AFD provides ‘off the shelf’ integration between our Address Management products (UK Addressing, USA Addressing, Bank Data, Names & Numbers) and your Microsoft SQL Server database server.
Name and Postal Address Data form a core part of every customer or client database record. Any inaccuracy creates a poor impression and can cause delays or compromise customer service.
Our Address Management software protects your organisation from the damage caused by bad data and saves time in the every day task of data administration.
Our integrated Microsoft SQL solutions are server-side and easily accessed for Intranet, Internet or Desktop use. Name, Address, Postcode and Bank data is validated on entry so is always accurate!
For maximum reliability and professionalism our solutions use first rate data from selected data sources including the Royal Mail, BACS, United States Postal Service and other selected suppliers of telephone, residential and business data.
Our software ensures the highest level of data accuracy. Accurate data is easier to analyse, putting an end to a poor service that results from unnecessary data errors.
Our solutions for Microsoft SQL can reduce name and address data entry time by up to 90%; help cut errors and prevent poor data.
We offer fully integrated, reliable, scaleable, server-side solutions for Microsoft SQL with a comprehensive set of features. For database developers this means zero development time (after installing the software, just cut and paste the code – you’ve got the functions, no previous experience with our software is needed!), and minimal overhead.
You can begin evaluating the software integration right away, by downloading our Common API SDK which will create the SQL User Defined Functions you will need, and then installing an evaluation version of one of our products, such as Postcode Plus. You will also need to install the Postcode Everywhere XML service, which provides the interface between the User Defined Functions and our installed products.
For further information, please contact our corporate sales team for specialist advice and quotations.
By using User defined functions on the server you can use simple SQL code to lookup a Postcode or perform an address search as easily as you query a database table and it is accessible from any client application with SQL access to your SQL database server.
Our program only needs to be installed on your server, and by utilizing stored procedures and queries deployment across your organisation is made easily.
You must have Microsoft SQL Server and the required AFD product and licence to be able to use these functions.
For these functions to work, you must have the following stored procedures (these are normally installed as part of the default installation and can be found in the Extended Stored Procedures section of your Master database):
AFD Products integrate with SQL Server via ActiveX Components. These procedures allow SQL Server to use them.
Creates an instance of the OLE object on an instance of Microsoft SQL Server.
Sets a property of an OLE object to a new value.
Calls a method of an OLE object.
If you do not have these installed on your server please consult your SQL Server documentation.
To create any of the functions shown on the left side menu, open Enterprise manager and open your target database (they can be accessed from other databases).
Right Click the ‘User Defined Functions’ and select ‘New User Defined Function…’, then copy the code we provide and paste this into the Function window. These functions can be adjusted to suit your specific needs and the functions listed are meant as a guide.
We serve thousands of organisations and a network of hundreds of partners across multiple industry sectors, enabling them to have full confidence in their contact data.