lcrawford wrote:There are times when a person gets entered into the system more than one time, for various reasons. Am I right that there is no way to "merge" these profiles? Instead one has to be deleted? In which case any attendance or giving data would have to be manually re-entered into one record or the other prior to deleting?
Currently that is correct, which is why I verify the database for duplicates at least twice a month. I've found the cause for this is a lack of training.
First off, you need to find out who is entering the duplicate data. We used to have a problem with our contributions entry people. The way we found around that was to train them to first do a search on the LAST name. In contributions entry, the dialog comes up in the 'add a contributor' function asking for a last and first name. I had them putting in the LAST name only. If ANYONE in the database has that last name, the program will tell you, and ask if you want to EDIT them. Click on the EDIT button, and you'll get a list of all those in the database with that last name and their address. Usually, you can then find that the person IS in the database, but does not have an envelope number, which can then be assigned.
Once you can figure out where the problem is occurring, you can train them properly.
Now, as to merging the record. You're right about the attendance data, however, you can merge the contribution data easily. All you need to do is use the
Reassign an envelope number function under the Contribuhtions menu. In order for this to work, you need to
Move the duplicate personal profile record under the correct Mailing List Profile. You can then reassign the envelope number to the one on the original personal profile, then delete the duplicate.
If you need to move the attendance for a particular activity, say Sunday Worship, I'd use the
Details of Personal Attendance report under the Attendance reports to get the details from the duplicate record. Then I'd add that data using the Attendance
Maintain Attendance Data function against the original personal profile.
As I said, I check the database twice a month for dupes, then clean them out before they get much of a history.
Hope this helps.
Jeff ... I wasn't going to mention that, but since you've let the cat out ... this new merge function is one that many people have been asking for. I also hope that I need not have to ask to be added to the beta test group
