After individual field comparisons are completed, each comparison is assigned a match score (0 through 100) and a grade (A through E) indicating how closely the fields match. The grades are then strung together to create a pattern. This pattern is compared to the pattern matching rules which will indicate if the pattern results in a match of the two records.
The pattern matching process is the same for accounts, contacts, and leads but different fields are used in the comparison. The following example uses contact records to demonstrate the pattern matching process.
|
Record #1 |
Record #2 |
|---|---|
Mr Bob Miller 123 Maine St Billerica, MA 01821 |
Mr Robert Z. Miller 123 Main St Billerica, MA 01821 |
The field comparisons, match scores and grades for these two records would be:
|
Field Compared |
Record #1 |
Record #2 |
Match Score = Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
Street Name |
Maine |
Main |
95 = A |
Last Name |
Miller |
Miller |
100 = A |
House Number |
123 |
123 |
100 = A |
Apartment Number |
Blank |
Blank |
98 = C |
Box Number |
Blank |
Blank |
100 = A |
Postal Code |
01821 |
01821 |
100 = A |
City |
Billerica |
Billerica |
100 = A |
House Number To Apt Number |
123 to blank |
123 to blank |
0 = D |
Name Prefix |
Mr |
Mr |
100 = A |
First Name |
Bob |
Robert |
80 = D |
Middle Name |
Blank |
Z |
98 = A |
Generation |
Blank |
Blank |
100 = A |
Gender |
M |
M |
100 = A |
Standardized First Name |
Robert |
Robert |
100 = A |
The assignment of the score to a grade allows for a variance, or range, of how similar the field's values are to each other. This provides the flexibility to be able to weight the results of the comparison routines at the field level.
The next step in the matching process is to combine all of the calculated letter grades to produce a pattern. For example, the pattern produced from the example above is:
AAACAAADADAAAA
This pattern is then compared against the table of patterns, which will determine if the pattern indicates that the records are similar enough to be considered a match. For example, the pattern above could be determined to be a match because the standardized names of Bob and Robert living at similar addresses would be similar enough to be considered a match. The two records are flagged as a match and a Pattern ID (a number corresponding to a combination of matching attributes and grades) will be assigned to them.
This comparison process allows weighting of the entire record, which provides the flexibility of matching records based on differing levels of field similarities. It also allows for full auditing of why the records were matched.