This is the online manual of GRCTools, personal name and address management software.  Click here for details.

 

 

 

About GRCTools

GRCTools manual | Index

Many companies now have address databases containing addresses from many different countries, and many of these are increasingly being used for cross-border mailings. Up to now, however, there have been problems in using and outputting this data given the differences in language, format and expectations within and between these different countries.

GRC ToolsTMis designed to resolve many of these problems. Based on many hundreds of man-hours of work with, and analysis of, international databases, this software is a painless way of assuring accuracy and consistency in address databases for different countries.

GRC ToolsTMworks on two premises - that data should be consistent, and that data should be accurate. Though address formats differ to such an extent between countries that consistency throughout a database are said to be achievable only at the expense of accuracy, GRC ToolsTMensures consistency and accuracy on a country and/or language region level.

Achieving consistency on a country/language level enables you as a database manager to make your data more accessible (easier to find) as you know the format in which the data will be stored. It enables macro-changes to data such as telephone numbers to be made without excess hassle and, very importantly, it will dramatically increase your ability to locate and weed out duplicates, thus saving potentially enormous amounts of money in printing and mailing costs, and increasing the productivity of the database.

By working on a country/language level, consistency need no longer be achieved at the expense of accuracy. Nothing is more irritating to the person to whom you are mailing than being addressed in the wrong language, or being addressed in the wrong way. These are highly emotional points for many people and can dramatically reduce the value of any mailing that you do. Furthermore, format the address in the wrong way, and the mailing may never reach its intended recipient and be returned as undeliverable.

GRC ToolsTMensures consistency and accuracy without losing flexibility.

image You are strongly advised to read the section on each module before running it to understand fully what it will do to your data.

GRC ToolsTMis a set of modules which gather data from lookup tables and change your data file according to what it finds there. These lookup tables have been formulated, based on a great deal of research, to make the data accurate on the basis of country or language area.

GRC ToolsTMhas been thoroughly tested. However, as a highly flexible program unexpected problems can always occur. As needs and requirements differ greatly between users, and modules may be run in combinations not expected by the program, there is a small chance that changes may be made that you do not expect or do not want.

imageIt is highly advisable to back-up any data files over which you wish to run GRC ToolsTM. Remember that GRC ToolsTMchanges data. The author disclaims any responsibility for damaged data caused by the use or misuse of this program.

Should you have any comments or suggestions for improvements to GRC ToolsTM, we would be delighted to hear of them.

imageCountries have been chosen for inclusion in GRC ToolsTMon a pragmatic basis, and on postal and address requirements. The list excludes countries with a claim to independence or which are ipso facto independent and includes some dependent territories. The parameters for inclusion have been that in terms of address systems a clear distinction can be made in some respect for the country or territory concerned.