Cxnch Acronyms & Terms Glossary

We use a lot of acronyms at Cxnch. Many come from the USPS, some from the regulations our customers work under, and a few are our own. Use this list when you run into one you don't know. The Category column shows where each term comes from. If you find one that's missing, let the team know so it can be added.

Acronym	Stands for	Category	Definition
AES-256	Advanced Encryption Standard (256-bit)	Security	The encryption that protects stored data.
API	Application Programming Interface	Data	Lets a customer's software send jobs and data to Cxnch automatically, without uploading files by hand.
ARC	Architectural Review Committee	Industry	The HOA committee that reviews changes owners want to make to their property.
BAA	Business Associate Agreement	Compliance	The HIPAA contract between Cxnch and a healthcare customer. We offer it as an amendment to our Terms.
CAI	Community Associations Institute	Industry	The HOA industry association. Its Utah chapter is a key marketing channel.
CASS	Coding Accuracy Support System	Postal	USPS certification that standardizes address formatting and fixes structural errors. You need it for automation postage discounts, and it runs first.
CC&R	Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions	Industry	An HOA's governing rules. Violation notices are often based on them.
CCB	Change Control Board	Security	The group that reviews and approves changes to the system.
CCM	Customer Communications Management	Industry	The category of large platforms that manage outbound customer communications. They're our main competitors.
CCPA	California Consumer Privacy Act	Compliance	California's consumer privacy law. Cxnch acts as a service provider under it.
CH	Channels	Cxnch	Digital and physical channels, together on one platform.
CI	Configuration Item	Security	Any part of the system that we track under configuration management.
CMP	Configuration Management Plan	Security	Our plan for controlling system configuration. It's Appendix A of the Change Management Policy.
COA	Change of Address	Postal	A forwarding request a recipient files with USPS. NCOA matches your list against these.
CSA	Configuration Status Accounting	Security	Recording and reporting the current state of each configuration item.
CSV	Comma-Separated Values	Data	A plain-text spreadsheet format where commas separate the fields. It's the most common way customers send us mailing lists and variable data.
CX	Customer Experience	Cxnch	Every touchpoint, built around the people our customers serve.
CXN	Connection	Cxnch	Connecting organizations to the people who matter most.
CXNCH	Cinch	Cxnch	Our name. Say it out loud: complex communications made simple.
Cxnch+	Cxnch Plus	Cxnch	Our tier for advanced or custom managed communications workflows.
DDU	Destination Delivery Unit	Postal	The local post office that delivers to the final address. It's the deepest point for destination entry.
DPA	Data Processing Addendum	Compliance	The part of our Terms that covers how we process customers' personal data.
DPV	Delivery Point Validation	Postal	Confirms USPS can actually deliver to an address. It flags vacant, no-stat and undeliverable records, and it's part of the CASS process.
DSCF	Destination Sectional Center Facility	Postal	The SCF that serves the mail's destination. Dropping mail there can lower postage.
e-PHI	Electronic Protected Health Information	Compliance	PHI that is created, stored or sent electronically.
EHR	Electronic Health Record	Industry	Healthcare software systems. Letting them trigger mailings is on our product roadmap.
FCA	Functional Configuration Audit	Security	Confirms that a configuration item works the way it's supposed to.
FDCPA	Fair Debt Collection Practices Act	Compliance	The federal law covering debt collection letters. It matters for our collections and law firm customers.
GLBA	Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act	Compliance	The federal privacy law for financial institutions. It works together with Regulation P.
HIPAA	Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996	Compliance	The federal law that protects health information. It governs how we handle healthcare mail.
HITECH	Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act	Compliance	Amends HIPAA and adds stronger breach notification and enforcement rules.
HOA	Homeowners Association	Industry	A core customer segment, usually reached through HOA management firms.
IaC	Infrastructure as Code	Security	Managing infrastructure through code instead of by hand.
IMb	Intelligent Mail barcode	Postal	The USPS barcode we apply during print and insert so each piece can be tracked.
ISO	International Organization for Standardization	Compliance	Issues certifications, such as ISO 27001, that we review when assessing vendors.
JSON	JavaScript Object Notation	Data	A lightweight structured data format. APIs and modern integrations use it to send job and address data.
NCOA	National Change of Address	Postal	Checks a list against about 160 million USPS change-of-address records covering the last 48 months. You need it within 90 days of mailing to get presort discounts.
NDA	Non-Disclosure Agreement	Compliance	A confidentiality agreement. We use a mutual NDA.
PCI	Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard	Compliance	The security standard for handling card data. We review it when assessing vendors.
PDF	Portable Document Format	Data	A fixed-layout document format. Most print-ready mail files are PDFs, and so are our electronic return receipts.
PHI	Protected Health Information	Compliance	Health information that can identify a person. A customer can't submit a job with PHI until they've accepted a BAA.
PIO	Public Information Officer	Industry	The communications lead at a city or government agency.
RFP	Request for Proposal	Industry	A formal bid request, common in municipal sales.
ROI	Return on Investment	Industry	Used in cost-benefit and impact analysis.
SCF	Sectional Center Facility	Postal	A USPS processing facility that serves a group of ZIP codes. We use SCFs as drop-ship points.
SFTP	Secure File Transfer Protocol	Data	An encrypted way to transfer files. It's common for automated, recurring file drops.
SOC 2	System and Organization Controls 2	Compliance	An independent audit of our security controls. Type I checks how controls are designed at one point in time. Type II checks how well they work over a period of time.
TLS	Transport Layer Security	Security	The encryption that protects files while they're being sent. We use TLS 1.3.
TSV	Tab-Separated Values	Data	Like CSV, but tabs separate the fields. It's useful when the data itself contains commas.
TXT	Plain Text	Data	An unformatted text file. Some older systems export fixed-width data this way.
UAA	Undeliverable As Addressed	Postal	Mail USPS can't deliver to the address on the piece. It gets returned, forwarded or thrown away.
UCMA	Utah City Management Association	Industry	A trade association for city managers. We use its conferences for municipal outreach.
ULCT	Utah League of Cities and Towns	Industry	A statewide association of Utah municipalities. We use it for municipal outreach.
XLSX	Excel Open XML Spreadsheet	Data	The standard Microsoft Excel file format. We accept it for address lists and mail merge data.
XML	Extensible Markup Language	Data	A structured text format that uses tags. Billing and business systems often export data this way.
ZIP	ZIP archive	Data	A compressed file that bundles several files into one. It's handy for large or multi-file job submissions.

Related articles: (link these once they're in the knowledge base) How Address Verification Works (CASS, DPV & NCOA) · Security & HIPAA Compliance · Supported File Formats

Cxnch Acronyms & Terms Glossary

A quick reference for the postal, compliance, security, data and industry acronyms used across Cxnch.