|
Alan,BUT suppose you started out asking for a phone number, which then accessed a national phone directory, if successful, flipped that up on the screen, verbally confirm name and address ( made changes as needed) would that help reduce your error rate? You might need a (2 or 3 digit) suffix on the phone # as there could be multiple customers with different first or first and or last names. >:-}
midrange.com
Just a process thought
Glenn
At 11:25 AM 8/31/2006, Booth Martin wrote:
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 >>> a >>>>> 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. >>>> -- >>>> ----------------------------- >>>> Booth Martin >>>> www.martinvt.com >>>> ----------------------------- >>>> -- >>>> This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing >>> list >>>> To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx >>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options, >>>> visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l >>>> or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx >>>> Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives >>>> at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l. >>>> >> -- >> ----------------------------- >> Booth Martin >> www.martinvt.com >> ----------------------------- >> -- >> This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing > list >> To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options, >> visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l >> or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx >> Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives >> at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l. >> -- ----------------------------- Booth Martin www.martinvt.com ----------------------------- -- This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options, visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
This mailing list archive is Copyright 1997-2024 by midrange.com and David Gibbs as a compilation work. Use of the archive is restricted to research of a business or technical nature. Any other uses are prohibited. Full details are available on our policy page. If you have questions about this, please contact [javascript protected email address].
Operating expenses for this site are earned using the Amazon Associate program and Google Adsense.
