How do I Interpret CASS and NCOA Data Files?

When you use our CASS or NCOA Address Cleanup tools, our website will take your address list (provided to us in a .CSV formatted file) and run it against the USPS address database.  Their system will attempt to validate the addresses within your address list.

Once complete, you can access a new excel file within your LetterStream account that will show you all of the changes they suggest and why.  It can be a bit tricky to read this data file as they include quite a lot of information.  If you are simply wanted to see if the address is a valid address or not, you can simply look at the column called "DPV" (usually around column S in excel).  There will be a few characters in this column.  All you need to look at to see if the address is confirmed by the USPS as a valid address is a very first character.

An example of what the data in this column might look like is YN NN.  If the DPV column contains a "Y" as the first character, the address is DPV confirmed and exists in the USPS database. An "N" would indicate that the address could not be confirmed. "S" or "D" indicates a confirmed address, but with exceptions - as you can see in the description listed below:

Field Description:
Y =Address was DPV confirmed for both primary and (if present) secondary numbers.
D =Address was DPV confirmed for the primary number only, and Secondary number information was missing.
S = Address was DPV confirmed for the primary number only, and Secondary number information was present but unconfirmed.
N =Both Primary and (if present) Secondary number information failed to DPV Confirm.
Blank = Address not presented to hash table.