What is covered in this article?
- How to search for duplicate contacts
- When to merge contacts
- Merging students
- When to link contacts
- How to link contacts
- How to search for duplicate students
- Video Tutorial
How to search for duplicate contacts
- Navigate to Enquiries > Contacts List.
- Click Look for Duplicates at the top of the list.
- The system will search its collection of contacts and look for any of the following exact duplicates:
- Email addresses
- Phone numbers
- Last name, first name
- If the system returns a list of potential duplicates, then this means one of the above criterion was met. There are several actions you can take, namely Merge or Link the contacts
When to merge contacts
If the records are clearly duplicates i.e. more than one of the value are matching such as name and email then you should Merge the contacts in order to de duplicate the additional records. This will also maintain any other students or activities associated with that contact.
Note you can merge up to 5 records at any one time
To Merge contacts, do the following:
-
- Select at least two (up to 5) checkboxes on the left side of the page to enable the Merge button appear above the list
- Click Merge
- A dialog will be displayed where you can preview all the fields and select which fields you wish to keep from any of the contacts. The end result will be one contact with all the relevant fields you wish to keep.
| Note: Once you decide to Merge there is no possibility of un-merging. Also after you merge the contacts, you will have the opportunity to merge any duplicate students. |
Merging students
As a result of merging contacts, there is a possibility that the same student was also linked with the original contact. This will happen when the contact fills out multiple form on a school's website and includes the same child's information a second or even third time.
In this case, you will want to Merge the student records as well. Merging students must be done from the Contacts section since each student may have several relationships with different contacts, think of a blended family.
It can be done under the following circumstances:
After merging contacts
- After you have Merged contacts, you will be presented with a second dialog giving you the opportunity to review any of the associated students that was with the merged contacts. You can either Merge or click done
- To merge, select at least two (up to 5) checkboxes on the left side of the dialog to enable the Merge button appear above the list
- Click Merge
- A dialog will be displayed where you can preview all the fields and select which fields you wish to keep from any of the students. The end result will be one student with all the relevant fields you wish to keep, along with the relevant activity log information as well.
From the contacts details screen
At any time, you are able to merge duplicate students from the contact details page. This must be completed here since we must first know the relationship the student has with each contact.
For example, if you had two duplicate students, but one was created by a Guardian and the other was created by the Father, we must first link the two contacts and only then can you merge the students.
When to link contacts
Linking contacts essentially makes each contact a part of the same family unit. There are two occasions when you will need to link contacts. These are:
- When looking for duplicates. There may be two contacts that have different names, but share the same email address. In this case, you will want to Link the contacts and not merge them
| Note: Linked contacts will not be visible when you look for duplicates. By definition we assume they are part of the same family unit and, as a result, they will not be visible when you look for duplicates. |
- When contacts completed forms at different times. For example, one parent may complete an event registration form and, as a result, will be created as a contact in Enquiry Tracker. Likewise, another parent may also complete an online form, or potentially is added manually, and will be considered a separate record in Enquiry Tracker.
In both of the above scenarios you will want to Link the contacts since they are have a relationship with the other contacts or student in common and are not the same person.
How to link contacts
To Link contacts, do the following:
- Select at least two (up to 5) checkboxes on the left side of the page to enable the Link button appear above the list
- Click Link
- A dialog will be displayed where you confirm if you wish to link the selected contacts.
- Once linked, these contacts will appear as related contacts on one another's details.
How to search for duplicate students
Currently there is not a built-in feature to automatically search for student duplicates, but this is something we know is important, and we plan to add functionality in the future to address this. For now, here is our recommendation.
- Each time you add a student, first consider whether that student may already exist in the Students List.
- Go to Enquiries > Students List, and use the Search bar to search for the student by name.
- If the student does not exist in the system, feel free to go ahead with adding them. If the student does already exist in the system, please review and edit the existing student data rather than creating a duplicate student.
You can also scan the list of Students to see if there appears to be any duplicates.
- Go to Enquiries > Students List
- Sort by Student Name and scan the list for potential duplicates
- If you locate a duplicate you must either Merge or Link the the associated contacts first. Once this has been done, you can merge the students.
| Note: If you are trying to merge a contact or student when more than one application exists then you must delete any in progress or duplicate applications before merging student or contact. |