Understanding the Master Index Standardization Engine: Business Patterns File

Business Patterns File

The business patterns file (bizpatterns.dat) defines multiple formats expected from the business name input fields along with the standardized output of each format. The patterns and output appear in two-row pairs in this file, as shown below.

4 PNT AST SEP-GLC ORT
PNT AST DEL ORT

The first line describes the input pattern and the second describes the output pattern using tokens to denote each component. The supported tokens are described in Business Name Tokens. A number at the beginning of the first line indicates the number of components in the given business name format. You can modify this file using the following syntax.

length input-pattern
output-pattern

The following table lists and describes the components in the above syntax.

Business Patterns File Components

Component	Description
length	The number of business name components in the input field.
input-pattern	Tokens that represent a possible input pattern from the unparsed business name fields. Each token represents one component. For more information about address tokens, see Business Name Tokens.
output-pattern	Tokens that represent the output pattern for the specified input pattern. Each token represents one component. For more information about business name tokens, see Business Name Tokens.

Below is an excerpt from the business patterns file.

4 PNT AST SEP-GLC ORT
PNT AST DEL ORT

4 NFG AJT SEP-GLC ORT
PNT PNT DEL ORT

4 NF AJT SEP-GLC ORT
PNT PNT DEL ORT

4 CST IDT NF ORT
PNT PNT PNT ORT

4 PNT AJT SEP-GLC ORT
PNT PNT DEL ORT

Business Name Tokens

The business patterns file uses tokens to denote different components in a business name, such as the primary name, alias type key, URL, and so on. The file uses one set of tokens for input fields and another set for output fields. The tokens indicate the type key files to use to determine the appropriate values for each output field. You can use only the predefined tokens to represent business name components; the standardization engine does not recognize custom tokens.

Table 13 lists and describes each input token; Table 14 lists and describes each output token.

Business Name Input Pattern Tokens

Pattern Identifier	Description
CTT	A connector token
PNT	A primary name of a business
PN-PN	A hyphenated primary name of a business
BCT	A common business term
URL	The URL of the business’ web site
ALT	A business alias type key (usually an acronym)
CNT	A country name
NAT	A nationality
CST	A city or state type key
IDT	An industry type key
IDT-AJT	Both an industry and an adjective type key
AJT	An adjective type key
AST	An association type key
ORT	An organization type key
SEP	A separator key
NFG	Generic term, not recognized as a specific business name component, with an internal hyphen
NF	Generic term, not recognized as a specific business name component
NFC	A single character, not recognized as a specific business name component
SEP-GLC	A joining comma (a glue type separator)
SEP-GLD	A joining hyphen (a glue type separator)
AND	The text “and”
GLU	A glue type key, such as a forward slash, connecting two parts of a business name component
PN-NF	A business primary name followed by a hyphen and a generic term that is not recognized as a specific business name component
NF-PN	A generic term that is not recognized as a specific business name component, followed by a hyphen and a recognized business primary name
NF-NF	Two generic terms, not recognized as specific business name components and separated by a hyphen

Table 14 lists and describes each output token.

Business Name Output Pattern Tokens

Pattern Identifier	Description
PNT	The primary name of the business
URL	The URL of the business
ALT	The alias type key of the business (usually an acronym)
IDT	The industry type key of the business
AST	The association type key of the business
ORT	The organization type key of the business
NF	A generic term not recognized as a business name component