You need a PLAN to deal with duplicates

You need a PLAN to deal with duplicates

Here's the thing about duplicate records: No matter what you do, you'll never get rid of them completely, because humans are human. Whether it's a staff member creating a duplicate record because they forgot to check if the record exists, or it's a customer who doesn't want to take the time to reset his password and just creates another record with a different email address, duplicates are going to happen.

And because duplicates are inevitable, you have to have a plan for dealing with them. Here are some suggestions:

  1. Create data integrity reports that will help you identify potential duplicate records, and run those reports consistently. ("Consistently" means at least once a month, if not more often.) And make sure someone (or several someones) on staff has responsibility for cleaning up this data.
  2. Make it everyone's job on staff to identify potential duplicates whenever they are using the database and make sure you have a clear process for how those duplicate records are reported. And make sure someone (or several someones) on staff has responsibility for cleaning up this data.
  3. And did I mention to make sure someone (or several someones) on staff has responsibility for cleaning up this data?

Managing duplicate records is a journey, not a destination. No matter how good your technology is, like weeds in a garden, duplicate records are going to appear. So you have to have a plan for dealing with them, not just now, but always.

Wes's Wednesday Wisdom Archives

It’s hard to get UNangry

December 14, 2022

It’s hard to get UNangry I often emphasize to my clients the importance of testing […]

Some history IS important!

December 7, 2022

Some history IS important! When I’m advising clients on data conversion (moving data from one […]

“Many mickles make a muckle.”

November 30, 2022

“Many mickles make a muckle.” “Many mickles make a muckle.” – George Washington Apparently, this […]

It’s easy to collect; it’s harder to manage

November 16, 2022

It’s easy to collect; it’s harder to manage The beauty of today’s highly configurable AMS […]

Tell them why you want the data

November 9, 2022

Tell them why you want the data Because data is so easy to collect these […]

Don’t get hung up on something minor

November 2, 2022

Don’t get hung up on something minor I’m a problem solver. I love to solve […]

Be flexible, especially for unusual requests

October 26, 2022

Be flexible, especially for unusual requests One of the great benefits of off-the-shelf association management software (AMS) […]

“Her eyes were bigger than her stomach.”

October 19, 2022

“Her eyes were bigger than her stomach.” When I was a child, my siblings used […]

Once you buy crap…

October 12, 2022

Once you buy crap… “When you buy something cheap and bad, the best you’re going […]

It could always be worse

October 5, 2022

It could always be worse Because most of us don’t have the benefit (like I […]

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top