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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
Inertia Contributes to Bad Data
Inertia Contributes to Bad Data Without knowing anything about your organization or its data, I’d […]
What are you doing with new contacts?
What Are You Doing with New Contacts/ I was very interested to read in a […]
Be Aware of Selection Bias
Be Aware of Selection Bias I wrote recently about the mistaken perception of older members […]
Some Things Just Take Time
Some Things Just Take Time I learned recently that an elephant’s gestation period is 18 […]
Sometimes It’s the Least Bad Choice
Sometimes It’s the Least Bad Choice Just like in life, sometimes when we’re making technology […]
Our Members Aren’t Tech Savvy
Our Members Aren’t Tech Savvy Having worked now in the association space for more than […]
Motion vs. Action
Motion vs. Action One key to successful data management is understanding the difference between motion […]
There is ALWAYS a Trade-off
There is ALWAYS a Trade-off I’ve written many times about trade-offs (you can read a […]
Little by little, a little becomes a lot
Little by little, a little becomes a lot “Little by little, a little becomes a […]
Why do we treat data management differently?
Why do we treat data management differently? A recent post on ASAE’s community read: “Looking […]
