National Change-of-Address Linkage System - NCOA Link

National Change-of-Address National Change-of-Address Linkage SystemLinkage System

--NCOANCOALinkLink

USPS Confidential. Restricted DistributionUSPS Confidential. Restricted Distribution

NCOALink PRODUCT OVERVIEW


PURPOSE OF TODAY’S BRIEFING

Advise you of a new, secure change-of-address technology developed by Address Management

Demonstrate how NCOALink supports current USPS® (United States Postal Service®) and Mailing Industry Task Force initiatives



SECURE DATA STORES BREAKTHROUGH “TECHNOLOGY”

NCOALink represents a breakthrough technology for securely storing data

Massive volumes data can be released in a manner that allows “revelation” to occur only in accordance with presentation of valid “authorizing” request

USPS has a patent application being processed for this new technology



Value of the National Change-of-Address Program:

“Conversely, the rehandling costs avoided by USPS in FY 1998 as a result of not having to forward mail when individuals, families, and businesses move was estimated at $1.194 billion.” 1

1 Grant Thornton LLP Performance Audit of the National Change of Address Program, March 1999, Contract # GS-23F-8196H, Pg. 4(Performed on Behalf of the Office of Inspector General)

NATIONAL CHANGE-OF-ADDRESS (NCOA)



SAMPLE NCOA CHANGE-OF-ADDRESS DATA

OLD SIDE

JIM WILSON5891 PLUM VALLEY DRMEMPHIS TN 38141-6826 (91)

NEW SIDE

512 KING RIDGE DR COLLIERVILLE TN 38017-1705 (12)

This example represents a typical customer change-of-address. This is also typical of the “text’ representation shown in NCOA.



SAMPLE NCOALINK CHANGE-OF-ADDRESS DATA

OLD SIDE

Not present withinNCOALink data format

NEW SIDE

a7 52 f2 22 0a

This example represents what a typical customer change-of-address will look like within the NCOALink System.



SECURE HASH ALGORITHM (SHA)

The Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) is a FIPS standard, data encoding technique that produces a mathematical value unique to every name/address combination presented

To build the NCOALink database, we combine the customer name and pertinent address data:

JIMWILSON38141682605892000



STANDARD HASH ALGORITHM

We then generate a SHA of the information, producing our “NCOALink Search Key”

Hexadecimal Representation: (20 Bytes)

80 e8 10 8d c4 ea 0d 2a 41 8c8e 99 56 86 8b c3 9c 1a c8 63



“HIDING THE NEW SIDE ADDRESS DATA”

This is the NCOALink KEY that will be used: By USPS to install data representing customer’s

new address into 8 separate hash tables By customer to retrieve the data required to

reconstruct the new-address text

No physical relationship between the data stored into the 8 tables exists



“RETRIEVING THE NEW SIDE ADDRESS”

Customer processes their address data according to USPS prescribed method:

Generates SHA using name and address data the same way USPS did in creating the NCOALink database



RECREATING THE NEW-ADDRESS INFORMATION

After the new-address DPBC is derived, a reverse lookup into the ZIP+4® database using the DPBC produces the new-address text:

38017-1705-12

512 King Ridge Dr

Collierville TN 38017-1705



SATISFIES OF GAO RECOMMENDATIONS

Removes potential that Change-of-Address information can be “data-mined”

Complies with Title 39 prohibition and Privacy Act restriction regarding release of name and address data



EXTERNAL SECURITY EVALUATION (EXCERPT)

“Using only the NCOALink files it is considered completely infeasible (that is essentially impossible) for anyone to directly reconstruct the COA files (name, old address, new address and associated data).”

“The possibility of forwarding mail in error when it should not be forwarded due to the design of the COA/Link system has been assessed as negligible (essentially zero).”



EXTERNAL SECURITY EVALUATION (EXCERPT)

“This is an improvement (in terms of security) and a 1000 times better than the current system.”

“Using only the NCOALink files it is considered infeasible to unambiguously reconstruct even one output record.”



USPS Transformation Plan Growth through Added Value to Customers

Work with customers … to improve the overall accuracy of address information

SUPPORTS KEY USPS/MAILING INDUSTRY INITIATIVES



Mailing Industry Task Force To make the mail channel increasingly competitive

with other communications media… improving address qualityEncourage mailers to use methods to correct

addresses prior to mail entryDetermine if it is feasible to establish a linkage

between “intelligent” mail and address quality

SUPPORTS KEY USPS/MAILING INDUSTRY INITIATIVES



SUPPORTS PMG “KEEPING OUR FOCUS”

KEEPINGKEEPINGOUR OUR

FOCUSFOCUS

IMPROVING SERVICE4. Develop new systems

MANAGING COSTS

3. Must show we are doing everything possible

to hold down our costs and theirs

GROWING REVENUE5. Develop new products and services



MILESTONES

Concept to mitigate risks Provisional Patent Third Party Security Evaluation Alpha Test with NCOA vendor Internal USPS strategy team Beta Test with NCOA vendors Pilot Test (in process) Price Determination Legal Document/license Data Sets Commercially Available



ALPHA TEST DELIVERABLES

Evaluate the ease of building an interface Confirm the product does work (does produce

changes of address and is secure) Validate that the operation of NCOALink does not

“break” any existing systems Submit recommendations for improvement to

development or developer guide documentation



BETA TEST DELIVERABLES

Evaluate the ease of building an interface Parallel test with NCOA processing Evaluate “NIXIE” codes Evaluate throughput and minimum computer

requirements Submit recommendations for monthly reporting

requirements Submit recommendations for improvement to

development or developer guide documentation



PILOT TEST DELIVERABLES

Determine processing times per platform Compare results from NCOA to NCOALink

Modify product based on results of pilot Provide feedback for performance requirements and reports



STEPS IN PROCESS

Determining pricing Working with vendors Developing license agreements



NEXT STEP

Release product July 1, 2003

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National Change-of-Address Linkage System - NCOA Link

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