File > Category Maintenance

Overview

A category is intended to represent a particular production phase or scenario that impacts what should happen to a Mail.dat. Mailers often have to handle different types of jobs differently. They also sometimes have very distinct phases within their job workflow where different things must be done with the Mail.dat. In some cases, the Mail.dats should never be uploaded to the PostalOne! MDR Client PROD environment (for example, test jobs or jobs sent to a commingler).

What are Job Categories?

A category is intended to represent a particular production phase or scenario that impacts what should happen to a Mail.dat. You can assign Mail.dats to different job categories in DAT-MAIL. Categories help manage different jobs and job phases and prevent Mail.dat files from being uploaded to the wrong PostalOne! environment.

A set of standard categories is provided in DAT-MAIL; however, additional categories can also be created as needed. A category consists of a category name or description and a default PostalOne! environment (PROD, PREPROD, TEM, and CAT). The default PostalOne! environment can be changed by the user if needed.

Below is the list of standard categories provided in DAT-MAIL, along with supporting information for each:

Estimate Only: An example would be when your job is used to create estimates. If the job gets mailed, then you will change the job's category to Production. The default PostalOne! environment for estimates is TEM.

None: The value is the default setting for the Categories function. No category was assigned.

Pre-Production: An example would be for a production phase. Data processing staff will perform entry optimization and set shipping dates before the mail starts production. When these processes are complete, the category would be changed to Production. You would not send original Mail.dat files to PostalOne! in the Pre-Production category since the default environment is PREPROD. If your process automatically uploads original files after import, you must change the default PostalOne! environment to PROD.

Production: This category represents when the mail production has started, and the mailing office needs to manage payment and logistics with DAT-MAIL. The job list in DAT-MAIL can be set to only display jobs in the Production category, which will remove the clutter from the job list, making it easier to manage. The default PostalOne! environment is PROD.

Send to commingle: An example would be when you plan to outsource the entire job to commingle. These jobs must never reach PostalOne! PROD, but it is okay to send them to TEM, the category’s default PostalOne! environment.

Test: Example would be for jobs that you are testing but will never be mailed. The default PostalOne! environment is TEM.