The Champ Tracking feature is designed to give you the ability to provide USPS tracking information back to your customer by associating information on the mail piece with the Intelligent Mail Package Barcode (IMpb).  Typically, this would be the name of the mail piece recipient or an alpha-numeric code supplied by the customer in the address block that uniquely identifies the mail piece.


The information is entered into the Tracking Field immediately prior to processing the mail piece (address lookup via hand keying or OCR) if it is enabled for the account for which mail is being processed.  You have the option of making the data entry into the tracking field by the operator optional or mandatory for the account.  Also, you can define the type of information the operator can enter, such as only allowing numbers to be entered.  Once you have completed the mailing, you can access the data for your customer via the export file.


Apply Necessary License

Champ Tracking requires a WABCR license to function properly.  Before continuing, follow the instructions in the License Generation article, selecting only the Wide Area Barcode Reader license.



Set up  Tracking in the Account Profile Editor

1)  Open the Account Profile Editor in the EII Console.

2)  Navigate to the account that needs the tracking feature.

3)  Select the Barcode tab.

4)  Select Slot #5 and change the name to Tracking ID.  

  • If any of the other slots are used by the WABCR, you will need to create a new account for that customer in order to provide tracking information.

5)  Select Barcode Type Code 128 as a default setting.

  • This does not enable the ability to scan barcodes for tracking.

6)  Use the Test Pattern button to get helpful hints concerning barcode setup. Below are some of the frequently used patterns:

  • ^.*$  - Any string of characters
  • ^[a-z]{5}$  - Any 5 alpha characters (lowercase)
  • ^[0-9]{5}$  - Any 5 numbers
    • All patterns must begin with ^ and end with $.
    • If assistance is needed when setting up the barcodes, please call EII Customer Support at (765) 250-4100.

7)  Make sure the changes are saved before closing the EII Console.



Use the Tracking Feature in the Champ

1)  Open the Champ program.

2)  Select the Job Profile and enter the Job name.

3)  Select an Account and Department containing the saved barcode tracking that was set up in Step One.

4)  The Tracking Field will be enabled if barcode tracking was properly set up for the account.

5)  Start processing the first mail piece by removing it from the scale.

6)  The Tracking Field box will turn red, notifying the operator that a barcode needs to be entered.  The field will remain red until all the barcode qualifications have been met.

7)  Once the barcode qualifications have been met, the Tracking Field will turn white.

8)  The operator can now finish processing the piece and continue for all mail pieces.



Export Tracking Information

There are two manners in which the export can be obtained after a mailing has been sorted:

1)  Manually generate an export from the Mail Piece Editor (this can be done even if a mailing has not yet been sorted).

  • Navigate to the Mail Piece Editor section in the left menu.
  • Locate the job name in the drop-down menu.
    • The mailing will appear even if it has not been sorted.
  • To the right of the drop-down menu, select Export.

2)  Manually generate an export from USPS Reports.

  • Navigate to the USPS Reports section in the left menu.
  • Open the Search tab at the top of the screen.
    • Using the search options, find the manifest to be exported.
      • The mailing will only appear if it has already been sorted.
    • Click the checkbox to the left of the manifest line.
    • Select Export to the right of the page.
  • The page will automatically open to the Sort tab.
    • Locate the mailing in the list that appears.
      • The mailing will only appear in this list if it has not yet been sorted.
    • Click the checkbox to the left of the manifest line.
    • Select Export to the right of the page.

3)  Retrieve an existing export from the Manifest folder.

  • Navigate to R:\Manifests.
  • Open the folder for the manifest in question.
  • The export will be located in the Sorted folder.

4)  Once the export is obtained, you will only need to select the following columns to send to the customer:

  • Column C:  Date Field
  • Column M:  Account Field
  • Column R:  Department Field
  • Column Y:  IMpb Field
  • Column BK:  Tracking Field