What’s Important?

What is the number one consideration when outsourcing sensitive transactional communications?

TRUST

You will be transmitting data on customer account numbers, account balances, income levels and spending patterns to an outside entity. Any violation of this trust can have a significant negative impact. It is often the primary reason many financial institutions keep customer transactional communications “in-house”.

We understand this. We know we will have to work hard to earn your trust.

We start by detailing the steps taken to ensure you that SourceOne Output Technologies considers your customers personal information highly confidential. We will show you the systems, security and procedures we have in place to handle your sensitive data and accurately generate the desired output from that data.

Job entry and proofing process

A sample previous day’s statement data file is uploaded to our system to our secure FTP site, accompanied by a representative hard copy sampling of 50 to 100 records. This data and accompanying output is analyzed and parsed, then the address information is presorted and the statement data is composed and check images assembled.

Each page is appended with a 3 of 9 barcode, which will provide the intelligent folder inserters with the necessary code to read and assemble each statement with 18 separate checks of accuracy and set integrity. The imprinted barcode can also direct the inserter to selectively pull up to six targeted inserts based on the criteria embedded within the statement record, providing a powerful marketing tool included with the statement

When all composition is complete, a print file is generated and a sample file is converted to PDF for the customer to review. In addition to the PDF sample file, we also print the supporting hardcopy output for your review and comparison to your own internally generated output.

Print Production

Once the job entry and proofing process is complete, we begin to receive files and generate print files for production. The process begins with the transactional control form or job ticket, which includes:

file name and location
number of records within the file
number of sheets of paper to be processed
number of printer clicks to be generated
form number for base stock to be used and a physical sample
envelope form number to be used and a physical sample

All details are confirmed by the printer operator and a sample file is printed. When the operator has determined that he has generated accurate sample output, he records an “operator sample approval” on the ticket and submits the sample material to his supervisor before proceeding with the printing.

The approved samples are kept in the job ticket and production output will be checked against these samples throughout the print run. The print file is then assigned to printers with controls noted on the ticket, ensuring accuracy during long print runs and assuring that output is in the proper order with no duplications.

All output is placed face down in numerical sequence as it comes off of the printers. At the completion of the print run, the operator verifies that all record counts match the counts on the job ticket, including generating a report providing the number of sheets printed, the number of jams, the number of jams recovered and the number of clicks or images generated. If all applicable numbers verify that required job counts are correct, the job is then released to the mail room for folding and inserting.

Print quality, inspection, recovery, spoilage destruction procedures

Printed output is regularly checked for content accuracy, image placement and image quality. Poor image quality is defined as output that contains:

faint, light or inconsistent toner density
errant spotting, streaking or lines across pages
type that is not crisp with clean sharp edges and void of plugging

If any image degradation appears during the print run, the job is stopped and a member of management determines if any output needs to be reprinted. If output requires reprinting, the rejected material Is shredded, which is also the procedure for any jammed sheets that must be discarded.

Folding and inserting

Before folding and inserting, the inserter operator verifies that all previous quality control (QC) check pointed have been initialed on the job ticket. If all QC procedures are current, the inserter operator performs the mailroom QC steps before proceeding with the folding and insertion. These steps include:

verifying that all USPS paper is present
verifying all counts
verifying all USPS mailing protocols
verifying machine settings
verifying materials

After approval confirmation by the Mailroom Supervisor, the printed materials are loaded in the folder inserter and 25 statement records are folded and inserted into the envelopes, but left unsealed. After inspection to ensure that they are correct and that the laser reader is performing correctly with regard to set size, these are then sealed, placed into the first mail tray and the supervisor approves continuing with production.

During the entire process, the folder inserter reads the barcode on each sheet, ensuring that no sheets are missing or out of sequence and that no “doubling” has occurred. At the end of the insertion process, any damaged statements are forwarded to the Mailroom Supervisor for reprinting and insertion into the appropriate trays, In addition to verifying that the last record off matches the record count noted on the ticket, the operator also verifies that both the mechanical counter and digital counter totals match. These totals must all reconcile with job ticket information before the mail can be released for delivery to the post office. Additionally, we provide mail piece verification including: