Overview
For wealth management firms, maintaining clean and accurate client data is essential to delivering consistent service and meeting compliance obligations. Duplicate contact and entity records can create confusion, undermine reporting accuracy, and erode confidence in the data your team relies on every day. To help firms manage their data more effectively, Practifi offers Duplicate Matching and Merging features that allow your team to detect and resolve duplicates at the point of entry or during routine record management.
This article covers the full setup process and explains how the feature works once configured. Keep in mind that once these settings are built, your team will likely not need to revisit them unless new rules are required in the future.
- Activating Matching Rules
- Customizing Matching Rules
- Setting Duplicate Rules
- Editing Contact Layout Pages
- Editing Account Layout Pages
- Duplicate Matching Workflow
- Merging Records
Activating Matching Rules
Matching Rules define the criteria Practifi uses to identify records that may be duplicates. Activating the standard rules is the first step in enabling duplicate detection across your organization.
To begin, navigate to the Salesforce Setup page by clicking the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page and selecting Setup.
Using the Quick Find search bar, enter Matching Rules, then click the option provided. This will open the Matching Rules page, where you will activate the following rules:
- Standard Account Matching Rule
- Standard Contact Matching Rule
- Standard Person Account Matching Rule (specifically for Individuals)
Customizing Matching Rules
The standard matching rules cover most common use cases, but some firms may require more targeted criteria to accurately identify duplicates across their specific data structures. Because the standard rules cannot be edited directly, teams that need additional specificity must create a new rule.
To add a new rule, click the New Rule button. Apply the matching rule to the relevant Object where you would like to compare records, then enter a name and description for the rule. If your firm is working toward compliance with data protection and privacy regulations, consider excluding personal data from matching rule fields.
Next, we’ll need to enter the matching criteria, defining which fields to compare and how we’d like that comparison to work.
Please note: The matching methods will fall under two categories, exact or fuzzy.
- The exact matching method looks for strings that exactly match a pattern. If your firm maintains precise, consistently formatted data, the exact method is recommended. It can be used with almost any field, including custom fields.
- The fuzzy matching method looks for strings that approximately match a pattern. Fuzzy methods are available for commonly used standard fields on accounts and contacts, and can be helpful when data entry inconsistencies are expected.
You can add up to 10 fields per rule and adjust the matching equation (for example, changing an AND expression to an OR expression) to add more specific filter logic.
Once you have defined the criteria for your new rule, click the Save button to activate it. The activation process may take some time, and you will be notified by email when the rule is ready to use. Once active, the rule can be used with duplicate rules and duplicate jobs.
Setting Duplicate Rules
With matching rules in place, Duplicate Rules determine how the system responds when a potential duplicate is detected. These rules give administrators control over whether users are blocked from saving a duplicate record, notified of a potential match, or simply alerted so the situation can be reviewed.
Return to the Quick Find search bar and enter Duplicate Rules, then select the option provided. This will open the Duplicate Rules page, where you will edit and create the rules that govern how users are notified of duplicates.
Begin by activating the following rules:
- Standard Person Account Duplicate Rule
- Standard Rule for Contacts with Duplicate Leads
Please note: Before activating the Standard Rule for Contacts with Duplicate Leads, administrators must first click Edit on the rule, change the Compare Contacts With field from Leads to Contacts, and click Save.
To activate a Duplicate Rule, click the hyperlinked name of the rule to open its record page, then click the Activate button.
Once both rules have been activated, create one additional rule by clicking the New Rule button. From the drop-down menu that appears, select Account. This will open a new Duplicate Rules page. Set the rule name to Standard Account Duplicate Rule, click the checkbox for Report in the Action On Edit section, and confirm that the Compare Entities With field is set to Account. Click the Save button when finished.
Once saved, you’ll want to follow the steps above to activate this new Duplicate Rule.
Editing Contact Layout Pages
With matching and duplicate rules configured, the next step is to add the Potential Duplicates component to your contact and account page layouts. This component surfaces duplicate alerts directly on the record, giving users immediate visibility when a match is found.
Navigate to any contact record, click the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page, and click Edit Page.
The Lightning App Builder will load. Use the Search bar to enter Potential Duplicates. The component will appear in the Standard components section. Click and drag it to the bottom of the middle section of the page layout.
Click the Potential Duplicates component to select it, then review the Display Options panel on the right. Select the Show Toast option to enable the on-screen notification that will appear when a duplicate is detected. Click the Save button.
A child window will appear asking you to activate the updated page layout. Click the Activate button to proceed.
A second child window will appear to assign the page layout across records. Since you are working on Contacts, click the Assign As Org Default button to apply the layout as the organization-wide standard.
Click the form factor option Desktop and phone, click the Next button, and click the Save button after reviewing your assignment choices. Once saved, click the back button in the upper-left corner of the page.
Editing Account Layout Pages
The same configuration must be applied to Account records (also referred to as Entities) so that duplicate alerts are visible on household and organization records as well.
Navigate to any household or organization record, click the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page, and click Edit Page.
The Lightning App Builder will load. Use the Search bar to enter Potential Duplicates. Click and drag the component from the Standard components section to the bottom of the middle section of the page layout. Click the component to select it, then choose the Show Toast option from the Display Options panel. Click the Save button.
A child window will appear asking you to activate the updated page layout. Click the Activate button.
A second child window will appear. Click into the third tab, labeled App, Record Type, and Profile, then click the Add to Apps, Record Types, and Profiles button.
Select the checkboxes for the apps where duplicate matching should be available. The recommended selections are:
- Advisor
- Client Service
- Management
- Compliance
- Marketing
- Team Member
- Data Management
Click Next. A confirmation window will appear; click Next again.
A new child window will appear where you can select the types of Entities your choices will affect. For most firms, the relevant options are:
- Household Client
- Individual Client
- Organization Client
Click the Next button. You will then be prompted to select the user profiles that should have access to duplicate matching. Select from:
- Practifi User - Salesforce
- Practifi User - Salesforce Platform
- System Administrator
Please note: If you would like only administrators to be able to review and merge duplicates, skip the first two profile types and select only System Administrator.
Click the Next button, review your assignment choices, and click the Save button. Once saved, click the back button in the upper-left corner of the page.
Duplicate Matching Workflow
With all settings in place, Practifi will now detect potential duplicates both when a record is created and when an existing record is edited. This real-time detection helps your team catch data quality issues before they compound, reducing the time spent on manual data cleanup down the line.
When a user attempts to create a Contact or Entity that matches an existing record, they will receive the following error message: “This error occurred when the flow tried to create records: DUPLICATES_DETECTED.”
The user will be guided to click the Back button to update the record if the information was entered by mistake, or click Next to dismiss the error and close the new record window without creating an additional Contact or Entity record.
When a potential duplicate is identified among two or more existing records in the organization, users will see the following toast notification: “It looks as if duplicates exist for this Entity/Contact. View Duplicates”.
Clicking the View Duplicates hyperlink displays all related duplicate records currently in Practifi, allowing the user to determine whether a merge is appropriate.
Merging Records
When duplicate records are identified, they can be resolved by merging them into a single consolidated record. This process preserves the most accurate and complete information while eliminating redundant entries, keeping your client data clean and reliable.
After clicking the View Duplicates hyperlink, the Potential Duplicate Records window opens, displaying the records flagged. Review the listed records and, if they are appropriate for merging, select the checkboxes for up to three records, then click Next.
The merge comparison screen will display the fields for each record side by side. Review each field and click the appropriate radio button to select the value you want to retain in the final, merged record. One record must be designated as the Master Record, which will serve as the primary record going forward. Once all selections have been confirmed, click Next to approve the merge.
Once the merge is complete, the selected records will be consolidated into a single record. If more than three duplicates exist, repeat this process until only one record remains.
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