AFD Products: Refiner Manual

INTRODUCTION & INSTALLATION

Available in evaluation mode (no changes are saved) in all versions of Postcode Plus
If you have purchased Postcode Plus with Refiner, changes can be saved.

Introduction

Refiner cleans address lists or databases containing UK postal addresses against the definitive Royal Mail Address File (PAF). It provides the highest possible levels of accurate automated cleansing and correction and an easy interactive mode.

Postcode Plus (supplied as part of Refiner) contains many additional data sets. Any of these (Grid References, Delivery Point Suffix, Ward Information etc) may be appended to a database. The following fields are available:

Organisations and Departments

Properties, Building Numbers and PO Boxes

Street

Locality

Town

County - or County Abbreviation

Delivery Point Suffixes

Mailsort Code

Postcode Type (e.g. Large/Small User)

Household Count (e.g. No of separate households in a block of flats)

Local or Unitary Authority

Constituency (Both UK Parliamentary and European Electoral Region)

TV Region

Grid Reference

Ward Code & Name

NHS Code and Area

NHS Regional Authorities

Local Education Authority (LEA)

Super Output Areas (SOA)

Urban/Rural Indicator

Primary Care Trust Code and Area Name (Local Health Board in Wales, Community Health Partnership in Scotland)

STD code

Censation Data: Census Code, Affluence, LifeStage and Additional Census Information

Occupancy and Address Type

UDPRN (Royal Mail Unique Delivery Point Reference Number)

AFD Just Built (An indicator of the quarter that a newly build property was added to PAF)

Launch Refiner from the separate icon in your Postcode Plus group, select Start - Programs - AFD Postcode Plus - Refiner. Alternatively from Postcode Plus you can launch the product by clicking Refiner from the Tools menu.

Backup & Quality Control

Refiner can make substantial changes to your address list, so you should never process a list until a FULL AND SECURE BACKUP is taken. You are strongly advised to work on a copy of your database rather than on live data - you may wish to compare the data after changes with the old, unchanged list.

Even if you write the cleaned data out to separate fields in your database or choose to output to a different database you should still ensure your data is backed up to ensure you do not lose anything should you set something up incorrectly. A mistake should be easy to spot and correct, but if your data is not backed up then you will have no way of returning to your original data to correct that mistake.

You should ensure that you employ proper quality control procedures to ensure you are happy with the changes made to your database before finally accepting the results and using them in a mailing.

All programs and data provided by Refiner are copyright and protected by the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act in the United Kingdom and by the Berne convention and other International Copyright treaties. You are permitted to install and use components of Refiner only under license and only on the number of computers, terminals, workstations or screens for which a license is held, although the larger data elements of the system may be installed on a file server for central access if a multi-user license is held. You may additionally make one copy of the program master disks for back-up purposes, but no other copies are permitted, for whatever reason.

Evaluation versions of Refiner and the associated sample data are nevertheless copyright material. You may make and distribute copies of the evaluation version and its sample data, but these copies must be complete and unaltered. You may NOT use the sample data provided for any purpose other than to assist in evaluating the usefulness of Refiner.

Data within Refiner is the copyright of AFD Computers and the British Post Office. You may access and use this data only as part of the Refiner system, to provide address data for a bona-fide address-based application. You may not extract, reverse-engineer or re-distribute data or programs provided under any circumstances whatsoever.

The Refiner license is renewable annually and renewal fees include a fresh set of data, program updates and free technical support for the year. Intermediate data updates are available quarterly at nominal cost, or you may subscribe to the POP scheme and cover all costs of using Refiner including program and data updates, data licenses and technical support for just £99/month (min 12 months) including VAT, payable by standing order.

Technical Support

Making sure that our customers get the best from our products is important to us - so long as you have a current licensed copy of a Postcode product, we're here to help:

World Wide Web
This major resource provides 24 hour, direct access to all AFD's technical resources. If you have a question, need program examples or require a skilled Postcode dealer to help with your system, start by visiting our web site at: www.afd.co.uk or email your request to support@afd.co.uk.

HelpDesk
If you don't yet have Internet access, our HelpDesk on 01624 811712 will help ensure that your copy of the program is installed and functioning correctly. The HelpDesk is manned Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm (except holidays). Ensure that you are next to your computer, which is switched on prior to calling.

These services provide free, unlimited support about all aspects of using the postcode product range. Whilst we will endeavour to help with general advice, we cannot assist with questions or problems that are not related to your use of an AFD Product - nor can we resolve hardware or network errors. You should refer these questions to your System Manager.

Data & Data Updates

Address data is constantly changing as a result of property redevelopment, business moves and the increasing trend towards the automation of mail delivery. To ensure that you get the maximum benefit from your investment in AFD Postcode programs, you should ensure that the data you are using is as up-to-date as possible. With Refiner you can update your database with Postcode, town and other address changes that Royal Mail make to ensure your data contains, as far as possible, correct addresses for ensuring fast and correct delivery today.

AFD have invested in state-of-the-art technology to provide you with the best possible address data within our programs. Taking Royal Mail data direct and converting it ready for release to our customers in just three days, means that AFD Data is often weeks and sometimes months more up-to-date than data from other sources.

Four data updates are issued each year - usually in early March, June, September and January - subject to Royal Mail delivery.

Make sure that you place your order so that each optional data update is sent to you as soon as it is prepared - or join the POP scheme so that all costs of Data Licenses, Program and Data Updates are covered in one modest standing order payment and shipped automatically when available.

Address, Postcode and Bank solutions