You need a PLAN to deal with duplicates
Here's the thing about duplicate records: No matter what you do, you'll never get rid of them completely, because humans are human. Whether it's a staff member creating a duplicate record because they forgot to check if the record exists, or it's a customer who doesn't want to take the time to reset his password and just creates another record with a different email address, duplicates are going to happen.
And because duplicates are inevitable, you have to have a plan for dealing with them. Here are some suggestions:
- Create data integrity reports that will help you identify potential duplicate records, and run those reports consistently. ("Consistently" means at least once a month, if not more often.) And make sure someone (or several someones) on staff has responsibility for cleaning up this data.
- Make it everyone's job on staff to identify potential duplicates whenever they are using the database and make sure you have a clear process for how those duplicate records are reported. And make sure someone (or several someones) on staff has responsibility for cleaning up this data.
- And did I mention to make sure someone (or several someones) on staff has responsibility for cleaning up this data?
Managing duplicate records is a journey, not a destination. No matter how good your technology is, like weeds in a garden, duplicate records are going to appear. So you have to have a plan for dealing with them, not just now, but always.
Wes's Wednesday Wisdom Archives
Opting out and communication preferences
Opting out and communication preferences Last week’s newsletter discussed the need for associations to collect mobile […]
Are you collecting mobile phone numbers? You should be.
Are you collecting mobile phone numbers? You should be. Are you collecting (and using) the […]
Spend less time on data management and more on higher value activities
Spend less time on data management and more on higher value activities Data management is very […]
Change anything you want, except your name!
Change anything you want, except your name! This is an oldy but a goody, but […]
If you don’t trust your vendor…
If you don’t trust your vendor… When I start an AMS selection project with a […]
Your RFP should go to no more than five vendors!
Your RFP should go to no more than five vendors! As a rule, when I […]
Be concise!
Be concise! I started a monthly newsletter almost 25 years ago (which I recently discontinued). […]
A great example of a data integrity report!
A great example of a data integrity report! A couple months back I discussed the […]
“If you keep doin’ what you’re doin’, you’ll keep gettin’ what you’re gettin’.”
“If you keep doin’ what you’re doin’, you’ll keep gettin’ what you’re gettin’.” I saw […]
Rather than adding something new, try subtracting
Rather than adding something new, try subtracting I read recently that sociological research suggests, when presented […]