The Merge Controller has 2 parts.¶

Because clean data is vital to ministry, we divide this process into 2 parts, which are intended to be performed by different users. Part 1, by the person with Manager role; Part 2, by the person with Manager2 role. We believe that having a 2nd set of eyes look at the records is important before a record is completely merged and deleted. There is no ‘undo’ button.

Part 1

Once the duplicates have been identified, the user with Manager role (typically the New People Manager) decides which basic information to move to the other record and then moves that information using the Merge Controller. This merges what is on the person’s basic tab and includes their family address.

Part 2

Once the basic information has been merged, the next part of the process must be done by the user with both Manager and Manager2 roles to complete the process. This is the process that will move the Involvements, Attendance, Registrations, Contacts and Contributions. This is also when, by default, the duplicate record is deleted. You can uncheck the Delete box, but we recommend you ultimately delete the duplicate record.

For some churches, this entire process (Part 1 and Part 2) will be handled by the same person. If that is the case in your church, that person must have both the Manager and Manager2 roles or be the system Admin.

In these cases, they can select the radio buttons for the appropriate basic information, then use the red Merge Fields and Move Related Records, never using the blue Merge Fields button.

Part 1 Process¶

Once the duplicates have been identified, and the Manager knows which record to keep, he can start the merge.

Step 1

Go to the people record whose information will be moved. This is the duplicate, the record that will ultimately be deleted. We refer to this as the From Record.

Select Blue Toolbar > Gear > Merge this Duplicate. This will open the standard Search dialog box.

Step 2

Using the Search dialog, find the record you want to keep. This will be called the To Record. This is the record that will receive the merged information.

Click the name of the correct person to open the Merge Controller.

Tip

The Duplicate tab will list possible duplicates. You can use that to find the People ID# for the record you want to keep. Enter that ID# in the search box, to easily find the exact record.

Step 3

On the Merge Controller, use the radio buttons to select the correct information. That will be the data on the From Record that you want to move or the information on the To Record that you want to keep. If neither record has the correct information, select the radio button in the Alternate Value column and enter the correct information or select it from the drop-down.

Tip

Some fields will not be displayed if both records have the same information in those fields. To force the display of all fields, check the box to Show all fields.

To choose all the radio buttons for the From Record, click the radio button beside the People ID# for that record.

If you realize that you want to change which record you keep, click the Swap link on the right. The From Record will become the To Record.

Below the radio button selections is a section to Move Other Records. You will find checkboxes to include Involvements, Ticket Orders, Emails, Tasks, and other important options.

Tip

On the Merge Controller page, the People ID #s for each of the records is a toggle link which will open a new tab for each person’s record. This allows you to keep 3 tabs open and move back and forth from the Merge Controller to viewing the full record for each person. It makes it easy for you to verify any information that is not included in the Merge Controller.

Step 4

When you have the fields selected, click the blue Merge Fields button in the bottom left of the page.

This will merge the selected items into the To Record. Verify that the personal information is now correct. If you made an error, go to the System > Changes tab and reverse any changes that you made in error.

Step 5

After you are satisfied that the To Record is correct, you are ready to complete the process by notifying the Manager2 user, so they can complete the merge and delete the From (duplicate) Record.

An easy way to notify that user is to copy the URL of the Merge Controller page before you click the Merge button. Paste that link into an email. Or you can give them the PID #s for each record. Just be sure that you are explicit about which record to keep.

Merge Process Part 2¶

After receiving notification from the Manager, the Manager2 user will complete the Merge/Delete process as follows:

Step 1

Find the From Record and select Blue Toolbar > Gear > Merge this Duplicate.

Step 2

Find and then select the To Record using the Search dialog box. Enter the PID# for that record to find the exact one you want. This will open the Merge Controller.

Step 3

Verify that the Delete box is checked and then click the red Merge Fields and Move Related Records button.

If you prefer to delete the record later, you can uncheck the Delete box and later use the Delete Person link under Blue Toolbar > Gear menu. However, you must request the Delete role from TouchPoint Support. The preferred method is to delete the duplicate during the merge process.

This Part 2 merge will move information you select from the From Record to the To Record and then delete the From Record. The information moved can include:

• Involvements (Current and Previous)

• Attendance History

• Transaction Records

• Contributions

• Ticket Orders

• User Accounts

• Volunteer Records

• Volunteer Scheduler

• Extra Values

• Reg Records

• Managed Giving

• Payment Info

• Background Checks

• Check-in Times

• Mission Trip Support

• Scheduled Payments and Methods

• Emails

• Text Messages (SMS)

• Involvement Member Documents

• Registrations

• Member Documents

• Tasks

• Email or Text Opt-Outs

• Contacts

• Status Flags

• Engagement Scores

• Mobile Data

• Sermon Notes

The process takes a few seconds, so wait until the screen refreshes. It will display the remaining, merged record.

Extra Values During a Merge¶

When merging duplicate records, all Extra Values from the From Record are moved to the To Record. If both records have an Extra Value with the same field name, the system cannot overwrite the existing value, as that could result in data loss. Instead, it preserves both values by renaming the moved Extra Value, appending _mv (short for “moved value”) to the field name.

For example, if both records have an Extra Value named Allergies, the To Record will end up with two Extra Values: Allergies (the original) and Allergies_mv (the one brought over from the From Record).

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Batch Process¶

If your System Admin runs the Find Duplicates batch process, the results page will have the links already formed to take you directly to the Merge Controller.

In these cases, you would begin with Step 3 for Part 1 above.

Because the Duplicate Result page is viewable by the System Admin only, the Admin could copy everything on that page, and paste the information (links to the Merge Controller) into an email and send them to the Manager.

Merge History Tab¶

Every people record has a tab under the System tab named Merge History. After you merge a record, you will see information on this tab indicating which user made the merge and when. If you are using the 2-process method, you should see 2 rows for each completed merge as in the image below. Notice the 2nd row indicates that the duplicate record has been deleted.

Added Extra Values During a Merge section, updated moved items list to match current software, fixed typos