Informed Patience for Informed Visibility
February 24, 2017   Dave Lewis

Expect a rollout before the Postal Forum The Postal Service is continuing to pilot test their new Informed Visibility (IV) platform, expecting the pilot to run well into March, and likely beyond. This is proving to be a more challenging migration than originally anticipated.  Our expectation is that they will set their sights on the National Postal Forum on May 21 as their drop-dead date.  We’re mostly concerned that they do it right. Mail tracking fans remember that IV is the new platform for all of the Postal Service’s tracking programs, and promises to integrate new tracking capabilities to mail tracking. These include tray, bundle and pallet tracking, as well as providing time-of-day of mail delivery.  All of this will still require the scan data management skills of a third-party tracking provider like SnailWorks. The primary challenge the Postal Service has is getting all of the accounts moved over to the new platform. They’ve built a pretty delicate house of cards with the MID/CRID bureaucracy they created, and it’s is not easy to move.  There remains an enormous amount of data validation to ensure that they are ready for national rollout. As we have discussed in earlier editions, from a user perspective Informed Visibility is more of an evolutionary change than revolutionary. Yes, there will be enhanced access to more scanning “events,” such as tray, container, and bundle scans.  We consider this a pretty Big Deal and are excited developing new reporting features to take advantage of this data.  As IV continues to move forward we will keep you up to date on the latest developments.  

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