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Merging Duplicates

AnnMarie Schell

Recently, I have been pulled from my usual job responsibilities for a Spring Cleaning task of merging duplicates in NXT. It is vitally important as several other departments will be using our data with new software changes that they bringing online this summer. My goal was conservative number, to accomplish 100-150/day as I work through hundreds, if not thousands of duplicates. Just in time for this project, Kimberly Coughlin blogged about What's New In Raiser's Edge NXT The Week Of April 28, but the Possible Duplicates article she referred to states (under the "Merge two records when you know they are duplicates" section) that "you can merge them without further review to save time." Her article began by stating, "Quickly merge known duplicates," so this APPEARED to be a solution, since this project is time sensitive. Unfortunately, this process is slowing me way down, not just trying to find a solution through the community, but by having to dedup fields in the target record. It seems regardless of empty dates or same 1:1 date matches in the constituent codes, notes and actions, they are merging duplicate data into our target records. I have made multiple contacts with Blackbaud to find a resolution, but Crystal wisely suggested . .

On 05/01/2020, 12:23 pm Crystal Bruce wrote:

I would also suggest posting the issue in the community https://community.blackbaud.com/products/raisersedgenxt to see if anyone else is experiencing the issue or have a work around, in the meantime, while I'm waiting to hear back from the team on best way to get this resolved. Thanks!

So does anyone have a solution?

Many thanks to all who are helping or can provide a work around!

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Comments

Dariel Dixon

Maybe this is the wrong place to ask this question, but is there a benefit to running this through the web view as opposed to the database view? I've had some issues with the criteria used in database view, but wasn't sure if the version in NXT is any better, or has any other benefits.

Dariel Dixon

Ahhh....the attachments in web view problem has never been fully resolved, and I expect it never will be. Due to the nature of how the attachments are saved in web view, it's likely that any attachments that are saved in web view would be lost. That is precisely why I don't save any attachments in the web view at all. This is in essence the same issue as the backup recovery issue.

That explains a great deal. I don't have any hope this issue will be resolved to anyone's satisfaction.

Dwayne Dipasquale

I noticed when you merge in NXT it doesnt bring over a deceased person's honour/memorial tab information...why is that?

AnnMarie Schell

Dariel Dixon:

Ahhh....the attachments in web view problem has never been fully resolved, and I expect it never will be. Due to the nature of how the attachments are saved in web view, it's likely that any attachments that are saved in web view would be lost. That is precisely why I don't save any attachments in the web view at all. This is in essence the same issue as the backup recovery issue.

That explains a great deal. I don't have any hope this issue will be resolved to anyone's satisfaction.

Web view, or database view? My understanding from my management is that they determined when merging via web view, the attachments did move from the source to the target. But when merging in the database they did not. If it does not work in either, we really need to find a work around! Any suggestion?

Dwayne Dipasquale

There are fields in web view that are not in database view / there are fields in database like honour/memorial tab that are not in webview.

So, to properly merge you have to merge in webview AND database view or you will lose information.....below is an excerpt from their merge instructions.

If the two records are duplicates, select Select data to merge, choose which information to merge, and select Merge records. The options on this list are the only fields that can be merged in web view. Any fields that don't appear on this list must be merged in database view.

AnnMarie Schell

Dariel Dixon:

Maybe this is the wrong place to ask this question, but is there a benefit to running this through the web view as opposed to the database view? I've had some issues with the criteria used in database view, but wasn't sure if the version in NXT is any better, or has any other benefits.

Hi Dariel,

Blackbaud has escalated this issue and I am hoping to have a solution soon. Also, I am sure they would be better able to answer your question, but for us . . . we chose to merge duplicates in the web view because my boss had experienced loosing attachments in the database view. I have done some research on this and was unable to find where they had resolved that issue. It may be they are focusing on web merging and making database merging obsolete, but they would have to answer that for you too.

Have a great week!
Ann-Marie

AnnMarie Schell

Dwaye Dipasquale:

I noticed when you merge in NXT it doesnt bring over a deceased person's honour/memorial tab information...why is that?

I had not discovered this yet, I'll have to ask them about this too!

AnnMarie Schell

Dwaye Dipasquale:

There are fields in web view that are not in database view / there are fields in database like honour/memorial tab that are not in webview.

So, to properly merge you have to merge in webview AND database view or you will lose information.....below is an excerpt from their merge instructions.

If the two records are duplicates, select Select data to merge, choose which information to merge, and select Merge records. The options on this list are the only fields that can be merged in web view. Any fields that don't appear on this list must be merged in database view.

Can you send me that link? You can see by my original post, what links I had referred Bb to. This may have been crucial in having it escalated so quickly to their IT Development Team, but it may have also been a matter of timing if they were in the process of working on it when I contacted them.

Dwayne Dipasquale

https://webfiles.blackbaud.com/files/support/helpfiles/rex/content/data-identify-duplicates.html

Dariel Dixon

AnnMarie Schell:

Dariel Dixon:

Ahhh....the attachments in web view problem has never been fully resolved, and I expect it never will be. Due to the nature of how the attachments are saved in web view, it's likely that any attachments that are saved in web view would be lost. That is precisely why I don't save any attachments in the web view at all. This is in essence the same issue as the backup recovery issue.

That explains a great deal. I don't have any hope this issue will be resolved to anyone's satisfaction.

Web view, or database view? My understanding from my management is that they determined when merging via web view, the attachments did move from the source to the target. But when merging in the database they did not. If it does not work in either, we really need to find a work around! Any suggestion?

I mean the web view. Attachments in the web view don't move over to database view, unlike the media tab, which is accessible in the web view. My organization was apprised of this issue before we invested into using attachments heavily, so we were able to make a decision on how we worked. It sounds like merging in NXT view, you are able to keep NXT-only fields like attachments. However, the fact that honor/memorial isn't merging is quite concerning.

I'm glad to know this now. I can make a decision on how to use the tool now.

AnnMarie Schell

This is just an update of what I've found, for those of you working on merging duplicates. You may be interested to know that there is a webinar, Spring Cleaning Your Database: Strategies for Duplicate Management in RE NXT on May 27th. I have registered, but in the meantime, the IT Engineers/Development Team are working to discover why some fields are duplicating in the merged NXT fields. In the process of doing my own research, it has become clear that merging in the database may be the best solution, but attachments, prospect status, and proposals/opportunity status will be lost. They will also be lost when merging in the web view, except for the attachments. In fact, there are currently only 16 fields that merge in the web view . . .

Actions
Aliases
Appeals
Attachments
Constituent codes
Contact information
Custom fields
Event participation
Gifts
Name
Name formats
Notes
Personal information
Relationships
Solicit codes
User account

The associated web view help file clearly states on two dropdown menus that “The options on this [Select data to merge] list are the only [16] fields that can be merged in web view.” Therefore, any fields that don't appear on this list must be merged in database view. This knowlegebase article reveals that prospect status and proposal/opportunity status are also lost with database view merges, but it seems to me that with all the other fields to take into consideration beyond the 16 in web view, merging in the database makes the most sense. Does anyone have a work around for preserving the attachments?

Kate Alsup

I'm going a bit off topic, but when you merge a duplicate in NXT (web view) it is NOT merged in the database view? I just did a test run on NXT and merged a duplicate. When I checked the database, the two separate records still exist. If the information doesn't transfer over to the database view from NXT, and we are still reliant on the database view to perform tasks that aren't available yet in NXT -- it doesn't make sense to de-dup through NXT at all for us - beyond the other issues mentioned above. Anybody else? I love how easy NXT makes the process, but it's just a tease for those of us who utilize database view.

AnnMarie Schell

You have to then delete the duplicates after merging them. Here the note that addresses it on their help file . . .
Note: When you merge a set of duplicates, the source record is marked as inactive but are not deleted. For information about deleting source records, see Delete Merged Source Records.

Kate Alsup

AnnMarie Schell:

You have to then delete the duplicates after merging them. Here the note that addresses it on their help file . . .
Note: When you merge a set of duplicates, the source record is marked as inactive but are not deleted. For information about deleting source records, see Delete Merged Source Records.

This is a good solution. Thank you!

Dariel Dixon

AnnMarie Schell:
This is just an update of what I've found, for those of you working on merging duplicates. You may be interested to know that there is a webinar, Spring Cleaning Your Database: Strategies for Duplicate Management in RE NXT on May 27th. I have registered, but in the meantime, the IT Engineers/Development Team are working to discover why some fields are duplicating in the merged NXT fields. In the process of doing my own research, it has become clear that merging in the database may be the best solution, but attachments, prospect status, and proposals/opportunity status will be lost. They will also be lost when merging in the web view, except for the attachments. In fact, there are currently only 16 fields that merge in the web view . . .

Actions

Aliases

Appeals

Attachments

Constituent codes

Contact information

Custom fields

Event participation

Gifts

Name

Name formats

Notes

Personal information

Relationships

Solicit codes

User account
The associated web view help file clearly states on two dropdown menus that “The options on this [Select data to merge] list are the only [16] fields that can be merged in web view.” Therefore, any fields that don't appear on this list must be merged in database view. This knowlegebase article reveals that prospect status and proposal/opportunity status are also lost with database view merges, but it seems to me that with all the other fields to take into consideration beyond the 16 in web view, merging in the database makes the most sense. Does anyone have a work around for preserving the attachments?

THIS!!! Having this list is a bit of a godsend, for sure. This issue of prospect status and proposal/opportunity status seems odd, as those fields exist in both database and NXT. I would have thought that they would move in sync without issue. *shrugs*

In regards to the attachments, this is a bit of a nightmare. It almost sounds like you would have to merge these records twice, once in NXT, and once in database view. I think I would only merge just the NXT-only fields through the web view, and then merge everything else and delete the duplicate record in the database view. It's terribly inefficient, but what can you do otherwise?

AnnMarie Schell

Kate Alsup:

This is a good solution. Thank you!

Actually, I think it is more evidence that we should just merge in the database to begin with, but if the only way to preserve attachments is to merge them in NXT first, then yes. My thoughts are to quickly merge records in NXT deselecting all, and selecting attachments only. Then merging in the database, so we need not worry about the other fields duplicating in NXT. Once the dabase merge is complete, proceed with the NXT Note: instructions to Delete Merged Source Records. But . . . I have not tried it yet, and am still awaiting Bb to get back to me. They surely will come up with a better solution than mine!

AnnMarie Schell

Dariel Dixon

:THIS!!! Having this list is a bit of a godsend, for sure. This issue of prospect status and proposal/opportunity status seems odd, as those fields exist in both database and NXT. I would have thought that they would move in sync without issue. *shrugs*

In regards to the attachments, this is a bit of a nightmare. It almost sounds like you would have to merge these records twice, once in NXT, and once in database view. I think I would only merge just the NXT-only fields through the web view, and then merge everything else and delete the duplicate record in the database view. It's terribly inefficient, but what can you do otherwise?

Ha! Ha! Dariel; wish I could take credit for it. I simply copied the list Bb programmed in NXT between the source and the target records when comparing duplicates to determine if you want to merge them.

Yes, it does sound like you need to merge them twice, but until they come up with a solution to keep from duplicating the merged NXT fields, I think the only one I would want to select would be the attachments. Still waiting on Bb to give me a solution on that though, but it remains that the only fields we can merge in NXT are those 16. Everything else must be done in the database. So it seems the only advantage to a NXT merge is the attachments. I am hoping someone in the community has a "work around" solution, like Crystal Bruce suggested.