Entity Formatting Guidelines and Precautions

Overview

Formatting Guidelines

Follow these formatting guidelines when creating or editing entities. Failure to do so could result in erroneous information and Optimiz errors.

General:

  • All names and words should be spelled out completely.
  • Do not abbreviate company names or street addresses.
  • Do not use all capital letters, unless the entity is specifically incorporated with all caps (e.g., ALCOA).
  • Use title case (first letter capitalized) when an entity name contains more than one word (e.g., Schneider National). Use spaces before and after special characters (&, -, /).
  • When possible, avoid using words of fewer than three characters, since Optimiz will only search for words that are three characters or longer.

Name:

  • Do not add descriptions or comments to the Name field.
  • All words should be spelled out completely, with the exception of the following. Use a comma before each of the abbreviations listed below:
    • Limited Liability Corporation (use LLC).
    • SA de CV (use S.A. de C.V.).
    • RL de CV (use R.L. de C.V.).

Address:

  • If c/o (care of) is used in an address, both entities must be entered separately with their own unique Display IDs.
  • Post office box in a mailing address is: P.O. Box.
  • P.O. Box, suite, building, or dock code information included in a mailing address should be placed in the Address 2 field, unless no street address is included. In those cases, use the Address 1 field.

Hours:

  • Hours of operation should be set for 0:00 to 23:59 (default setting) for most entities; exceptions should have the actual hours of operation entered rather than the default 24-hour setting.
  • Hours must be set for each day of the week.