Sun Match Engine Address Data Processing Fields

When matching on address data, not all fields in a record need to be processed by the Sun Match Engine. The match engine only needs to process address fields that must be parsed, normalized, or phonetically encoded, and the fields against which matching is performed. These fields are defined in the Match Field file and processing logic for each field is defined in the standardization and matching configuration files.

Address Data Match String Fields

The match string processed by the Sun Match Engine is defined by the match fields specified in the Match Field file. If you specify an “Address” match type for any field in the wizard, the default fields that store the parsed data are automatically added to the match string in the Match Field file. These fields include the house number, street direction, street type, and street name. You can remove any of these fields from the match string.

The match engine can process any combination of fields you specify for matching. By default, the match configuration file (matchConfigFile.cfg) includes rows specifically for matching on the fields that are parsed from the street address fields, such as the street number, street direction, and so on. The file also defines several generic match types. You can use any of the existing rows for matching or you can add rows for the fields you want to match.

Address Data Standardized Fields

The Sun Match Engine expects that street address data will be provided in a free-form text field containing several components that must be parsed. By default, the match engine is configured to parse these components and to normalize and phonetically encode the street name. You can specify additional fields for phonetic encoding.

If you specify an “Address” match type for any field in the wizard, a standardization structure for that field is defined in the Match Field file. The fields listed below under Address Data Object Structure are automatically defined as the target fields. Each of these fields has several entries in the standardization structure. This is because different parsed components can be stored in the same field. For example, the house number, post office box number, and rural route identifier are all stored in the house number field. If you do not specify address fields for matching in the wizard but want to standardize the fields, you can create a standardization structure in the Match Field file.

Address Data Object Structure

The address fields specified for standardization are parsed into several additional fields. If you specify the “Address” match type in the wizard, the following fields are automatically added to the object structure and database creation script.

• field_name_HouseNo

• field_name_StName

• field_name_StDir

• field_name_StType

• field_name_StPhon

  where field_name is the name of the field for which you specified address matching. For example, if you specify the Address match type for the AddressLine1 field, the following fields are automatically added to the structure: AddressLine1_HouseNo, AddressLine1_StName, AddressLine1_StDir, AddressLine1_StType, and AddressLine1_StPhon.

You can add these fields manually if you do not specify a match type in the wizard.

The object structure for Sun Master Patient Index uses a slightly different naming convention. For the names of the fields defined for Sun Master Patient Index, refer to the Sun SeeBeyond eIndex Single Patient View User’s Guide.