MPS File Formats & Technical Specifications
There are two versions of the MPS file you must screen against.
MPS Original – This file contains registrations at a surname level. The contents of this file will stay static (‘frozen’) but will be updated daily to reflect any consumers who unregister.
MPS Personal – This file contains registrations at a personal level where the consumer registers their own name and details, covering only themselves—not their entire household. The file is updated daily.
MPS Original Specification
The MPS ORIGINAL file will contain name and address as well as information detailing the action to be taken – whether to remove the individual, include the individual in certain mailings, etc.
There are two data file formats – Fixed format and Ascii Comma Delimited. The file layouts are illustrated below.
| Position | Length | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | R = remove this person from your mailings X = deceased person, remove this record from your mailing list |
| 2–9 | 8 | Date of request DDMMCCYY |
| 10–17 | 8 | Blank |
| 18–23 | 6 | Available for new categories I to N in the future |
| 24–27 | 4 | Prefix |
| 28–30 | 3 | Initials |
| 31–51 | 21 | Surname |
| 52–55 | 4 | Suffix |
| 56–87 | 32 | Address Line 1 |
| 88–119 | 32 | Address Line 2 |
| 120–151 | 32 | Address Line 3 |
| 152–176 | 25 | Town |
| 177–196 | 20 | County |
| 197–204 | 8 | Postcode |
| 205–206 | 2 | DPS (Delivery Point Suffix) |
The above record format pertains to the Fixed format data file. The Ascii comma separated format will follow the sequence above with the maximum length indicated by the ‘Length’ column. Each field in the CSV format will be ‘text qualified’ with double quotes (").