Address De-Duplication
This utility is used to inactivate duplicate addresses from the system. Based on your search criteria, the system will search for duplicate, active addresses. The duplicate address, phone numbers, and extended address records are merged into a single primary address record only if the duplicate address was modified after the primary record, or if the field on the primary is empty. When the case has a duplicate associated address, the duplicate is removed and only references the master record. The secondary and associated addresses are merged into the primary address record. The merge can affect the following by updating the ID of the retained address record:
Cases
Check Register
Coupon Register
Phone
Extended Address
Secondary Address
Associated Address
Orders
Survey Results
Letters
Actions
Enclosures
To access the Address De-Duplication Utility:
From the Application Function Bar, select Utilities > Address Utilities > Address De-Duplication.
Best Practice
Address de-duplication is set up so that you can schedule it to run on a weekly or monthly basis. Each time the utility is run it can compare the addresses entered since the last run of the utility against all addresses in the database. Running the utility for all addresses can cause timeout or other errors when a large number of addresses exist. Filters should be applied when using the utility.
To run the utility on a regular basis:
Leave the From Address ID field and the To Address ID fields empty.
Set the desired options for address type and de-duplication methods.
Enter filters using a time frame and relative date range (do not use specific dates). For information on Filters, see the Filters section below. The use of filters allows you to run the utility on a periodic basis without needing to update the favorite.
Save the utility as a favorite and schedule the favorite to run after hours in the background so that it does not impact your processing speed. The frequency of the favorite’s schedule should correspond to the filters being used.
Utility Options
The following options are available for this utility:
Field | Description |
|---|---|
Clean Mode | Determines whether any data updates are actually made. The options are:
|
Treat Null Values as Unique | Any null values in comparison data will cause the system to treat the record as unique. By selecting this option, the system will never match on a search method (selected under De-Duplication Options) if one of the data values in either record has a null (empty) value. Any blank value (including a field containing only spaces) will be considered null for this purpose. Even if both records have a null value in the same field, these will still be treated as unique records. |
Address Selection
These options allow you to limit the selection of address records based on the given criteria:
Field | Description |
|---|---|
From Address, To Address | If you want to limit the process to a range of address IDs, you can enter the starting and ending ID numbers in these fields. If left blank, all applicable addresses will be processed. |
Address Type | If you only want to process addresses of a specific type, enter the type in this field. If left blank, addresses of all types will be processed.
|
All Addresses Must Match Type | If this option is selected, for any two addresses to be considered as duplicates, they must have the same address type. If the address types differ, the addresses will be considered different regardless of any other matching criteria. |
Typically, you only want to select address types that are related to consumer addresses.Address Source
These are additional options for limiting the selection of address records. These options allow you to select or filter records based on how they were first entered into the system.
Field | Description |
|---|---|
Case Entry | Include addresses that originated by being entered onto a case. |
Address Maintenance | Include addresses that originated by being entered manually through the address entry screen. |
Import Utility (not including conversion) | Include addresses that originated through an import utility or possibly from a data conversion from another system, depending on when and how the conversion was performed. |
Unknown Source | Any address whose source is blank or doesn't match one of the other specified types. |
De-Duplication Options
Select the methods which the system should use to try to match address records. Each method is evaluated individually.
Options:
Phone 1, First and Last Name
Phone 2, First and Last Name
First, Last, Postal and Address1
First, Last, Postal and Company
Address Type Code, Address Code
Email Address, First and Last Name
Account Number, First and Last Name
Other Options
Field | Description |
|---|---|
Results Language | Select the results language for the utility. For more information, see the Results Language section on page Utilities Overview. |
Filters
The filters allow you to select a date range of addresses added since or addresses used since the specified dates. The first filter, Options Time Frame limits the list of addresses that will be used to search for duplicates. The second filter, Comparison Time Frame is applied to the queries created for the De-Duplication Options check boxes on the Options view. This is the range of addresses that will be considered when searching for a duplicate. For each address returned from the first filter the system will determine if any duplicate addresses exist within the range of addresses specified by the second filter, based on the options criteria.
You select the type of Usage, Originated Date (address.originated_date) or Addresses Used (address.last_contact), the Time Frame and the date range in the From Date and Thru fields.
Leaving the Usage fields blank deactivates the filters and the utility results are not filtered.
If scheduling this to run on the Event Requestor the first filter should correlate to the frequency of the scheduled event. If you schedule the utility to run once a week then you would use the first filter to limit the addresses to those originated in the last week. (for example, Time frame of Week and From Date of This Period-1 through This Period). The second filter would correlate to the range of addresses to compare. When using one or both filters the database should be verified for the existence of an index on the columns listed using System Manager Database Index Maintenance.
Results
When you select the Results tab without an Options Time Frame or Address Selection filter, a warning message will display. You are given the option to run the utility without the filters or cancel the operation.