Data Quality Getting Started Guide

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Validating Address Data Overview

Address validation is the process of evaluating and improving the quality of postal addresses. It evaluates address quality by comparing input addresses with a reference dataset of valid addresses. It improves address quality by identifying incorrect address values and using the reference dataset to create fields that contain correct values.

An address is valid when it is deliverable. An address may be well formatted and contain real street, city, and post code information, but if the data does not result in a deliverable address then the address is not valid. The Developer tool uses address reference datasets to check the deliverability of input addresses. Informatica provides address reference datasets.

An address reference dataset contains data that describes all deliverable addresses in a country. The address validation process searches the reference dataset for the address that most closely resembles the input address data. If the process finds a close match in the reference dataset, it writes new values for any incorrect or incomplete data values. The process creates a set of alphanumeric codes that describe the type of match found between the input address and the reference addresses. It can also restructure the address, and it can add information that is absent from the input address, such as a four-digit ZIP code suffix for a United States address.

Use the Address Validator transformation to build address validation processes in the Developer tool. This multi-group transformation contains a set of predefined input ports and output ports that correspond to all possible fields in an input address. When you configure an Address Validator transformation, you select the default reference dataset, and you create an input and output address structure using the transformation ports. In this lesson you configure the transformation to validate United States address data.

Story

HypoStores needs correct and complete address data to ensure that its direct mail campaigns and other consumer mail items reach its customers. Correct and complete address data also reduces the cost of mailing operations for the organization. In addition, HypoStores needs its customer data to include addresses in a printable format that is flexible enough to include addresses of different lengths.

To meet these business requirements, the HypoStores ICC team creates an address validation mapping in the Developer tool.

Objectives

In this lesson, you complete the following tasks:

Create a target data object that will contain the validated address fields and match codes.

Create a mapping with a source data object, a target data object, and an Address Validator transformation.

Configure the Address Validator transformation to validate the address data of your customers.

Run the mapping to validate the address data, and review the match code outputs to verify the validity of the address data.

Prerequisites

Before you start this lesson, verify the following prerequisites:

You have completed lessons 1 and 2 in this tutorial.

United States address reference data is installed in the domain and registered with the Administrator tool. Contact your Informatica administrator to verify that United States address data is installed on your system. The reference data installs through the Data Quality Content Installer.