Crimson: Compliance - Deduping Tool

NOTE: Merging is irreversible. Do not merge unless you are certain two records are the same person.

As you load lists of contacts, prospects, and donors into the database overtime, you may notice the creation of duplicate records. Crimson provides helpful keylines to catch duplicate records at the point of data entry. However, some records need to be reviewed before they can be merged.  If you have a one-off pair of duplicate records, you may want to use the Merge Tool. If you instead have a higher volume of duplicate records to be reviewed and merged, then you may want to use the Deduping Tool.

How Merges Work

When two records are merged in Crimson, all of the information in the “keep” record will remain. If there are blank fields in the keep record and information is available in the “merge” record, that information from the “merge” record will be kept. For example, if the keep record has a home phone number and the merge record has a business phone number, the merged record will have both. If the two records have different information for the same field, only the keep record information will be available after the merge. You may want to make changes to one of the records prior to a merge so that information from both are retained. At times you may also want to remove merge record information prior to the merge if you do not want it filled into a blank field.

Accessing the Deduping Tool

The Deduping tool can be found on the Compliance Dashboard. Click the Possible Duplicates card to open the deduping tool.

Deduping Tool Page Features

PID – Unique Crimson People ID. Click the hyperlinked PID, to open the record’s full profile for review.

Match Type – Reason the records matched as possible duplicates.

Name – Full name of the record. If you hover over the name a blue question mark will appear. Click on the question mark to get additional details about the record without having to leave the screen.

MRC Date – Donor’s most recent contribution date.

CTD – Donor’s cycle to date total amount.

Email, Home #, Cell #, Business #, Street, City, State, Zip – Donor’s primary contact information.

Spouse – Donor’s spouse’s name.

FECCMTEID – The FEC Committee ID if the Donor has one.

Filters – The default results view is set to show possible Individual duplicate records. However, the Possible Duplicates tool includes an option to filter and view possible Organization dupes as well. You can also choose to filter dupes by Match Type or display only records that are Donors to help prioritize which dupes are reviewed and processed first. Select the filters you are looking to use and the results will automatically update.

Not a Dupe – Check this box if the matched pair are NOT duplicate records.  Once processed, these records will no longer pull on any of the possible duplicate menus or reports going forward. Use, for example, when the matched pairs are a father and son who share similar contact information.

Keep – If the matched pair are duplicates, then you must check this box for the record you want to indicate as the “KEEP” record. Leave the box blank for the record you want to indicate is the “MERGE” record. Once processed, the “MERGE” (unchecked) records will merge into the “KEEP” record’s profile.

Using the Deduping Tool

1. Go to the Compliance Dashboard and click the Possible Duplicates card. The first 20 pairs of duplicates will appear for review.
2. If more details are required, hover over the name and click the  to view them without having to leave the screen. You may also click the hyperlinked PID to view a record’s full profile.
3. Indicate if the records should be merged or not.
• Not a Dupe – Check this box if the matched pair are NOT duplicate records.
• Keep – Check this box if the matched pair are duplicates and you want to indicate the “KEEP” record. Leave this box empty for the record you want to indicate as the “MERGE” record.  Once processed, the “MERGE” (unchecked) record will merge into the “KEEP” record’s profile.
4. Repeat the above steps for each pair of matched duplicate records that follow until you have reached the end of the page or you are ready to stop your review.
5. Click the  button at the bottom of the screen to process the pairs indicated as duplicates or not.
6. The next 20 matched duplicate pairs will appear. Repeat the above steps until your review is complete.