# Presentation: 437814

## PostalOne!®

**Pritha Mehra**
**Marketing Technology & Channel Management**

## What Is PostalOne! Today?

What Is PostalOne! Tomorrow?

- What Is *PostalOne! Tomorrow*?

*P**ostal**O**ne**! Agenda *

**Notes:**
Today we will discuss the following topics regarding the PostalOne! system.  If you have any questions, please save them for the end where we will have a question and answer session.  So let’s get started...

## Designed to transform the bulk business mailing experience to a seamless, electronic Web-based process offering a suite of electronic services

*P**ostal**O**ne**! – What Is It Today? *

**Provide Online Account Process Management:**
-   Postage Accounting System for Bulk Business Mail
-   Transmit Electronic Mailing Information
-   View Financial Activity
-   Hardcopy Check and Centralized Electronic Payments
-   Plan & Schedule Mail Induction
-   View Mailing Activity
-   Provide & Receive Mailing Quality Feedback

***PostalOne!*****®**

**Benefits**

**Facilitates Electronic Appointments**

**Eliminates Hardcopy Paperwork**

**Facilitates Automated Induction**

**Offers Centralized Payment Options**

**Notes:**
Today, some customers no longer provide hardcopy documents and postage statements. They submit their mailing information to PostalOne! electronically where it is presented to the acceptance unit to verify the mail and release of postage statements for automatic account withdrawal.  Customers monitor mailing activity online viewing postage estimates for the mailing, statements processed, remaining pieces to mail, and so forth. The system also provides all processing data back to the customer in an electronic format for use within their own systems. Additionally, they can view their CAPS account information as well as the detail statements associated to those transactions.  

The PostalOne! system centralizes all of the business account information enabling national access to accounts across all USPS business functions. It provides a data exchange process that facilitates electronic information sharing between our customers and multiple USPS information systems. It provides web-based capabilities enabling access to information and data sharing for all user types; from the technically sophisticated high volume complex presort mailers, to the point and click simple presort mail walk in customer.

The system still supports all of the business functions necessary to process mailings using customer provided hardcopy mailing documents. However, the web based technology provides many more advantages. 

We recently added online views for customers to access their mailing information. You just log in and can view your account information, deposits, withdrawals, fee information, and each mailing statement that has been processed. We intend to offer these features later this year. We also offer instant messaging to notify you of rule changes or if our processing plants are experiencing problems processing your mail because of a preparation issue. But that’s not all...

## PostalOne! Dash Board

**Summarized Info**
**Recent Activity**
**Fee Notification**

*P**ostal**O**ne**! Dash Board*

## PostalOne! Submit Forms Page

*P**ostal**O**ne**! Submit Forms Page*

**Perform Calculations**
**Provide Submit Capability**
**Support All Domestic Postage Statements**

## PostalOne! View Reports Page

**Statements Submitted but Not Acted Upon**
**Finalized Transactions**
**eMIR Issues**

*P**ostal**O**ne**! View Reports Page*

## PostalOne! Balance & Fees Page

*P**ostal**O**ne**! Balance & Fees Page*

**View Account Balance**
**View Fee ****Information**** **

## PostalOne!  Manage Permits Page

**View All Permits**
**Check Balances**
**Make Deposits**
**Take Out a New Permit**

*P**ostal**O**ne**!  Manage Permits Page*

## Aggregate Report

** **_**Aggregate Reports**_Show a graphical view of all selected problem criteria
- Drill down on selected containers or problems to see details

*P**ostal**O**ne**! eMIR Customer Reports*

## Mail.dat 

- File-based electronic exchange
- Transportation planning
- Automates supply chain
**Web Services **
- Form-based electronic exchange
**Web Wizard Postage Submit **
- Postage statements online

** ****Mail.dat**
** ****Web Services**
** ****Web Wizard**

*P**ostal**O**ne**! Electronic Documentation*

**Notes:**
To have electronic collaboration you need to exchange data between parties. To provide universal access to the PostalOne! suite of electronic services we have developed three electronic information exchange capabilities.
Mail.dat – is a 20+ year industry file specification used to electronically exchange information through out the mail supply chain process owners. It is ubiquitous in mail construction detail and flexible in supporting business processes such as transportation planning and automating the mailing manufacturing systems and processes. Our mail.dat feature currently support STD mailings but is expanding to all high-volume mailing types in the very near future. It supports both postage statements and presort documentation. Complaints ranged from its being too complex or having too much detail to it is inflexible for supporting dynamic communications processes needed in the mailing lifecycle. We turned to Web Services to deal with these issues.
Web Services – is a fairly mature technology now with web industry standards, guidelines, and tools. We used web services as the internal postage statement processing capabilities for the PostalOne! system. Our Web Services feature supports all domestic mailing rates. It supports limited presort documentation at this time and we are looking to expand in the near future. Web Services provides an ability for independent legacy systems to communicate with each other without having to change the systems. It enables you to the mailing information require into a format that PostalOne! will accept and process. It also provides the capability to streamline data exchange needs to automate business processes or execute event and response actions and provide instantaneous information to all sorts of systems and peripheral devices.. This will be continually evolved to support future processes. It remove much of the information overhead associated with the mail.dat and enables a customer to build their own online views of the mailing information in a format they want to view it in. Presort software vendors can develop web service information exchange capabilities as easily as they provide mail.dat support.
Web Wizard Online Submit – this desktop browser feature was added to round out or universal access. This feature will be used by individual mail owners that want to bring in their own mailing and medium sized print and mailing shops looking to perform add value services like bulk mailing preparation and drop. It currently supports all domestic mailing rates but does not provide any support documentation capabilities. We are looking into adding some simplified support documentation capabilities in the future.

## Mail.dat
Standard mailers
Periodicals enabled in May 2006
Support Bound Printed Matter
Currently testing with First-Class Mail MLOCR process

Web Services
Supports all domestic statements
Supports qualification reports for manifest & single mailing presorts

Online Submit
Pilot in Buffalo BMEU with 5 mailers
Enhanced functionality in April / May 2006:
National deployment roll out to begin Fall 06
Supports all domestic postage statements

- Standard mailers
- Periodicals enabled in May 2006
- Support Bound Printed Matter
- Currently testing with First-Class Mail MLOCR process
**Web Services**
- Supports all domestic statements
- Supports qualification reports for manifest & single mailing presorts
**Online Submit**
- Pilot in Buffalo BMEU with 5 mailers
- Enhanced functionality in April / May 2006:
- National deployment roll out to begin Fall 06
- Supports all domestic postage statements

*P**ostal**O**ne**! – Documentation Update*

**Notes:**
Current Usage

## PostalOne! – Monthly / YTD Metrics 

| Time Frame | Number of Electronic Statements Submitted | Revenue |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Nov 05 |   6,017 | $297.3 Million |
| Dec 05 |   3,291 | $179.2 Million |
| Jan 06 |   4,236 | $204.5 Million |
| FY06 YTD  | 19,247 | $967.7 Million |

*P**ostal**O**ne**! – Monthly / YTD Metrics *

## PostalOne! – Mail.dat/Web Services 

**1. Mailer sends  **
**     ****electronic     ****    information**

** ****2. Mailer ****presents mail ****to USPS**

**3. USPS ****accepts, verifies & ****deducts postage**

**4. Data returned ****to mailer for **
**online viewing**

*P**ostal**O**ne**! – Mail.dat/Web Services *

**Notes:**
Mailer sends their mailing information using the Mail.datTM file format to PostalOne!. Though the file contains extremely detailed information about the mailing, details down to the characteristics of the components within the envelope, you are only required to submit the file attributes relevant to verifying and paying postage on the mailing. The first transmission usually consists of the entire information regarding the mailing. During the file transmission process you will receive information on your browser to indicate the status of the transfer. Upon receipt of the file, the PostalOne! system processes the file and calculates the “estimated” postage charges, and provides an online view of the mailing presort documentation. As the mailing release cycle begins the mailer submits update files to represent the segment of the mailing they are entering into the mail stream at that time. For the update transmission the mailer will flag the file as “Ready to Pay” and the system will process a “preliminary” statement and present it to the BMEU. All of these transmission serve as advance notice to the USPS regarding what mail is inbound to them.

The mailer presents the mail to USPS acceptance unit where the online documents are used to verify the mail preparation or the mail is subjected to a verification on the MERLIN system. Once the verification is completed the acceptance clerk enters the results into the PostalOne! system and then accesses the postage statement to review it for accuracy. If an error is discovered during verification that requires a postage adjustment then the BMEU clerk will adjust the postage statement in PostalOne!  If there are errors in the postage statement, such as incorrect piece count the clerk can make the edits to the statement. Once everything is in order the clerk then submits the statement for processing. As these transaction are processed you will receive “receipt” files indicating what the results were of the postage deduction.

The system processes the transaction and transmits receipt files back to the mailer as well as provides all the information to the mailer via their browser.

## PostalOne! – Postage Statement Wizard 

**1.  Log on to **
***   ******P******ostal******O******ne******!***

*P**ostal**O**ne**! – Postage Statement Wizard *

**Note: The user**
**can save work**
**at any stage**
**along the way.**

**2. Submit****    online**

**3. USPS ****accepts, verifies & ****deducts postage**

**4. Data returned ****to mailer for **
**online viewing**

**Notes:**
As I just explained in the prior slide, the Postage Statement Wizard offers mailers a web-based method of completing Postage Statements.  This slide will give you an idea of how the process of completing documentation actually works.

The Wizard prompts you to follow a step-by-step process for completing forms. Once you log on to PostalOne! you are prompted to select the appropriate form where you must input your user information and mailing information.  Then you must complete the appropriate sections of the form, review and submit the form online.  Then you can present just your mailing to the BMEU clerk who will access your documentation online and complete the acceptance and verification activities.

Please note that the submit functionality will not be available until late 2005.  The process today requires you to print a hardcopy of the completed form and bring it to the BMEU along with your mailing where you must present the documents and the mailing to the clerk for acceptance and verification activities. Once acceptance and verification activities are complete, the BMEU will deduct postage automatically from your account.

Now I will briefly walk you through the actual process and the screens you would see when using the Postage Statement Wizard. 

## Future PostalOne! – Seamless Acceptance 

*Future P**ostal**O**ne**! – Seamless Acceptance** *

**Notes:**
The vision of In-process Verification is a long term strategy of Marketing Technology Channel Management to use mail processing data to perform revenue assurance verifications on discount bulk mailings.

At a high level it essential relies on customers providing electronically their mailing information to the USPS and through the process of collecting data from the mail as it moves through mail processing we will perform statistical sampling analysis to determine if the rates the mailer is claiming are accurate based on the way the mail is processing. Should anomalies be identified then the system will collect all data relevant to the mailing to perform the comparative analysis to the rates claimed. The actual revenue deficiency will be calculated and the customers postage charges will be adjusted for the postage deficiency.

The data cycle envisioned is;
Customers or their suppliers submits mailing information to PostalOne!. Customer or their supplier electronically schedule entry appointments through PostalOne! with FAST.
PostalOne! verifies postage to scheduling and releases shipment entry information to Surface Visibility.
Surface Visibility validate the shipment content at induction. 
Surface Visibility tracks containers to the Handling Unit consumption point.
Surface Visibility collects Handling Unit tracking information to Handling Unit consumption point.
Mail piece scans are tracked and collected by the IMAQ Exception Broker system.
PostalOne! RBV system selects mailings for verification and determines the sampling metrics.
PostalOne! makes request to mailer system for Handling Unit piece level data.
PostalOne! collects data from FAST, Surface Visibility and the Exception Broker.
PostalOne! performs comparative analysis and produces verification results.
PostalOne! performs postage adjustment calculations and submits billing.
PostalOne! updates RBV.

The data collection through out these processes will also be used for service performance and possible revenue generation (value added services) initiatives.

## Future PostalOne! eDropship Reports

***Container Detail Report***

-  Provides detail accounting for all containers on the appointment
-  Identifies unscheduled containers
-  Provides induction conflict information
-  Provides mail induction and or mail preparation issues
-  Links to Postage Statement

*Future P**ostal**O**ne**! eDropship Reports*

**Notes:**
Container Detail View
The Container Detail reports provides all of the information about the container as it relates to the shipment induction.

Appointment Summary
The details (planned and actual) specific to the appointment that the container is scheduled on.

Appointment Status
Indicates if the appointment is still open or has been closed (reported by Surface Visibility)

Job Summary
On this view the Job Summary information is specific to the actual container(s) associated to this specific appointment. The container, piece count and weight is an aggregate of the list of containers below

Job Results
This provides high-level results of the containers as reported by the Surface Visibility system.

The Individual container details are listed below the Job Results. Currently, this view provides information specific to each container and the induction activity.

The Container ID column
This lists the display I seen in the presort reports and postage statement register. It is linked to the unique barcode id that is on the container placard. If a container is accepted for this job that was not scheduled on this appointment but was authorized entry at the facility on another appointment (mis-scheduled), or was authorized entry by BME personnel during a resolution contact (on the phone) then the unique barcode ID will be displayed here. 
Directly underneath the container ID there is a link to the postage statement that the container was paid for on.

The columns to the right display information relevant to its adjacent container; the container ZIP destination, the container Rate Level, as well as the induction (pre/post) and identifies the specific container that has an induction status conflict (either pre or post).

The Scan status column indicates if the container has been accepted or rejected (returned to the transporter).

The Problem Description column identifies specific problem types that can occur with the container. These can be shipment content specific such as; a “mis-scheduled”,  a “missing”, a “mis-shipped”, or an “extra” not scheduled. These can also be container preparation specific such as; broken pallet, too tall, fallen apart. Eventually we will capture additional details like if the bundles are broken or trays damaged or labels missing.
The Problem Resolution column identifies what the resolution for the problem was. For example, if it is a mis-scheduled and the mailer wants to go ahead and leav it it will indicate “authorized by mailer” or if it is an unscheduled “extra” then once the payment is processed the container can be accepted and it would state “released payment processed”. For preparation type items it would state “authorized by plant mngr. process eMIR”.

These event activities will be further developed during the pilot.

##   Mail assets have barcodes applied

-   Mail assets have barcodes applied
-   Barcodes contain customer & asset unique identity
-   Barcodes provide customer use flexibility
-   Unique identity provides – tracking, verification, service    performance & services capability

*P**ostal**O**ne**! – Future Acceptance *

**Notes:**
In order to facilitate our next need, “Uniquely Identify” components, we have been working the barcodes that can be applied across the various components used to construct and transport mail through the mail lifecycle.
All three of these barcode types have specifications either in a final or almost complete specification. We want to point out the generic characteristics associated with the three barcodes:
 They all have a field referred to as the Business Entity ID (BEI) field, which is used to identify the owner of the specific barcode information.
 They all have an Adjust Field, which is used to make adjustments in the BEI and the Unique Serial Number. This field can be used for a customer’s internal purposes or may be needed to support extremely large mailings.
 They all have a Unique Serial Number field, which is used to keep the containers, handling units, and pieces unique for the required period of 90 days. This is essential to identification of the mailing information.

## All accounts centralized
Centralized payment
 Mail anywhere, Pay anywhere
 PostalOne! links Electronic documentation to payment
 Customers structure account portfolios to meet needs
 Master Account & Connecting Accounts
Flexible payment options 
 ACH Debit
 ACH Credit, FedWire, eCheck 
Available for all products and services
 Bulk mailings, stamps, pick-ups, Confirm,
	 PC postage, P.O. Boxes, Click-N-Ship 

- All accounts centralized
- Centralized payment
-  Mail anywhere, Pay anywhere
-  *PostalOne!* links Electronic documentation to payment
-  Customers structure account portfolios to meet needs
-  Master Account & Connecting Accounts
- Flexible payment options
-  ACH Debit
-  ACH Credit, FedWire, eCheck
- Available for all products and services
-  Bulk mailings, stamps, pick-ups, Confirm,
- 	 PC postage, P.O. Boxes, Click-N-Ship

*P**ostal**O**ne**! – Future Centralized Payment *

## PostalOne! 10.2 release – April 2006
Mail.dat 5.2 Specs
Postage Statement Wizard Preparer Submit
Electronic Periodicals Postage

PostalOne! 10.3 release – May 2006
Risk Based Verification

PostalOne! 11.0 release 
User Group Issues
MTAC #99 Periodicals Enhancement
POS One Interface
Postage Statements Enhancements
Multiple Postage Payment & Co-Mail Documentation (MLOCR)
eDropShip Enhancements (Pilot)

PostalOne! 12.0
Centralized Payment

- Mail.dat 5.2 Specs
- Postage Statement Wizard Preparer Submit
- Electronic Periodicals Postage
*PostalOne!* 10.3 release – May 2006
- Risk Based Verification
*PostalOne!* 11.0 release
- User Group Issues
- MTAC #99 Periodicals Enhancement
- POS One Interface
- Postage Statements Enhancements
- Multiple Postage Payment & Co-Mail Documentation (MLOCR)
- eDropShip Enhancements (Pilot)
*PostalOne!* 12.0
- Centralized Payment

*P**ostal**O**ne**! Future Releases*

## Getting Access to PostalOne! 

*Getting Access to** **P**ostal**O**ne**!*** **

- Complete the online application & submit electronically
*PostalOne!* Customer Care Center processes your application & send a Welcome Kit to your email address
- Welcome Kit contains additional forms that require signatures

_**http://www.usps.com//postalone/howto.htm**_

## Questions?