GAO to USPS: Address database errors

The USPS developed the U.S. Postal Service’s Facilities Database (FDB) in 2003 to capture and maintain data on the agency’s 34,000 facilities nationwide, but five years later, the database is still so riddled with errors that major components within USPS will not even use it, according to a Government Accountability Office report released December 10. Auditors found that the system has duplicate entries, multiple facility entries with the same function at the same address, and inconsistent data on square footage and building ownership. The errors were caused by inaccurate data in primary USPS systems — the Address Management and the Facility Management systems — that feed into the database, incorrect links to data from primary sources or mistakes made by local employees when entering data. Furthermore, the database does not contain fields for performance measures recommended by the Federal Real Property Council and does not track trends, the GAO said. USPS said it plans to improve the FDB’s reliability rather than scrap the database and agreed to establish additional controls to improve its reliability and usefulness.

Source: http://www.fcw.com/online/news/151053-1.html