Corporate Address File (CAF)
A definitive list of all known homes in the Channel Islands
The accuracy of the CAF is guaranteed by updates from key contributors including government departments and utilities.
CAF is used throughout the States of Jersey, States of Guernsey and States of Alderney, to assist with locating properties and the validation of official documents. It is designed as a ‘server to server’ system which we integrate into both new and legacy systems. The end user may not necessarily know that they are using CAF.
The system allows fast searching of addresses, whether by Post Code, road name or house name, and this assists with quick and accurate data entry .
Should an address be missing or incorrect, then the user is able to submit an update in their system which will feed instantly to the Address Validation Unit (AVU). The AVU consider the update, validate whether the change is accurate and accept or reject it. Accepted updates are then fed to all other systems so they can consider whether to update their records.
The Corporate Address File is updated on a real time basis, and the large number of users helps to ensure it is as accurate and up to date as possible. The Corporate Address File only contains Addresses , it does not contain any personal information.
Searching
CAF allows you to search portions of an address, whether it is the house name, or Post Code, and the CAF will return an appropriate set of results based on your search criteria. Support for metaphones allows fuzzy matching of addresses by their pronunciation, which is particularly suitable when the user may not know the exact spelling of an address.
Address Matching
For customers with a legacy database of addresses, Digimap has produced sophisticated software that will automatically detect matches with addresses held in the CAF. Usually this is a one off process, and will result in matching legacy address information to the Corporate Address File. Where the address match is uncertain, users can review the matching process manually.