Say Goodbye to Raiser’s Edge™ Dupe Creation with Duplicate Search Matching in ImportOmatic

ImportOmatic is a powerful import utility for Raiser’s Edge (RE) that can save users a lot of time and frustration. During an ImportOmatic implementation, it is imperative for a new user to build trust in the software. Users can learn how ImportOmatic “thinks” by learning the three main types of interactions that you might see during an import. These interactions include: “Duplicate Search Matching Results,” “Bio Field Comparison,” and the “Advanced Address Processing” form. Today we’ll focus on the wonderfully handy “Duplicate Search Matching Results” feature.

In the screen shot above, the bold row at the top of the screen is the constituent in our data file. There will only be one bold row. The rows below the bold constituent are the existing records within RE that might be a potential data match. There are often more than one possible match, though sometimes we may see only one. The records presented as possible matches are chosen based on the duplicate criteria sets that are in use in the particular profile you selected for importing. At the bottom of the screen the duplicate criteria is displayed just under the grid. This criteria is extremely helpful if we aren’t certain why a record was presented as a possible match.

The results screen allows us to evaluate the possible matches and determine if any of them are actually the correct matching record. To help make our decision, we can even double-click on the bold row, or any results row, to more closely examine the records. If one of the possible matches is the correct Joe Montana, we would highlight the correct row in the results and click “Match to Selected Record.” In IOM-speak, this is called “confirming the match.”

If the actual match is not presented in the results, we have three other ways to proceed with the import for this row.

• If we suspect the correct record is in RE somewhere, we can click “Search for a Record.” This brings up the standard RE constituent search screen. If we locate the correct record and select it in the RE search screen, it will pop into the grid and we will then be able to highlight it and choose “Match to Selected Record.”
• If we agree with IOM that there is no pre-existing matching record in RE, we can add the incoming row as a new constituent record by choosing “Add as a New Record.”
• We can skip processing this row entirely by selecting “Skip this Record.” This option can be thought of as the ‘create-an-exception’ button – the entire row will be put in the Exceptions file.

NOTE: If the duplicate criteria being used is too broad, you may get a very large number of results, making it more time-consuming to determine the correct match. In this case, you may want to fine-tune the criteria some, or change which sets are in use in the profile. They are located in ImportOmatic Configuration > General Settings > Duplicate Criteria. Since making the criteria too narrow can cause duplicate record creation, it is recommended that fine-tuning be gradual. Our Support team is always happy to help if you need some advice.

Once a match is made to an existing constituent, the other two interactions may appear if there are any biographical or address changes to the constituent. We will cover these interactions in-depth in future blog posts.