Manually start a constituent merge process
To merge source and target constituents, you can manually start a constituent merge process. However, before you start a merge process, make sure you have reviewed the Duplicate Constituent Report for the selected duplicate record source and verified that the source and target records that will be merged are indeed duplicates. For more information about using the report, see Run the Duplicate Constituents Report.
You can also access the Preview merge tab on the process page to verify and edit the duplicate matches that will be merged. For more information about previewing the records to be merged, see Preview Constituents to Merge.
Warning: You cannot undo a merge process so we highly recommend that you create a backup of your database prior to running the merge and/or run test merges in a non-production environment.
Warning: When you start the process from the Constituent Merge page, the process merges all potential duplicates. To preview constituents to be merged beforehand, you can go to the process page and scan the preview tab. Otherwise, you can view the Duplicate Constituents Report for potential matches. From the process page, you can also start the process.
Warning: The duplicate merge process can take an extended period of time to run depending on the number of records being merged.
From Constituents, select Duplicates. The Duplicates page appears.
Select Constituent merge. The Constituent Merge page appears.
On the Merge processes tab, select a process and select Start process. The Run constituent merge process screen appears.
The information displayed on this screen defaults in from the options configured when the process was added or last edited. Make changes as necessary.
In the Duplicate record source field, select whether to use the duplicate constituents identified by the last SSIS package run, or the last full or incremental duplicate search process run.
In the Target constituent criteria, select the criteria to determine the target constituents. Target constituents receive data from source constituents during the merge. To use the anchor record identified in the Duplicate constituent search process as the target, select "Automatic." For information about the determination of the anchor constituent, see Full and Incremental Duplicate Search Algorithm. Alternatively, you can select target constituents based on when they were added to the database, when they were last updated, or based on the number of gifts on the constituent record.
To exclude constituents from the process, enter a selection in the Excluded constituents field. To search for a selection, select the binoculars. A search screen appears.
In the Minimum match % field, enter the minimum match percentage to include source constituents in the process.
To merge individuals only, select Only merge individuals.
To exclude individuals matched with organizations, select Omit individual/organization matches.
To delete source constituents after the merge, select Delete source constituent.
To mark source constituents as inactive after the merge, select Mark source constituent inactive. If you select this checkbox, in the Inactive reason field, select a reason code to explain why you mark constituents inactive. In the Inactive details field, enter any additional information about the inactive status.
Note: You cannot merge records into inactive records that were previously a source record in a merge.
For information about how to configure reason codes for inactive constituents, see the Administration section of the help file.
Before you continue, it is important to that the duplicate merge process can take an extended period of time to run depending on the number of records being merged. When you are ready to begin the merge, select Start. The program runs the process. Once complete, the merge process page appears.
After the merge process completes, you should confirm that the duplicates have been merged. To do this, run the constituent search or SSIS process again, then run the Duplicate Constituents Report again. View the report and verify that the duplicate records have been merged. Some duplicates may not have been merged due to settings on the merge configuration. In this case, you can access the Preview Merge tab on the process record and manually merge these.