End to End Mailing Process

This section describes in broad terms, the process that gets information from the request stage all the way through to the delivery stage. It should be noted that order and the mechanisms of these steps will vary substantially from mailhouse to mailhouse, and will also vary depending on the technology employed.

Each of these steps is discussed in more detail in a following sub-section.

  1. Determine DPID: Determine the DPID and BSP number for each mailpack.
  2. First Pass Render: Perform an initial render of all mailpacks in the run. This is required to determine stationery requirements and page counts.
  3. Mail Pack Operations: Perform any other mailpack level operations like de-duping (i.e. putting letters to the same recipient in the same mailpack).
  4. Make Runs: Assign each mailpack into a logical run. This is based upon information such as Pre-Sort Weight category, envelope type, page counts, insert requirements, and how the run is to be physically processed.
  5. Produce Manifest: Produce the Australia Post manifest.
  6. Alter Print Stream: Alterations are made to the print stream. This may either be done by re-rendering the document in its entirety, or, more commonly by modifying the existing print stream. These alterations include things like adjusting the position of the name and address block, adding insertion control barcodes, and possibly adding human readable information for handline processing of the mailpack.
  7. Make Print Files: The run is split into 1 or more separate print files.
  8. Print Run: The run is printed.
  9. Insert Run: The run is inserted.
  10. Lodge Run: The run is collated and lodged.