Software Testing
Sorting Test Addresses
Once you have downloaded the Mailsort/International Bulk Mail or Walksort/International Bulk Mail Test Address Data, you must use your software to sort this list according to one of the following schemes and generate a printable report and electronic file of the Computer Planning Report, Line Listing and the sorted Test Address Data for submission to the Mailsort Technical Team for validation.
Please note - you must use the appropriate version of the Mailsort/Walksort database - see the Downloads > Test Data section for details.
| Mailsort Mailing Schemes | Walksort Mailing Schemes |
|---|---|
| Mailsort 1400 Mailsort 1400 Mixed Weight Mailsort 1400 Undersized Direct Mailsort 1400 Undersized Direct Mixed Weight Mailsort 700 CBC Mailsort 120 CBC/OCR |
Walksort Walksort Mixed Weight |
There is no specific Presstream scheme as, for sortation purposes, there is no distinction between Presstream and Mailsort 1400.
| IBM Mailsort Mailing Schemes | IBM Walksort Mailing Schemes |
|---|---|
| IBM Mailsort 1400 Letters IBM Mailsort 1400 Mixed Weight Large Letters (Flats) IBM Mailsort 1400 Undersized Direct Letters IBM Mailsort 1400 Undersized Direct Mixed Weight Packets IBM Mailsort 700 CBC Letters IBM Mailsort 120 CBC/OCR Letters |
IBM Walksort Letters IBM Walksort Mixed Weight Large Letters (Flats) |
International Bulk Mail may be added to any Mailsort services, or alternatively it may be used purely for an international mailing.
If you plan to submit tests for more than one Mailsort mailing scheme then in the first instance please submit test results for one scheme only - choosing the scheme nearest the top of the above list.
For example, if you plan to send Mailsort 1400, 700 and 120 tests, then in the first instance send in the Mailsort 1400 test only; or if you plan to send Mailsort 1400 standard and mixed weight tests then please send the Mailsort 1400 standard test first.
OBA File
For International Bulk Mail test, as well as submitting the line listing and planning report, please submit an OBA file for testing.
Once you have successfully completed the initial test you may submit tests for other schemes, in the above sequence.
Test Parameters
- Sort each scheme (apart from the Mixed Weight varieties) as 45g letters.
- Although the maximum bag weight is 11000g, please use 10500g for the test purpose.
- Although your software may permit user choice of minimum selection size for Mailsort 1400 and 700, please use the standard minimum selection size for letters of 25 items for the tests. For Mailsort 120, the minimum selection size should always be 1.
Mixed Weight Schemes
The Test Address Data contains a Weight Indicator for each item. You should use this indicator to determine the item weight for mixed weight schemes as follows:
| Weight Indicator | Weight |
||
|---|---|---|---|
Mailsort 1400 (Large Letters / A3 Packets) |
Mailsort 1400 (Packets) |
Walksort (Large Letters / A3 Packets) |
|
1 |
48g |
48g |
48g |
2 |
70g |
70g |
69g |
3 |
130g |
150g |
97g |
4 |
212g |
220g |
187g |
5 |
550g |
700g |
300g |
Other Considerations
The Software Testing process is designed in part to determine whether or not software is able to allocate the correct selection codes from Postcodes (Mailsort and Walksort) and Post Towns (Mailsort only) in addresses where quality and format of addressing may vary. Therefore, if your software provides address cleaning and Postcoding functions in addition to sortation for Mailsort or Walksort, these additional functions must be disabled for the purposes of the software tests.