After records have been cleansed and matched (or cross-matched), you can reduce the number of redundant records in your database by merging matched records. You can merge records manually through the TSS Match Display window, as described in Viewing and Merging Duplicate Records, or you can use an Auto Merge batch request to merge records automatically.
When performing an Auto Merge, the batch process:
Identifies matching records.
Identifies your access rights for the matching records. You can only merge records to which you have access.
Determines the master record using your selection of youngest (the default) or oldest, based on the record’s creation date and time.
Keeps the master record Active and marks the matching records Inactive.
Copies (merges) data from matching records (by default, those with a Pattern ID of 100) into blank fields in the master record. For example, if the master record’s e-mail address field is blank and a matching record has an e-mail address, that e-mail address will be copied into the master record (assuming “emailaddress1” is a field your system administrator has configured for merging). See the Trillium Quality for Dynamics Installation and Developer’s Guide for information about modifying the web resource XML file to change the list of fields that can be merged.
To automatically merge matched records, follow the steps outlined beginning on Running a Standard Batch Process to run a batch request selecting one of the four Auto Merge requests to merge accounts, contacts, or leads, or merge leads to contacts. When the job completes, within a set of matched records one record (the youngest or oldest) remains active; matching records become inactive. Data from matching records is copied into blank fields in the active (master) record.