format / Audience / Date / Classification
/ File Ref: / g022
Default values for mandatory fields when data is unavailable
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to define a convention to be used for SuperStream member registration and member contributions messages to populate certain mandatory fields when the required data is unavailable.
This guidance applies only to the mandatory fields identified in this guidance note.
Default values should not be used in optional fields. Any optional field should be omitted if a value is not available.
Background
The Superstream Message Implementation Guide (MIG) specifies a number of fields within member registration and member contributions messages as being mandatory because of their importance in correctly processing a message.
Reference to Published Standard
Reference: Schedule 4a document Data and Payment Standards – Contributions Message Implementation Guide.
ISSUE
In some circumstances where mandatory information is not available to the message sender the registration or contributions message could still be processed successfully using the other information in the message.
To allow messages to pass validation and continue to successful processing it is proposed that an agreed set of default values that will pass validation be substituted for the unavailable data in these mandatory fields.
Using an agreed set of default values allows the transaction processed successfully but also signals to the receiving party that a default value has been substituted and the default value should not be relied upon or used for processing in the normal way.
TREATMENT
The SuperStream Technical Committee has considered this issueand produced the following list of default values to be populated in mandatory (or conditional/mandatory) fields when the required data is unavailable.
Address details
The MIG specifies that member residential address should be supplied if available and that postal address is supplied instead if residential address is not available.
If neither is available, the following default values should be used to populate the residential address elements.
The use of postcode ‘0000’ in combination with country code ‘au’ will alert the receiving party to the fact that these are default values that have been supplied because address details are not available.
Element name / M/C/O / Default valueAddressDetails.Usage.Code / M / ‘RES’
AddressDetails.Line1.Text / M / ‘UNKNOWN’
AddressDetails.Line2.Text / O / Omit – not required
AddressDetails.Line3.Text / O / Omit – not required
AddressDetails.Line4.Text / O / Omit – not required
AddressDetails.LocalityName.Text / M / ‘UNKNOWN’
AddressDetails.Postcode.Text / C/M / ‘0000’ (Note: this element is mandatory for Australian addresses)
AddressDetails.StateOrTerritory.Code / C/M / ‘ACT’ (Note: this element is mandatory for Australian addresses)
AddressDetails.Country.Code / M / ‘au’
Date of Birth
The following value should be used if member date of birth is unknown.
Element name / M/C/O / Default valuePersonDemographicDetails.Birth.Date / M / ‘1900-01-01’
Sex
The following value should be used ifmember sex is not known. This is one of the values defined in the taxonomy and maps to ‘Not stated or inadequately described’
Element name / M/C/O / Default valuePersonDemographicDetails.Sex.Code / M / ‘0’
Recommended guidance
Where data for a mandatory field from the list above is not available to the message sender the specified default value should be substituted.
Default values other than those defined above should not be should be substituted in these fields.
Unapproved values should not be substituted in other mandatory fields when data is unavailable.