Our data cleansing tool lets you clean an existing database to make sure your addresses are correct and formatted properly. A variety of data sources can be used and once cleansed a new file is created containing the new data for you to import as you choose.
Data cleansing ranks cleansed addresses from A to F where A is a clear match and F is a poor match (but the best that could be found). If an address cannot be matched at all it is given a rank of U.
Note: the data cleansing tool requires a pay-as-you-go licence key and valid credits. 1 credit per cleansed address will be consumed.
Credits are only consumed when the data is returned to you. Data can be uploaded and analysed without consuming any credits. If you wish to go ahead with getting the cleansed data you will need sufficient credits on your account.
The first thing to do is determine the location of your database to be cleansed. You can choose data from the following sources:
The settings for a CSV file are the easiest. Simply enter the location of the CSV file or click the Browse button to locate it. That's it!
The next source option is a database in MS Access. For this you not only need to provide the location of the database but also any login details (username and password) and the table that contains the data.
An ODBC data source requires similar settings as the MS Access database does. The only difference here is that instead of choosing the file location you must have the ODBC connection already set up on your machine which you then pick from the list at the top.
Finally, for an Excel spreadsheet you need to select the file location first then choose the sheet within the workbook that contains the data to be cleansed.
Once your data source is selected the data will be analysed and the available fields listed with a preview of the data underneath. Check the boxes next to the field names that contain the address elements. For best results avoid the company name and the county name.
When the addresses are cleansed a CSV file of the results will be generated. The settings here determine how the addresses should be formatted in this file. If you've used the recogniser with your applications you'll recognise this layout from the rule editor which should help you choose the correct setting.
Finally, you can choose whether you want any extra data returned with the cleansed data. Options here are:
That's it. All options have now been chosen and the data will now be analysed and cleansed. Don't worry though, you haven't paid for anything yet! If you've uploaded a lot of data you may want to go and get a cup of tea and a biscuit (or whatever takes your fancy at this time of day/night) while the service looks at your data.
Now we'll show you a summary of how good the data cleanse has been. A good match is defined by a match with rank A, B or C, and poor matches are, well, anything else. If your data is all good or you don't have enough credits on your account right now you can choose to do nothing at this stage and quit the data cleansing tool.
However, if you do want to get the cleansed data you have 2 options. You can collect just the best results to make sure they are correctly formatted or you can get all of the results. The cleansed addresses will be saved to a new CSV file - choose the location and name of this file in the box at the bottom of the window.
All done! Providing you have sufficient credits on your account the new results file will be created for you in your specified location and you can view the addresses straight away.