Check Address Dataset for Duplicates

Use

This function is used to determine business partner duplicates in the system and remove redundant address data from the address dataset. Duplicates are business partners who have an identical postal address or telephone number.

Addresses that fulfill the following criteria are described as duplicates:

Identical entry in the (internal) field for duplicate determination.

The business partner master data contains a field for duplicate determination. This field is structured as standard from the address as follows:
- Name 1 – The initial three characters and the final character
- Name 2 (first name) – Initial character
- City – The initial four characters and the final character
- Street – The initial two characters
- House number – The last four characters
  
  Note
  Special characters and capitalization are ignored here. Note that an entry can be made in the SORT2 field using a customer enhancement. This may mean that this field has a different structure.
  
  End of the note.
Identical telephone number.

The home telephone number is identical to the home or business number or the business number is identical to the home or business number for the duplicate. The system therefore cross checks the home and office telephone numbers.

Prerequisites

If you want the system to perform an automatic duplicate check when addresses are entered, you should activate the duplicate check as follows in Customizing: SAP Media General Settings Maintenance of General IS-M Control Parameters.

Features

The system checks whether duplicates exist in the following circumstances:

Time	Check object	Execution
During address creation.	Individual address	Automatic
After address creation.	Selected address dataset	Manual

Check Addresses During Entry

If you have activated the duplicate check in Customizing, the system offers you all possible duplicates in a dialog box for selection when you enter the address data.

If you have entered the home and business telephone numbers in the business partner master data, the telephone number is the most unique check criterion available to you.

The Name 1, Name 2, Street, and City address data does not have to match the address data for an additional address exactly. Possible duplicates are displayed if some check fields match.

Check Address Dataset

This function has a selection and display screen. Enter the names (Name 1) of the business partners for which you suspect duplicates exist on the selection screen.

Note Note

Use the upper and lower limits to determine the addresses that are read by the check program. Note that the selection criteria entered determine the quantity of data to be read and thus affect run time and system load.

You should schedule the function in the background if you want to check a large address dataset.

End of the note.

A list of possible duplicates is displayed on the display screen. When checking addresses, the system uses the first address read in the database to compare other addresses. The address that is read first is that with the lowest address number. This is the address that was created first. The address used for comparison is highlighted on the display screen.

Note Note

If the system determines duplicates for an address, these are displayed as a sub-list. Sub-lists for individual addresses are displayed consecutively. The system selects the address for which a duplicate was determined in the sub-list.

Note that one sub-list of duplicates is displayed for two identical postal addresses. Sub-lists that are identical with the exception of the selected address can be displayed. However, these types of sub-lists with identical postal addresses may differ if they have different telephone numbers that lead to the system identifying different duplicates.

End of the note.

You cannot delete a duplicate with immediate effect since sales or billing documents that have not yet been processed may exist for this business partner. Assign a deletion flag to the business partner master record to delete a selected duplicate. The address cannot be physically deleted immediately since the order or billing data may be linked to the business partner master record.

Activities

Choose one of the following menu paths according to the component involved to access this function:

Component	Menu path
Media Sales and Distribution	Logistics Media Sales and Distribution Periodical Sales and Distribution Master Data Business Partner Address Management Check for Duplicates.
Advertising Management	Logistics Advertising Management Master Data Business Partner Address Management Check for Duplicates