Graphic Data UK Ltd

"Matchcode International has minimised the number of keystrokes the data entry team needs to make to identify a full, valid and accurate address from fifty to eight to ten keystrokes. We can also be confident that in such a data-sensitive market, the addresses at the point of capture are to the required standards of the country postal services and crucially, our client."

Group Project Manager, Andy Boniface 

Keeping the Balance Between Productivity and Quality

Processing credit card applications can be a lengthy process. Numerous pieces of data need to be checked and verified for validity before anything is issued to an applicant. Stringent data protection, industry regulation and ongoing business efficiency also means that data must be accurate. This presents a challenge when you are dealing with applications from five different countries in multiple languages and address formats. The pressures to turn around each application as fast as possible, from data capture to sending out the cards has the potential to compromise data quality.

Graphic Data UK is a leading provider of document management, data capture and business process outsourcing. From its main office in Essex, it employs a team of 30 who manage 2.5million credit card applications per year from UK, Austria, France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands for one international client using its scanning and data capture service. The application forms, containing hand-written data such as name, address and local bank branch details for direct debits, are scanned at the country of origin and electronically forwarded to the team at Graphic Data UK. The data is automatically captured using advanced forms processing techniques then verified by the data entry team before submission to the client's database. 

Accuracy at the Point of Capture

Group Project Manager at Graphic Data UK, Andy Boniface, says, "The nature of the services we provide means that high productivity is vital, and when you are taking approximately 40-50 keystrokes to enter a full address not only is there a high risk of error but it takes time to input every element separately. Varying international address formats, as well as ambiguous hand-written data, means we need a way of validating the home and place of employment addresses to ensure they are accurate and to the standard as required by our client." Boniface recognises that incorrect address data could be disastrous for credit card companies, "Not only is it incredibly costly to resolve, a card issuer could fail to get the correct credit scores. Correct addresses are also essential for prevention of fraud such as identity theft."

Graphic Data UK were using an address management system that presented its shortcomings in both validating international addresses, as well as during database searches and integration with the server. Boniface explains, "The previous system tended to be slow to respond during searches and required more detailed input into the search field to return the information we needed. It was a UK-based solution and showed up the weakness in detail for the additional international address data sets."

"We wanted a system that would integrate seamlessly with our server and our other validation software which screens sort codes and similar data. We were also looking to minimise the keystrokes required to capture addresses from the application forms, so the data entry team would only need to enter a partial address, such as a house number and postal code to get a full address," explains Boniface. 

Minimum Input, Maximum Result

Graphic Data UK chose Capscan's address management and address data-capture software Matchcode International, incorporating data sets for Austria, Germany, Spain, France and the Netherlands from Uniserv. "We selected Matchcode International because it required the minimum number of keystrokes in capturing an address, usually a postcode and a house number and it would give us the full address," clarifies Boniface. "The search function was fast to return results as it was installed as a client/server application and again required minimum input." Another important feature was the ability to have a single interface across the databases, enabling deployment into the one server and integration with other applications.

Matchcode International is unrivalled in terms of quality and level of detail of the data, including address management support for 240 countries or territories worldwide, postal codes for all countries with a postal code system, street level information for more than 40 countries, and enhanced data tables for more than 19 countries. Matchcode International ensures that databases are populated with accurate and correctly formatted International address data, by taking input address details and matching them to validated postal information. It also adds missing address components, corrects misspellings and validates local delivery codes, resulting in the database containing accurate postal information. Matchcode International manages local variations on address formats, such as the order in which the different address components are written. It also supports International languages, along with country-specific characters such as umlauts and accents. 

A Unified Approach

Matchcode International was integrated with Graphic Data UK's database and other validation software into a single interface within a week, prior to rolling out the additional country data sets. "A member of Capscan's technical staff was on site to ensure everyone knew how to use the software and that everything ran smoothly," says Boniface.

"We were impressed with the unified interface, as it meant ease of use for the data entry team and faster communication with the server, aiding the search function," explains Boniface. "Matchcode International makes it possible for us to use appropriate search terms for different countries, because some states don't put as much emphasis on postal codes as the UK does, which was one of the weaknesses in the previous system. The search rates are much higher, as it doesn't require as much information to identify addresses as before."

Graphic Data UK found that being able to apply standardised rules to the database when address data is being captured meant the addresses could be reformatted as required when presented to the client, despite varying countries of origin. "We could be flexible in our approach and use options such as abbreviation rules if a country uses them, rather than leaving this to the decision of the data entry team, which can increase the risk of error," adds Boniface.

Boniface concludes, "Matchcode International has minimised the number of keystrokes the data entry team needs to make to identify a full, valid and accurate address from fifty to eight to ten keystrokes. We can also be confident that in such a data-sensitive market, the addresses at the point of capture are to the required standards of the country postal services and crucially, our client."