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In the Data Manager app you can find the Duplicates tool:
The Duplicates tool can be used in 2 ways:
1. Starting from the Duplicates tool
Select "Suspects" to instantly list all possible duplicates in matching pairs (or threes, or fours), highlighting the value it matches on.
In this example you can see that the same student has arrived twice in Student CRM with similar info, but this has been picked up, because they both have the same mobile:
It matches on names, emails, and mobiles, and it's accurate.
All you do is click the 'Merge' icon and you will be shown both students side-by-side for you to choose which one is the real student to survive after the merging process.
Once merged, both student records disappear from the list of suspects. You then process the next pair, and so on until the list is empty.
2. Starting from a student's Record Card in the Student Database
Select 'Merge' from the More Options menu on the student, and it will automatically suggest possible duplicates for you:
To see how to merge from a Student's Record Card, read this other article: How to merge duplicated students in the Student Database
FAQs
Q. Why do I have so many duplicates?
A. Student CRM only matches incoming students with existing students when it is certain it will not be causing more harm by accidentally matching and writing over real and unique students following a false positive. These leaves an allowable amount of 'duplicate suspects' for human moderation, and that is what you see in your list.
Q. Will there always be a list here?
A. Generally yes there will, because duplicates are inevitable in any CRM, especially one with lots of new students flowing in continuously. This tool however, searches daily for duplicate suspects and always shows a fresh list, so you will be able to keep it down to manageable levels. You will see that as you merge pairs the total remaining count reduces automatically.
Q. How do I use the 'Status' column in the list?
A. For each pair you can update their status:
new = nothing done yet.
query = you are looking into it.
ignore = you have chosen to ignore these students because they are allowable dupes (example: 10 students might all match on the same mobile, which you discover has been entered by the same agent that introduced them all).
Q. What is the 'duplicate free' score?
A. It is the count of all students in your Student Database compared with those listed in the duplicate suspects.
For example you may have 10,000 students in your Student Database, out of which 800 are in your duplicate suspects list.
10,000 - 800 = 9,200, or 92.0% of your Student Database is duplicate-free.
Q. What is an acceptable 'duplicate free' score?
A. If you have never managed your duplicate suspects before, then the list will be large and your 'duplicate free' score could be as low as 70%. In time, this will rise and you are doing well if you get to and stay >95%.
Q. How often should my officers merge these duplicates?
A. A good rule of thumb is once a fortnight. If they have never done it before the first batch could be big, but thereafter it should stay down to manageable numbers.
Q. Once I have merged, can this be reversed?
A. No. This genie does not go back into the bottle.
Q. What is copied across from the duplicate to the proper record?
A. Everything that the duplicate ever did is moved across - preserving the original time it happened - and now belongs to the proper student.
The following activity with the duplicate's Student ID is included: APS, APV, ENQ, AOD, POD, EVM, MEC, PRQ, RAP, SRV, Email Stats, Logs, UTM stats, Tags, Associations.
The proper record's Consents and Topics are preserved.
If the duplicate is still in an old segment and it is not refreshed with a re-run, then the duplicate no longer appears in those results after merging. (Limitations: If a duplicate previously existed in an old Campaign CSV download or an old SDD data file it will remain there after merging.)
Q. What happens to the engagement scores?
A. They are added together in a sum, example: student A scores +50, student B scores -20, so, the result on the proper student A is a score of +30.
Q. What if the student subsequently clicks a link in an email that is linked to the old duplicate record?
A. It gets automagically re-routed to the proper student and appears as an email stat (open, click, etc) for that campaign or touchpoint but now resolving to the proper student.
Q. Can I select certain fields from one student with other fields from the other?
A. No. This is a 'winner takes all' merge. The proper student card's personal fields (name, address, mobile, etc) are NOT overwritten with fields from the duplicate. If, when you inspect the duplicate, you see a field that you want to preserve, you must copy and paste that value over to the proper record before you merge.
Q. I have found that one student has more than one dupe, and I want to merge all 3 into one, can I do that?
A. No. Not in one operation. You must do that as 2 separate operations, one for each dupe.
Q. Can I change the auto-match rules when merging?
A. Yes. If you want to change the filters in auto-match, click the Auto cog, and add or remove the 3 built-in filters.
Q. Can I add my own auto-match rules?
A. No.
Q. Is the merge process instant?
A. Nearly. It is instantly handed off to one of our jobs queues to be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. You probably won't detect the wait time, which is usually measured in milliseconds (ms).
Q. Can I see which students I have merged?
A. Yes. All deduped students get a log entry in the proper student's activity log saying who merged them, when and with which record. You can also search for any merged (even deleted) student in the 'Duplicates' tool in the Data Manager app. The log of the merge run is stored for both the Proper record and the Duplicate record, but you won't be able to click through to the deleted one.