Conformance evaluation:

1. Mail.dat 05-2 Specification
   
   
2. Mail.dat "Users' Guide" available on the Mail.dat website
   
   
3. 05-2 Mail.dat Conformance Testing by Window Book
   
   Have your 05-2 Mail.dat files tested by DAT-MAIL. Please submit zipped Mail.dat file sets only, following these instructions to access our Window Book FTP site:
   
   
   1. Go to ftp://custserv.windowbook.com
      
      For Username, type windowbook\wbiclient (not case sensitive)
      For password, type WBIcust04 (case sensitive)
      
      
   2. Open the IDEAlliance folder.
      
      
   3. Place the files to be tested in this folder. We recommend that you password protect the zipped Mail.dat file set you submit.
      
      
   4. Send an email to ConformanceTest@windowbook.com with the following information.
      
      Zipped file name
      Zipped file access password
      Mail.dat prepared by: _______________
      Don't forget to include your contact information, so that we can respond with the Conformance Testing Report results!
      
      Internet Explorer Troubleshooting:
      
      1.) Open Internet Explorer and go to Tools>Internet Options>Advanced Tab.
      
      2.) Make sure the 2 FTP related settings are selected (Enable folder view for FTP sites and Use Passive FTP)
      
      3.) Click Apply, OK then close Internet Explorer.

Please feel free to contact the Mail.dat Conformance or Specification Committees if you have any questions.