Each Algorithm may optionally contain an Account Rules Definition section. If defined, it must follow the optional

CUSTOMSET-DEFINITION

and precede the optional

SERVICE-DEFINITIONs

.

Account Rules are used to tell the Multi-Valued Field processor how to identify and re-construct Account Names. The NAMESET Service uses this information to build different keys for the different account names.

The MATCH service can also use the Account Rules Definitions for matching the different account name components.

To enable this functionality,

SSA-NAME3-OPTIONS #25

must be set to

Y

or

A

. In addition, at least one Account Name Marker must be defined in the Edit-list (see the

Account Name Markers Definitions

section for more information on Account Name Markers).

The definition starts with the

ACCOUNT-RULES-DEFINITION

label. This is followed by patterns and rules. There is a limit of 20 rules per pattern and each pattern can be no more than 32 characters. There is no limit on the number of patterns per Algorithm.

When an input name matches a pattern, the RULES associated with that pattern are used to build keys and Search-table entries. If the name does not match any pattern, 'normal' NAMESET processing is performed. The input name is evaluated prior to any Edit-word processing.

For example, assuming

&

is defined in the Edit-list as an Account Name Marker:

ACCOUNT-RULES-DEFINITION

* for names of type JOHN A & SARAH M JONES
PATTERN=WI+WIW
RULE=1,2,5
RULE=3,4,5
* for names of type M & J & S TAN
PATTERN=I+I+IW
RULE=1,4
RULE=2,4
RULE=3,4
* for names of type MR JOHN & MRS SARAH JONES
PATTERN=WW+WWW
RULE=1,2,5
RULE=3,4,5

A

PATTERN

is composed of the symbols W, I and + which represent words, initials and Account Name Markers respectively. It has a maximum length of 32 bytes.

A

RULE

is composed of comma separated numeric indices. Each index value represents the nth

W

or

I

in the corresponding

PATTERN

. Note that the + symbol is not indexed and that index values start from 1. An index value must take a value in the range between 1 and the maximum number of

W

s and

I

s in the

PATTERN

.

For example, if

PATTERN=WW+I

is specified, the first

W

has an index value of 1, the second

W

has an index value of 2 and the

I

has an index value of 3.

In the above example, the Account Name Processor would build the following names based on the rules supplied,

For more information on Account Names in this guide, see the

Account Names

section. In the

APPLICATION REFERENCE FOR SSA-NAME3 SERVICE GROUPS guide, see the Nameset chapter

.

See the Utilities/Word Frequency Report section in the

GENERATION and TESTING GUIDE FOR SSANAME3 SERVICE GROUPS

guide for details on how to analyze your data for the most common Account Name patterns.