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Function documentationDuplicate Check

 

This function validates data that you input, and allows you to control the creation of duplicate data records. When you input data to create a new change request, the system compares the data you have entered with data already in the system. If the data you have entered matches one or more existing records, the system warns that you are about to create a duplicate. For example, if you are entering a new business partner, you enter the name and address. The system first compares the data from these fields with existing business partner records in the database. The duplicate check identifies any records that are potential duplicates of the record you are creating. Each potential duplicate is given a score indicating the probability of it being a duplicate of the new record. You can choose to proceed with creating the new record or, if you agree that by continuing, you would create a duplicate, you can begin to work directly with the existing record – effectively canceling the creation of a new record.

In business, it is sometimes necessary to create duplicate data. For example a bank customer may have a personal account and a commercial account, for which the data would include common elements.

Prerequisites

  • You have configured the match profile in Customizing for Master Data Governance under Start of the navigation path General Settings Next navigation step Data Quality and Search Next navigation step Search and Duplicate Check Next navigation step Define Search Applications End of the navigation path.

  • You have configured the duplicate check, in Customizing for Master Data Governance under Start of the navigation path General Settings Next navigation step Data Quality and Search Next navigation step Search and Duplicate Check Next navigation step Configure Duplicate Check for Entity Types End of the navigation path.

Features

Match Profile

You can specify a match profile to control which attributes the system compares to identify duplicates. For example, to compare name and address details, you can specify that the system considers the name fields, house number, street, city, postcode, and country of each record. You can specify that a field is mandatory for duplicate check. During a duplicate check, all fields that you specify as mandatory must contain a value for the check to be performed. You can also assign a relative weight to each field indicating the importance of that field in identifying duplicates. The system can then prioritize certain attributes for the purposes of the comparison. When the system has completed a duplicate check, it presents a score for each potential duplicate. This score is calculated based on the relative weights and indicates the probability that the new record is a duplicate. For example, two addresses with identical postcodes could be considered more likely to be duplicates than two addresses in which the values for country are identical.

You can define the sequence in which the system displays attributes compared for the duplicate check. To do this you enter a number for each attribute, indicating its position in the order, for example 1 indicates that an attribute is the first to be displayed, 2 indicates the second and so on. If you do not want to define a sequence, you can enter the same value – 1 – for each attribute.

Threshold

You can specify a threshold for duplicate scores. The system deems as potential duplicates, only those records with a score in excess of this threshold and displays these records to the user.