Merge records manually

From any HCO, HCP, or custom object record profile, data stewards and data managers can search for suspect matches The identification of multiple records that are suspected to be duplicates of one another, but without high enough confidence for automatic resolution. and merge applicable matches. Records can only be merged if they are the same object type and have the same primary country. You can search for matches based on the target record’s Veeva ID A unique record identifier across all Network customers and instances. Also referred to as a VID. (VID), or for broad results, search using keywords. This functionality enables you to manually match and merge records that might not be discovered as matches during data load.

Merge instructions

Manually merging records with the Find Suspect Match feature uses the merge_request__v subscription, an internal Network subscription. The merge instruction of this subscription is Exclusive Merge, which means that the values on the winning records always win. If the winning record does not have a value in a field, then the value in the losing record will be kept.

The subscription also uses the following properties for sub-objects:

• "job.merge.allowCustomerOwnedChildren": "true" - all locally managed sub-objects are retained when locally managed records are merged into Veeva owned records
• "job.merge.allowCustomerOwnedChildren.<CHILD>": "true" - specific locally managed sub-objects are retained on the winning Veeva managed record

By default, the value of these properties is true.To change the value of these properties for the merge_request subscription, contact Veeva Support.

For more information about these properties, see Advanced subscription settings.

Using Find Suspect Match

Data stewards can investigate suspect matches from valid locally managed record profiles for HCPs, HCOs, and custom objects.

To search for a suspect match:

1. In the Find Suspect Match preview box, accept the default search terms (first name, last name, and city) or clear the text and type a different search term; for example, a Network entity ID.

   

Records that have been sent to Veeva OpenData as add requests cannot be included in a suspect match task. A message displays in the preview box to advise that the record has been sent to Veeva OpenData.



If you searched by Network entity ID, the Suspect Match page opens immediately.

If you searched by name or another search term, the search results display for customer and Veeva-owned records, where applicable. To help data stewards determine suspect matches, the records are sorted by distance, in ascending order. The sort options can be changed using the Sort by list. The suspect match results are pinned on the map.

2. In the list of suspect matches, select one or more matches for the original record.

   

3. At the top of the suspect match list, click Create Suspect matches.

4. On the Suspect Match page, select the surviving record.

   The rows that match the original record are highlighted.

   If you want to clear the selected record, click Reset to remove the selection.

   

   Specific information displays beside the record name so you can quickly identify different types of records to help you determine if the record is appropriate to match.

   

   The following record status will display:

   • Dead (HCP only)
   • Inactive
   • Retired (HCP only)
   • Undetermined

   The following record information will display:

   • Candidate

   • Opted Out (HCPs only)

     If an opted out record is also a candidate record or has one of these statuses, Opted Out displays; the opted out information takes precedence over the other statuses or candidate information.

5. For the rows that have different values, select the field that will be retained on the surviving record. This is supported for HCPs and HCOs only; attribute values cannot be selected on custom objects. If a field does not have a value, a button still displays so you can choose the blank value.

   When a record is selected, a Select All link might display below the record heading. If you click Select All, the link will be dimmed to indicate that no further actions are required for the individual field values.

   When custom object records are merged, the following actions occur:

   • All existing external IDs are copied to the surviving record and then they are deactivated on the losing record.
   • Duplicate sub-objects and custom relationship objects are removed.
   • Relationships are repointed to the surviving record. Relationship are removed if they point to the losing record in the merge.
6. To process a suspect match task and merge records together, click Apply at the top right of the task.

7. In the Apply Suspect Match dialog, type a resolution note Comments that can be used by data stewards to explain the rejection or approval of a data change request. and click Apply.

   Note: If you opt to go to the next task from the resolution note, the merge will continue in the background.

   A system message at the top of the page indicates that the process has started. Results of the merge will display when they are available. You do not have to remain on the page for the operation to complete successfully.

   

   When the operation completes, a system message indicates that it has completed and provides a link to the related task. The new record resulting from the merge appears.

8. To view the related task, click the Review the task link.

   The suspect match task Task Details section includes information about how the task was created (manually by a data steward, in this case) to help other data stewards triage the task.

   

Merging custom object records

Data stewards and data managers can manually merge custom objects using the Find Suspect Match feature or administrators can merge duplicate records in bulk using source subscriptions. Records can only be merged if they are the same custom object type; for example, a STUDY record cannot be merged into a TRAINING record. The records must also have the same primary country.

For deduplicating custom object records on data load, source subscriptions use the default suspect match rules if no match rules have been defined for the custom objects. Tasks are generated for each pair of records that meet the suspect match criteria. Using the Find Suspect Matches feature, data stewards can find matching records of the same entity type using a search keyword or a Veeva ID.

On the suspect match task, data stewards can compare the records side by side but they cannot select the attributes from each record that will be copied to the winning record. If data stewards merge two custom objects, the following actions occur:

• All existing external IDs are copied to the surviving record and then they are deactivated on the losing record.
• Duplicate sub-objects and custom relationship objects are removed.
• Relationships are repointed to the surviving record. Relationship are removed if they point to the losing record in the merge.

Custom object records can be unmerged if the source system setting, Unmerge Ability allows (System Interfaces > Systems). For unmerging records, a new Network entity ID (VID) is assigned to custom objects and custom sub-objects.