How to Merge Duplicate Records

This topic shows you how to use the Merge utility to successfully resolve duplicate family records and duplicate member records in your organization's database.  

Merging Duplicate Family Records

Merging Duplicate Member Records

Previewing Records Prior to a Overnight Merge

Viewing the Results of a Merge

Merging Duplicate Family Records

The Merge button is visible only to staff users with Merge Family Access permission. For details on setting this permission, go to How to Give a Diocesan Staff Member Permission to Merge Duplicate Records or How to Give a Parish Staff Member Permission to Merge Duplicate Records.

1. Click . From the dropdown list, select the Merge Records option to display the Merge Records page.
2. For Merge Type, select Families.
3. Search for duplicate records by doing the following:

1. Type the Family DUID of the family you want to keep in the Permanent Family ID field.
2. Type the Family DUID of the duplicate record the Duplicate Family ID field.

The Search button is now enabled.

3. Click .

The application performs a series of checks. If it locates both Family DUIDs, it displays information for the permanent family and one or more possible duplicate records at the bottom of the page.

4. Review the search results. Then, for each duplicate record shown, select one of these options from the What to Do dropdown list:

• Add as New: adds the duplicate as a new member to the permanent family record. A new Member Details tab is added to the family record for the newly added member.
• Merge with: merges the duplicate record into the permanent family’s record. The duplicate record is removed.

5. In total, you can merge up to five family records at the same time. If you want to merge additional records, repeat the following for each one you want to merge:

1. Type the Family DUID in the Additional Duplicate Family DUID field. Then, click .

2. If the system locates the Family DUID, it displays the associated records at the bottom of the page.

3. Review each record listed in the Duplicate Family Members group and select the appropriate What to Do option (described in Step 4).

5. Click .

The system does one of the following:

• If no issues are encountered, creates merge records for each Permanent-Duplicate pair and places the pending merge records into a queue to await processing in an overnight batch job. If desired, you can inspect the pending records before they are processed. For instructions, go to How to Review Merged Records Queued for Overnight Batch Processing.
• If conflicting sacrament data is encountered, the system displays a message prompting you to review the details for each conflict or skip the details and let the system merge the records according to the method specified by your diocese.

If your diocese specifies that it wants you to review and resolve sacrament data conflicts, the Skip button is not available. You must click Review.

6. Do one of the following:

• To review the details of sacrament data conflicts:

1. Click .

A review page similar to the following is displayed:

2. For each data field, review the values displayed in the Master Sacrament and Duplicate Sacrament columns. Then, select the data value you want to retain.

The system shows the values you selected in the Final Sacrament column.

3. Click  to save the values.

When the system merges the records in the overnight process, the data values shown in the Final Sacrament column will be retained.

OR

• To let the system resolve the sacrament data conflicts according the method specified by your diocese, click .

In the overnight process, the system processes multiple family merges in the order in which you added the duplicate records to the permanent family.

If any merge in the group fails, the system stops all subsequent merges until you resolve the issue causing the record to fail to merge. Failed merges are flagged as “Failed” in Status column in the Merge Family Queue grid. For help resolving merge failures, contact ParishSOFT Support.

Merging Duplicate Member Records

1. Click . From the dropdown list, select the Merge Records option to display the Merge Records page.
2. For Merge Type, select Members.
3. In the Member DUID Search section, locate the duplicate records by doing the following:

1. Enter the DUID of the permanent member in the Permanent Member DUID field. The permanent member’s record is the one you want to keep.
2. Enter the DUID of the duplicate members in the Duplicate Member DUID field. The duplicate member’s record is the one you want to merge (discard).
3. Click .

The system locates the records matching the member DUIDs you entered and respectively displays details for the records in the Permanent Member and Duplicate Member sections.

4. If you have another duplicate record to merge, enter the member DUID of the record in the Additional Duplicate Member DUID field. Then, click .

The system locates the added record and displays its details in the Additional Duplicate Member DUID field.

5. Review the search results. Then, do one of the following:

• To merge the records, click .

The records are placed in the merge queue to await overnight processing.

If you want to inspect records in the queue before they are merged, you can find instructions in this topic: How to Review Merged Records Queued for Overnight Batch Processing.

• To cancel the merge, click .

After records are merged, the system does the following:

●       Sends a notification to each organization associated with the duplicate member. Each organization receiving notification can view details about the merge on the Notifications page.

●       Records the date of the merge in the Merged Date field in the permanent member’s record. This field is located in Member Details under the permanent member’s photo.

The Merged Date field appears only in permanent member records, which are the records retained following a duplicate member merge.

Previewing Records Prior to an Overnight Merge

If desired, you can inspect pending records before they are merged. For instructions, go to How to Review Merged Records Queued for Overnight Batch Processing.

Viewing the Results of a Merge

To see what records were merged, you can run a Merge report. For instructions on generating this report, go to How to Create a Report That Shows Merged Records.

Related Topics

How to Give a Diocesan Staff Member Permission to Merge Duplicate Records

How to Give a Parish Staff Member Permission to Merge Duplicate Records

How to Review Merged Records Queued for Overnight Batch Processing

About the Notifications Page

How to Create a Report That Shows Merged Records

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