The FlexMail Royal Mail presort module makes use of two Royal Mail databases. These databases are the key to sorting your mailings.
The Royal Mail Selection Files are used to presort mailings according to the new specifications for Royal Mail bulk mail products and will be used from april 2nd 2012. These files contain the entire list of postcode details grouped into selections.
In order to maintain the efficiency of the delivery network and quality of service Royal Mail will update the Royal Mail Selection Files at regular intervals, but every version will last for at least 12 months. Although the actual format of the Selection Files is fixed, the SSCs themselves are liable to change regularly and one of the conditions of being either an Advertising Mail, Sustainable Advertising Mail, Advertising Mail with Response, Publishing Mail, Business Mail 1st Class, Business Mail and International Country Sort High Volume customer is that the sorting system is updated each time a new version is issued.
The Walksort Database, containing the sorting plan, as well as the coding and label information that is used for Walksort mailings.
One of the conditions of being a Walksort contract holder is that you must use a valid Walksort Database Version. A new release is made available every month. You must use a version, which is NO MORE THAN FOUR months old. Using a version of the Walksort Database older than FOUR months may lead to a loss of discount, as increased sortation is required by our staff.
FlexMail uses optimized versions of the Royal Mail Selection Files and Walksort database. They are automatically updated asvpart of the FlexMail maintenance and are updated during the regular update over internet. Outdated Selection Files will be removed as part of the update.
You select the version you want to use in the Royal Mail Selection Files version page of the Presort Wizard. Usually you will have the choice of a maximum of 2 versions that you may use. In those cases one version is the current version and the other one is the version that you must use when you are preparing mailings that will be despatched after a certain date in the future.
When you select a version in the list box, information is shown about the valid starting date of the selected version of the Royal Mail Selection Files.