Listware for Excel:FAQ

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Listware for Excel Requirements

Does computer operating system matter? Does Listware work for both Mac and PC?

Currently the component is available only for PC. Windows XP is no longer supported. Only Windows Vista and Newer are supported.

What version of Excel do I need to use Listware?

We support versions of Excel from 2007 – 2013 on Windows.

The installer says that I need to install .NET 4.0?

The .NET Framework 4.0 is needed to run Listware for Excel. If it's not installed, you will need to install it.

Can I use Listware on several different computers?

Yes, Listware can be installed on multiple PCs. Each instance of Listware will consume credits from your account.

Can I install Listware for all users of a machine?

No, Microsoft does not recommend plug-ins be available across users. A single installation holds unique configuration settings, therefore does not lend itself for user1 to access to edit user2's configuration. Since the component is free and a single account can be shared by users at the same company, simply download multiple components for each user.

I downloaded and installed Listware. Still haven't received license info to use.

If you downloaded the program from www.melissadata.com, an automated email is sent out. Please check your spam email folder and make sure www.melissadata.com is not blocked. If you still cannot find it, you can email sales@melissadata.com for help from a sales representative.

If you downloaded the program from a third party website like www.download.com, navigate here: http://www.melissadata.com/dqt/listware-excel-credits.htm to activate an account.

Can you use Listware in MS Access?

No, this component was written specifically for Excel. Fortunately, both being Microsoft products, you can easily export to Excel from Access, process your data, then import into MS Access if needed.

Why is my Anti-virus Software preventing Listware installation?

Many third party Anti-virus suites use different methods and procedures to recognize and allow or to prevent third party software from running. While we are currently whitelisted by leading Antivirus providers, there may be small market share providers which we are currently working with. Please contact tech support if your provider will not run Listware. Support Page.

Using Listware for Excel / Basics

How does Listware work?

The Listware component uses our secure underlying web services to process your data. This means that when you select 'process' for a range of cells, blocks of 100 records are sent via SOAP web request to our servers, where the data is processed according to the options you have selected. The results are returned and appended to the existing sheet.

Do I need internet access to use Listware?

Yes, to process data or retrieve your account information through Listware you will need an internet connection. However, to analyze a finished process, you do not, as cell styles and comments have been written to your sheet. (Remember to save changes to your sheet when you are done processing!)

Will this work with existing data or only data purchased through Melissa Data?

This will work with your existing data.

Does this work for Canadian addresses?

Yes, Listware US Check and Verify will also verify Canadian addresses. For all other countries, use Listware Global Check & Verify.

Currently, Move and Append operations are for US only

Will the original data be replaced?

Listware does not replace columns it appends new columns to the processed sheet. The old data will remain in the original column cells.

Is this input structure mandatory? What if our addresses fields are different?

The input structure does not have to be any particular order. After selecting the range of cells that you want to process, you can specify which columns contain the fields of interest ie: name, address, city , state, zip, etc

Can I input a LastLine (ie CSZ as an input instead of parsed City, State and Zip?

No, this was a design and development decision.

What are the row limitations?

You can only process 50,000 rows in a single processing run. The sheet itself may contain more rows, but to process the entire range you would have to run a second process (selecting the remaining rows and re-starting).

How extensive is your database to update non-business, or residential mail list?

Melissa Data sources the most comprehensive sources of consumer data available. It is hard to say a precise number, but a typical non-junk list can usually expect around 80%-90% of their names and addresses to validate. We are also continually refining our data and adding additional sources so we expect our coverage to grow with time.

Is the data transfer during verification encrypted?

Listware uses HTTPS - a secure version of the HTTP Protocol using SSL 128 Bit encryption. No personal information is ever kept or stored on the Melissa Data web servers.

Can I automate the Listware process? Save configurations?

No, Listware is only used in interactively with an opened Excel sheet. Melissa Data provides a number of developer solutions that are designed for automation and integration with existing systems.

With the addition of reporting, Listware now offers limited re-useable configuration. When you open a previously processed sheet with a saved report (it must be the sheet to the immediate right of the data sheet), Listware will read the input / output settings from that report and use them. These settings willbe read and loaded once, when the table is first opened,

Do I have any control over how data is processed?

Yes, select the Settings item on the menu ribbon to see the available configurations

Where are the Screens where I checked 'Don't Show me Anymore'?

If you have chosen to hide screens like Processing Summary or Tutorials, and would like them back, contact Tech Support, as this requires us to manually change a program file

How long does it take to process 10,000 rows?

Your Available memory, network speed and the quality of the source data are all important factors in processing performance. Also simply checking Names will process much faster than a process which verifies Names against Addresses, identifies moves and appends phones./ Checking 10000 records may take less than 5 minutes.

Is all or most of this functionality present in the Mailers+4 software already?

Individually, many of the cleansing operations exist in some form in Mailers+4, such as address verification and NCOA. What makes Listware unique is that it will verify different data types against each other in verifying that the entire record is a valid contact. Using a valid full contact record also enables additional data to be appended to the record.

I am a current MatchUp user; when will the matchup de-dupe function be in this product?

The MatchUp plug-in to de-dupe customer lists for Listware is currently in development. At this time there is no release date.

Is Listware a Consumer or Business solution?

Listware is a full contact solution for both Business and Residential use. Our data sources come from a wide variety and range of business and consumer sources.

Credit System

How much are credits?

At this time one credit is equal to .002 cents, and different cleansing services use defined amounts of credits.

You can find out more here: http://www.melissadata.com/dqt/listware-excel-credits.htm

Is there a monthly fee for this service or do you pay as you go on credits needed?

As with our other products, you can elect to license Listware with a yearly subscription for different levels of expected usage.

Do I pay for the append attempt if you do not find a value – ie: if Melissa Data does not have a name and I requested name append?

No, your request for append credits will only be consumed when we return added data (see above)

What happens if you reprocess the same data set again (perhaps by accident)? Are you charged again?

Using our easy to use credit system, if you accidently select 'RESTART' from the output summary page (the one with the colored output grid) or 'RESTART' from the Review page - you will have to navigate thru the setup screens again, so it is not an easy mistake to make, but you will get billed.

If you choose 'RESCAN' from the review page, you will not get billed (credits consumed). However, the rescanning life of a record is about a day.

What if my Credit Balance is not correct?

In the event that your credit balance has not been consumed or credited, please contact support (link to the left) or your sales representative.

Can you have an account consume credits in real time?

Once you have selected the data to process and the cleansing operations, Listware will display an estimated (required) amount of credits to process. You can then use the links to purchase that amount although if doing indeterminate append actions it is recommended to pad with more credits. Listware does not bill your credit card in real time for the exact number of credits consumed. There are options to set up and use a common Automated Recurring Billing option. This allows you to specify a tier of credits to purchase and replenish credits when consumed.

I have 10K records what is the approx. cost?

The cost to process a list greatly varies on the number of credits for the cleansing operations you choose, operations like Check are 1 credit per record, and others like Move/Append are simply based on we can actually append or move for you. We only debit credits for data that is appended.

Listware for Excel In-Depth

I downloaded the trial version and it appended data based on the contact's personal info, not business info.

Listware for Excel is a consumer/residential centric software, not business centric software.

What are the enterprise solutions for larger companies?

This link is a portal to other address solutions in our product queue briefly mentioned in the webinar. http://www.melissadata.com/address-verification/index.htm

Some of the possible solutions for the Enterprise are solutions like Personator – the underlying web service used by Listware - or the individual Data Quality APIs.

Melissa Data also has products for ETL (SSIS and Contact Zone) which are more advanced and have robust capabilities in data transformation and cleansing.

How do I use the help to get questions answered?

The help icons are a link to the online documentation. Links for feedback and request for support can be found under the Listware Settings section as well as other carefully placed locations throughout the component. You can also Melissa Data at 1800-Melissa option 4 at any time and speak to a support representative.

If a contact has moved, are they verified?

Yes, if we move or append a new address, it has first been verified.

Can I write the output results to a new sheet?

Not in the current version, although this behvior may be available in future versions.

How do I know what Listware has returned for each record?

Use the Result codes, coloring and attached comments to analyze the returned status.

Is there a score associated with a match, or just the color coding and comments?

The color coding, and comments are visual cues to help easily analyze the results. The results describing a match (verified as being the same contact) between two or more contact components, is the result of Melissa Data algorithms and data sources. A confidence level or score is not an output property returned to the customer.

If rooftop geocode value is not available, what priority of values is returned (street level? census tract? etc)

If we cannot verify a geocode to the rooftop level, we will attempt to return an interpolated rooftop, street level (zip+4), neighborhood (zip+2) or community (zip5) level in that order.

How are divorced contacts resolved?

Listware for Excel will create an Individual Move using the first and last name to supply a new address.

What kind of email verification steps do you perform (e.g. spam, syntax correction, etc.)

Email verification will verify and correct or update valid domains. It will flag invalid, unverified and spam domains. It will also identify mobile, spamtrap and disposable emails.

What percentage of matches do you normally find of phone numbers to addresses?

The percentage of matches for phone numbers to address depends highly on the quality of the input data. Every list is different and we do not have a “normal” percentage number. Melissa Data will return high match rates when matching landlines to addresses, but not so well when matching cell phone to addresses.

Is the software validating that the business (melissa data) exists at the particular address, or is it just validating that the business address is a viable (mailable) address?

Answer

The Check Action Result Codes (AS, AE) will tell you the address is a valid mail-able address. The Verify Action Result Codes (VR) will tell you if two pieces of data are verified as belonging to the same record.

If a contact at a business moves and I have their business address will it update their move?

Answer

If an entire business moves and we are provided the original business name and address, we will move the business to their new address. We will not be able to move someone who changes jobs and moves to a new business while the businesses themselves do not move.

Can we append data based on just one piece of information?

In some cases, yes.

So the reds are the bad addresses there is no flag in a separate column to show which are bad?

Also appended to the output columns are the Result Codes for each cleansing action. They tell you the verification level of all the cleansing operations performed and any data changes we have applied to the output. They are documented in all our products, and here http://www.melissadata.com/webhelp/listware/excel/index.htm#Basics/Check_and_Verify/US/Review_Results.htm you have the option of having them combined into one field and whether to display ‘only error codes’ (suppress good results and change codes) or all codes. You can then do an Excel sort on this field(s) of query for certain codes.

So how do you get around that? Most, if not all, of our contacts are professionals, as we provide B2B services?

Answer

MelissaData is exploring possibilities for providing business additional centric information. However, that is not an option at this time.

Where would it indicate that a house is vacant?

Answer

As with all properties returned with a record, you can find find the vacant house indicator – AS16 (for US only) – in the output result code field.

Compliance / Certification / Conformity

Can the appended corrections go to our Mailpiece as CASS certified?

Answer

Not all verified address information is assumed as CASS certified. The extensive underlying data sources contain over 6 million non USPS but valid addresses. USPS vs Non-USPS addresses can be identified by using the Result codes (AS01 vs AS03).

Can Listware return a DSF2 designation for an address? That determines if the address is a residence or a business address.

Answer

Listware does not return a Delivery indicator or (Business / Residential Indicator) at this time.

Do you have a GLN option?

Answer

Currently we do not provide a unique Global Location Number.

What is DPV level address verification?

Answer

Delivery Point Validation as defined by the USPS confirms the existence of an address to the suite or delivery number level and therefore ensures USPS delivery. This is a part of CASS Certification conducted by Melissa Data with the USPS.

Does Listware implement DNC (do not call) filtering along with identifying and filtering cell phone numbers that I want removed from my list?

Also, can your services identify residential or land-line numbers if I already have a cell phone number?

Answer

Listware does not return DNC flags on supplied phone numbers. Listware does perform real time phone checking as far as cell / landline info, and detects if the phone number is 7-digit verified (likely in service) or 10-digit verified (most likely in service). Listware also attempts to match phone numbers to the name and address in the Verification process, and can append missing Phones if not provided in some cases with Append.

Yes, for identified numbers, there is a flag for Phone Type returned by Listware in the Result Codes section: PS07 Cellular Line, PS08 - Land Line, PS09 - VOIP Line, PS10 - Residential Number, PS11 - Business Number, PS12 - SOHO Number.

Once you run your list through Listware will we be able to print out postal documents NCOA etc?

Answer

Currently, there are no reporting features provided. Since Listware uses Melissa Data’s own data to process moves it is not an NCOA process.

From whom do you license your company information appends? Will you be offering Firmographic information (e.g .SIC, URL, Employees) in the future?

Answer

We license our data from a large number of different sources. We cannot list them all but they are the industry leading data providers ranging from telephone to credit to marketing data, etc. Yes, we do plan to offer some Demographic and Firmographic information in the future although the exact fields have not been determined.

Can you export the geocoding into a KML file?

Answer

Listware for Excel does not provide a mechanism to directly save your geocoding results to KML at this time, however it is being considered for a future release.

You may want to try this site which uses Google Maps: http://batchgeo.com/

You simply copy and paste your range of latitude and longitude coordinates into the page.

Are there issues with HIPPA compliance sending PI (personally identifiable) information on the internet?

Answer

Listware is not HIPPA compliant, because the customer is not sending us medical information related to the contact, there is no breach of the Act. Name and address by itself does not constitute information that falls under HIPAA guidelines.

HIPPA Compliance requires that NON-medical information only is transferred.

Answer

Correct, Listware does NOT require you to send the entire contact record to be processed. Only the relative data fields – Name, Address, Zip, etc required to perform the requested cleansing operations are encrypted and transmitted to us.