Pub 20R2Parish, January 2009 for use with Family Directory Module for Parishes Version 3.6.26 and later 825 Victors Way Suite 200 Ann Arbor, MI 48108-2830 Web: www.parishsoft.com Email: info@parishsoft.com support@parishsoft.com Phone: (734) 205-1000 main (866) 930-4774 support Fax: (734) 205-1011 2009 ParishSOFT LLC, all rights reserved. ParishSOFT grants licensed users the right to unlimited duplication of this publication for internal use. PUB20R2Parish 2009 JANUARY
CONTENTS Introduction... 4 What Occurs During the Merge Process... 4 Back Up Your Database... 4 Duplicate Checker Process for Parishes... 5 When to Use Duplicate Checker... 6 Resolving Duplicates in Synchronizing Parishes...6 Registered/Unregistered Family Duplicates...6 Registered/Registered Family Duplicates...6 Parish with Unregistered Record Resolves Duplicates...6 Run Family Directory and Duplicate Checker... 7 Log In...7 Run Duplicate Checker...7 Import a Family Record... 9 Restrictions for Resolving Duplicate Families in a Parish... 10 Search for Duplicate Families in the Parish... 11 Search for a Specific Family... 11 Remove Match Criteria from List... 11 Review Potential Duplicates... 12 Indicate Which Duplicate Sets You Wish to Resolve & Report... 12 Sample Report for a Selected Parish Family... 13 Resolve Known Duplicates Using Family ID... 14 Merge/Resolve Families... 15 Options for Cancelling... 15 To Proceed... 15 Merge/Resolve Family Members... 16 Preview Merged Family... 17 Sample Merge Log Report... 18 Index... 19
4 Introduction The Duplicate Checker is a wizard-style utility that locates potential duplicate families and members in your database and helps you to consolidate those duplicates into a single record. Once you have used the Duplicate Checker to perform the initial cleanup in your database, you will want to continue using Duplicate Checker to analyze your family and member records on a regular basis to reconcile additional duplicates that could be introduced into your database from diocesan or parishlevel users. This user guide provides instructions to guide you through each step of the review, reconciliation, and merge process. What Occurs During the Merge Process Contributions, minister records, student records, and workgroups will remain with the parish of origination none of these records will be merged into the Master record (i.e., the parish in which the Master family record is registered). Please see page 10 for a list of exceptions that apply to resolving duplicate families in a parish. Back Up Your Database Because the Merge process results in records being deleted from your database, ParishSOFT strongly recommends that you back up your data before using the Duplicate Checker Wizard to resolve any duplicate records. Please see your ParishSOFT user documentation for instructions on performing a database backup; or contact ParishSOFT support at support@parishsoft.com or 866-930-4774. It is important to note that no records are ever merged without the user s consent. Once you have reviewed and specified how family and member records should be reconciled, you use the procedure on page 17 to complete the merge. Duplicate Checker will then merge the family and member records as you have specified. The duplicate family and member records will be completely deleted from your database. The Merge process reconciles all duplicates into the Master record in the parish or ownership (i.e., parish in which the Master family record is registered). In the event of a data conflict, the Master record will always be preserved. If, however, the Master record has a field that is empty and the duplicate record contains data in that same field, ParishSOFT will import that value into the corresponding field in the Master record.
RESOLVING PARISH DUPLICATES 5 Duplicate Checker Process for Parishes The flowchart on this page illustrates the process of merging records in a parish database using the Duplicate Checker Wizard. Back Up Your Database, page 4 Begin Duplicate Checker Process No Is Duplicate Set = Registered/ Registered Yes Is Parish Synchronizing w/diocese? Yes No Set Duplicate Family record = Unregistered, 6 Run Family Directory and Duplicate Checker, page 7 Import Master Family Record as Unregistered, page 9 Resolve Known Duplicates Using Family IDs, page 14 Family IDs Use Search or Known Family IDs? Search Search for Duplicate Families in Parish, page 11 Review Potential Duplicates, page 12 Merge/Resolve Families, 15 Preview the Merged Family, 17 Merge or Exclude? Merge Merge into Master Family, 17 Exclude Next Go to Next Set of Duplicates or Exit? Exit End Duplicate Checker Process
6 When to Use Duplicate Checker The Duplicate Checker Wizard allows users of the ParishSOFT Family Directory Module to detect and resolve duplicate sets of family and member records in their databases. Run the Duplicate Checker Wizard at any time on your parish database to find and fix any potential duplicates. Resolving Duplicates in Synchronizing Parishes Your diocese can also use the Duplicate Checker to identify potential duplicates in its database. If your parish is synchronizing data with your diocese, you may receive administrative messages from your diocese identifying potential duplicate records that must be resolved. These messages will refer to two types of duplicates: Registered/ Unregistered and Registered/Registered. Each type is described below. If you are the Unregistered parish, it is your responsibility to import the other record into your local parish database as unregistered, then use the Duplicate Checker Wizard to resolve the duplicates. See page 9 for instructions on Importing a Family into your database. Registered/Registered Family Duplicates Registered/Registered Family Duplicates refers to a set of records in which the family has two separate records, and they are registered in both parishes. Registered/Unregistered Family Duplicates Registered/Unregistered refers to a set of records in which a family has a record in their parish of registration and a separate, duplicate record in your parish, where they are in the database as unregistered. When dual registrations exist, you will need to communicate with the other parish of registration to determine which parish should be the parish of registration. One parish must change the Registration setting to Unregistered. Parish with Unregistered Record Resolves Duplicates The parish that owns the Unregistered family record is then responsible for resolving the duplicate set. Please see page 9 for instructions on Importing a Family into your database.
RESOLVING PARISH DUPLICATES 7 Run Family Directory and Duplicate Checker Duplicate Checker is available as a utility from the Family Directory Module for parishes only for users logged in as Exclusive_Admin. For security reasons, synchronizing parishes should request the Duplicate Checker password directly from their diocese. Parishes that are not synchronizing with their diocese should contact ParishSOFT support for the password at support@parishsoft.com or (866) 930-4774. Log In 1. Run your Family Directory application, or click the Staff menu > Logon. 2. Enter Exclusive_Admin in the Username field. 3. Enter the Password provided either by ParishSOFT or by your diocese synchronizing parishes must contact their diocese for the password. 4. Click OK. The Family Directory should now open. 5. Turn to the following page for instructions on running Duplicate Checker.
8 Run Duplicate Checker Before you can launch the Duplicate Checker, you must log in to the Family Directory Module as Exclusive_Admin. Once you are logged in, complete the following steps to run the Duplicate Checker. 1. Click the Utilities menu > Duplicate Checker. 2. Choose one of the following options: a. Search for and Resolve Duplicate Families (see page 11) choose this option if you do not know what duplicate records exist in your database. b. Resolve a Known Duplicate Using Family ID (turn to page 14 for instructions) choose this option if you already know the Family IDs of the duplicates in your database. The Duplicate Checker Wizard will open.
RESOLVING PARISH DUPLICATES 9 Import a Family Record This procedure is available only to those parishes that are synchronizing data with their diocesan databases. In the case of a Registered/Registered duplicate set, one parish must first designate the duplicate family record as the Unregistered record. Duplicate Checker cannot merge records when a family is registered in multiple parishes. The parish owning the Unregistered family record is responsible for resolving the duplicate set. To resolve, the unregistered parish imports the master family record from the parish of registration into their local parish database as unregistered. The import creates a temporary duplicate situation in the local database and allows the parish to use the Duplicate Checker Wizard to resolve the duplicate set. Use the following procedure to import a family record into your database. 3. Select the record you need to import. 4. Click the Add to This Parish button to import the family as unregistered into your parish database. 5. Turn to page 11 to use the Duplicate Checker Wizard to reconcile the duplicates. 1. Click Family Info menu > Add New Family. 2. Search for the family by Last Name.
10 Restrictions for Resolving Duplicate Families in a Parish The following circumstances will prevent your parish from resolving a duplicate set: 1. If both family records have a pledge to the same fund, you cannot merge their duplicate records. As a workaround, you can delete one of the pledges and then merge the records. 2. If a family has any outstanding Electronic Giving/CheckFree transaction, you cannot merge their duplicate records until the transactions have cleared. 3. If two families have the same diouniqueid, you cannot merge their records. Family records that share a diouniqueid of either 0 (i.e., zero) or null (i.e., no value) can be merged. If you try to resolve potential duplicate sets where one of these conflicts exists, you will receive a message similar to the one shown below.
RESOLVING PARISH DUPLICATES 11 Search for Duplicate Families in the Parish Use this procedure to choose duplicate match criteria these are the fields that ParishSOFT will use to identify potential duplicates in your database. More selected match criteria fields (e.g., Last Name, Family First Name, and Address) will result in fewer duplicates found. Fewer selected match criteria fields (e.g., Last Name, Family First Name) will result in more duplicates found. Search for a Specific Family The Last Name filter is useful when resolving duplicates when you know the family name. You can also use the Last Name field to do a scheduled cleanup by alphabetical letter. For example, if your parish decides to research and resolve potential duplicates one letter at a time, set the Last Name field to Begins With and type letter A. Once the As are resolved, proceed to the Bs, etc. The most common search fields Last Name and Family First Name are selected by default as match criteria in the Desired Fields list (on the right). Other available fields are listed on the left under the header All Fields. Use the following procedure to add or remove fields from the Desired Fields list. 1. Double click, click-and-drag, or use the button to select the fields you wish to use to identify the duplicate families in your database. Selected fields will be placed in your Desired Fields list. To copy all fields into the Desired Fields list, click the button. To select multiple fields, use <Ctrl + Click>. 2. Specify filters. Filters are useful when searching for specific duplicate family records. For example, enter Liszt in the LastName field to find all the Liszt families who may have duplicate records. Remove Match Criteria from List You can remove any Match Criterion from the list of Desired Fields. Simply click to select the field name, then click the button. This action places the field back in the All Fields list. 3. Click the Next button and turn to page 12. The software will analyze your database based on the specified criteria. When the analysis is complete, the Potential Duplicates have been Found! screen will open.
12 Review Potential Duplicates This screen displays the results of your search for potential duplicates. To the upper-right of your list view, the Duplicate Sets Found indicates the number of duplicate sets found. The list view displays only the criteria that you used to search for duplicate families in the parish. Your Potential Duplicates screen may display more or fewer fields than are shown in the example below. Indicate Which Duplicate Sets You Wish to Resolve & Report The Next button will be dimmed on this screen until you indicate which family duplicate sets you wish to resolve. 1. Click either the All Families button (on the right) or check the box(es) for the duplicate sets you wish to resolve. 2. OPTIONAL: click the Report For option (on the left) for the reports you wish to create. Click the Print button. 3. Click Next and turn to page 15. Resolve and Report options are available for all families or for selected families. A sample report for a selected family is shown on page 13.
RESOLVING PARISH DUPLICATES 13 Sample Report for a Selected Parish Family
14 Resolve Known Duplicates Using Family ID 1. Select Resolve a Known Duplicate Using Family ID and click Next. If you know the Family IDs for a set of duplicate records, you can resolve duplicates without going through the Search process. If your parish database has duplicate family records, and both records have contribution records, Duplicate Checker will merge them provided the restrictions on page 10 do not apply. From your main Duplicate Checker Wizard screen, the option Resolve a Known Duplicate Using FamilyID bypasses the search to let you resolve such duplicates efficiently. 4. Enter the two Family IDs: the primary record goes in the Master Family ID field, and the duplicate goes in the Duplicate Family ID field. Click Next to proceed to the Merge/Resolve Families screen. Valid IDs are required before you can proceed with the merge. 5. Please turn to page 15, where these instructions continue in the section entitled Merge/Resolve Families.
RESOLVING PARISH DUPLICATES 15 Merge/Resolve Families The Merge/Resolve Families screen is for informational purposes only. It displays the details of both the Master and Duplicate family in a side-by-side format that allows for easy comparison of the data. (1 of 1) The number of duplicate families in this set will be displayed in the upper right hand corner of the screen next to the column header DUPLICATE Family. Options for Cancelling If you decide at this point that this duplicate set should NOT be merged, your options to cancel vary depending upon how you initiated the process of resolving duplicates. If you used the Search to detect duplicate sets, there is no need to Cancel an entire group of duplicate set resolutions just because a set of families turns out not to be a true duplicate set. You will have the opportunity to exclude this family from the Merge process later. If you are resolving duplicates using known Family ID numbers, simply press Cancel to end resolution of this duplicate set. To Proceed To continue, please click Next and turn to page 16 for instructions on resolving duplicate family members using the Merge/Resolve Family Members procedure.
16 Merge/Resolve Family Members On the Merge/Resolve Family Members screen, the list view called Permanent Master Family Members displays the names and birth dates of the members contained in the Master family record. Because the Master record is the primary record, all records for members in the Master family record will be maintained. a. Add as New no similar record exists in the Master family; create a new member record for this person. b. Merge with [name, e.g., Bill] a duplicate record exists for this person in the Master family; merge the duplicate record into the selected person s record in the Master family. Shortcut resolution options available from the right-click menu can save you time right-click anywhere on the screen to view the options. The birth date of any duplicate family member will display when you hold your mouse over the person s name. Use this feature to help you decide whether a family member s record is a true duplicate. Use the following procedure to specify how to resolve each family member from the duplicate family record. 1. Find the first Duplicate Family Member record located in the lowerleft corner of the screen (e.g., Bob). 3. If needed, repeat step 2 until each member has a What to Do designation. 4. Click Next and turn to page 17 to Preview the Merged Family record. You must specify a resolution for each record before the Next button will activate, allowing you to proceed with the resolution. 2. Select an option from the lookup table (under the header What to do ) to the right of the member s name. Options include the following:
RESOLVING PARISH DUPLICATES 17 Preview Merged Family After you have specified resolution options for duplicate family members, this screen shows you what the new Master family record will look like before you perform the irreversible Merge function. To proceed with the merge, complete the following steps. 1. Select Merge into Master Family. 2. Note the Warning the displays in red the operation that you are about to perform is irreversible. 3. Choose either to Merge or Exclude: a. To proceed with the Merge, click the Merge into Master Family. Go to step #4 below. b. To exclude this family from the Merge (e.g., if you have determined that these families are not a true duplicate set) and continue to the next potential set of duplicate family/member records, click Exclude from Merge Process. 3. Click Next to merge duplicate records into the Master record and delete duplicates. The progress bar will run. 4. Click Next. If you are finished resolving duplicates, click Print Final to create a Merge Log Report (see page 18 for a sample report). If you have several sets of duplicate families in this session, click Next. The Duplicate Checker Wizard will display the next potential duplicate record set (e.g., 2 of 5, then 3 of 5, etc.). Please return to page 14, to review the instructions in the section entitled Merge/Resolve Families.
18 Sample Merge Log Report The Merge Log Report documents the duplicate resolution that you have just performed on your database. To create this report, click the Print Final button, available from your Potential Duplicates screen. Specify your report options (i.e., Merge Date; Select by Family Merged Item; and All, Printed, or Unprinted). Click Next and follow the prompts to print the report. Unprinted allows you to print a report that contains just the new duplicate resolutions.
INDEX 19 Index Back Up Database, 4 Dependencies impact on duplicate resolution, 10 Diocese administrative messages from, 6 Duplicate Checker how to run, 8 introduction, 4 Duplicate Match Criteria remove from family search, 11 set for family search, 11 Exclude family duplicate set from merge process, 17 Family Details of master and duplicate records, 15 Family ID resolve duplicates by, 14 Filter by organization or family, 11 Find Duplicate Records, 11 Import family record to resolve duplicates, 9 Import family Record to Resolve Duplicates, 6 Import Family to Resolve Duplicates, 6 Log In, 7 Master Family ID field, 14 import from parish of registration, 9 members, 16 Member Records merge/resolve as part of family merge process, 16 Merge duplicate members into master family record, 16 exclude family from merge process, 17 into master family record, 17 members, 16 preview family record prior to merge, 15 using family ID number, 14 Merge Log Report, 18 ParishSOFT contact information, 2 Potential Family Duplicates List, 12 Preview Merged Family, 17 Registered/Registered, 6 Registered/Unregistered, 6 Registration impact on duplicate resolution, 6, 9 Reports Merge Log, 18 Selected Parish Family, 13 Restrictions for Resolving Duplicate Families in a Parish, 10 Search by family ID, 14 by family last name, 11 for duplicate families, 11 Synchronization impact on duplicate resolution, 6 Track Changes. See Merge Log Report