Re: Converting names & street names -- MIDRANGE-L

hee hee.. At least that scopes the problem, and may break loose somebudget money and ideas that will resolve a lot of problems. I wonderwhat would happen if people sat and talked about nagging little thingsthat aren't quite right with names & addresses. You using a 9-digitzip, still? Do you have a country code? A seasonal winter/summeraddress? A field for telemarketing "greeting name"? fer instance.


Alan Shore wrote:

Thanks Booth. ALL good suggestions. Right now we are looking into the name
and address due to this letter project someone in marketing has thought of.
However your idea " a "Customer Personalization Program" with a Signature
Program with special features.
awards, and whatever else they do" might make some sense to them.


Alan Shore

NBTY, Inc
(631) 244-2000 ext. 5019
AShore@xxxxxxxx

midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 08/31/2006 11:25:35 AM:

No program is going to fix their spelling mistakes.  That error rate
isn't going to go up or down, probably, whatever you do.

Now might be a really good time to rethink the whole issue and set some
goals and rules.  You haven't even mentioned the first name, last name
problems.  Nor have you mentioned e-mail, cell phone number and whether
or not they want occasional text messages with breaking news.  It may
very well be that in the end you need new fields, including a
"signature" field, where the person's name is properly cased and
reflects the way the user prefers it.  If so, existing data can remain
untouched and the Marketing Department can come up with a "Customer
Personalization Program" with a Signature Program with special features.
awards, and whatever else they do.  Then they can get some bang for the
buck?


This is just an opinion, but maybe there is some lemonade to be made
from those lemons?

Alan Shore wrote:

Yes - in principle I totally agree, however, with numerous telephone
operators taking orders, there's bound to be someone who is going to be
insulted because of spelling mistakes


Alan Shore

NBTY, Inc
(631) 244-2000 ext. 5019
AShore@xxxxxxxx

midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 08/30/2006 05:38:43 PM:

Some where along the line some one enters the name.  Going forward, it
could be entered correctly at the time of entry.  The idea of an
auxiliary file for properly cased name and address seems like an
on-going burden.  It would seem reasonable at some point to make a
decision to proper-case names & addresses. including street, city, &
state.  There are a lot of reasons for making a change-over, and very
few that I can think of to stay with the constraints of a 132-hammer
printer.

I say this because of always finding that in the end, solving it
programatically never really solved the headache.  Some day the boss's
wife's mother's best friend is going to be insulted, and that is not
going to ever be a good day.



Alan Shore wrote:

Unfortunately Booth - it is NOT a one time deal. Our customer base

grows in

leaps and bounds day by day.



Alan Shore

NBTY, Inc
(631) 244-2000 ext. 5019
AShore@xxxxxxxx

midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 08/30/2006 04:41:19 PM:

How many total names in the file, and is this a one-time

change-over?

It is amazing how fast a good operator can go through a thousand

names,

if you present them for her/him to read & change easily on the

screen.

If its a one time deal, a brute force solution may be a lot cheaper

and

quicker in the end.



Scott Klement wrote:

Thanks for your reply Tommy, but the main problem I am going to

have

is

with the names like O'Donnell McGuyver etc where the name contains

more

than one upper case character.

Even worse is something  like "Herman Van der Staey".  In that case

the

last name is 3 words, and one of them isn't capitalized, but the

others

are.  I can't think of an algorithm that would understand how to

properly

capitalize all names.

The truth is, names don't follow a set pattern for capitalization.

You

have to deall with them on a case-by-case basis.  So you'd almost

need

database of every possible name and how it's capitalized....  or at

least

a database of the ones that don't follow the rule of "first letter

of

every word."   This wouldn't be a minor undertaking.

I suggest looking for a commercial package unless a "close enough"

routine

is acceptable.

--
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Booth Martin
www.martinvt.com
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www.martinvt.com
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