Client duplicate management

This article covers instructions on how to manage client duplicates within Link2Feed. 

Users will need the duplicate checker role in their user profile to access this part of the system. Please view User Management for more details on User Roles

This article covers the following topics: 

• How to enable Cross-Agency Merge
• Dismissed Duplicates
• How do I manage a Possible Duplicate pop-up?
  • What to do if updating a client
  • Possible Duplicate pop-up adding Household Members 
  • Possible Duplicate is NOT the person I'm trying to add 
  • Not sure if the Possible Duplicate is the person I'm trying to add 
• Searching for a specific pair of duplicates
• Troubleshooting inability to locate duplicates
• Determining if a pair is a duplicate & which profile to keep
• What to do if a pair is not a duplicate
• How to merge duplicates into one profile
  • Criteria to appear as a duplicate
  • Locating the duplicates
  • Viewing and merging
• General tips on how to use the Client Duplicates & Dismissed Client Duplicates list 

How to enable Cross-Agency Merge 

To modify these settings you will need to have Network Admin access.

Typically, the Client Duplicates list will only show pairs of duplicates of client profiles that have been created at the organization you are logged into. BOTH client profiles need to be created at that organization in order for them to appear on the Client Duplicates list.

Allowing cross-agency merge provides flexibility for agencies. A pair of duplicates will appear on the Client Duplicates list if at least ONE of the two profiles has been created at the organization you are logged into.

Allowing cross-agency merge does not affect what the network sees. Either way, they will see duplicates across all agencies.

To enable this setting while logged in at the Network level follow these steps: 

1. Open Case Management.
2. Select Administration on the left.
3. Select Settings. 
4. Under Intake Options locate Cross-Agency Merge.
5. Select the radio button under On Locked to enable across all agencies or Off to remove this function. 

User Permissions 

This is a summary of what these users will see on the Client Duplicates list. It is not necessarily the same access as what they would see when searching for a client profile. 

User profile	WITH Cross agency	WITHOUT Cross agency
Network Administrator with access to 1 location	Will see all pairs regardless of which agency the user is logged into	Will see all pairs regardless of which agency the user is logged into.
Network Administrator with access to more than 1 location	Will see all pairs regardless of which agency the user is logged into	Will see all pairs regardless of which agency the user is logged into.
Network Manager with access to 1 location	Will only see pairs where at least ONE profile was created at that one location the user has access to	Will only see pairs where BOTH profiles were created at that one location the user has access to
Network Manager with access to more than 1 location	Will only see pairs where at least ONE profile was created at the location(s) the user has access to	Will only see pairs where BOTH profiles were created at that one location the user has access to
Agency Manager with access to 1 location	Will only see pairs where at least ONE profile was created at that one location the user has access to	Will only see pairs where BOTH profiles were created at that one location the user has access to
Agency Manager with access to more than 1 location	Will only see pairs where at least ONE profile was created at the location(s) the user has access to	Will only see pairs where BOTH profiles were created at that one location the user has access to

Dismissed Duplicates

In order to access a list of dismissed client duplicates you will follow these steps: 

1. Open up Case Management.
2. On the left-hand side of the screen select Clients.
3. Select View Dismissed Client Duplicates. 

When viewing the dismissed duplicates list, the client that has the most recent (or highest) client ID number was the one that was most recently created. Whoever's name is beside the profile with the highest client ID number is the one who saw the possible duplicate notification and dismissed it.

The dismissed client duplicates list contains any duplications that have been dismissed by users. There are two ways to dismiss a duplicate: 

1. Possible Duplicate notification: When adding a new client or new household member, if a Possible Duplicate notification appears, the user will have the option to view, and confirm if it is or isn't the client they're trying to enter. By clicking on No, it gets put on the dismissed client duplicates list and the user will continue to add the client or household member. 
   
   
   
2. Client Duplicates page: On the client duplicates page, there's a Dismiss icon users click on to dismiss this duplicate and remove it from this list. Once removed, it gets put on the Dismissed Client Duplicates List. If the pair of client profiles on the dismissed list are actually duplicates, click on Un-dismiss beside them and they will be put back on the client duplicates list for you to merge them. Navigate to How to merge duplicates into one profile for more details on this process.

How do I manage a Possible Duplicate pop-up?

A Possible Duplicate notification may appear on your screen when you are attempting to add a new client or new household member. The notification is letting you know that this person may already be in the Link2Feed system. 

Please see Criteria to appear as a duplicate to check what would cause this to appear.

When the pop-up appears you can click on See More to view a small preview of the possible duplicate's information. 

The last visit date for a semi-restricted network is based on the worker's program permissions. If a worker has access to only two programs in the entire network, it will show the last visit from only those two programs.

The system will ask if this is the client you're looking for. The Yes button will take you to that possible duplicate's profile. No will take you back to the profile you were creating. View will show you a more detailed profile of the possible duplicate if you need more information to verify.

What to do if updating a client

When you are editing an existing client, that client might be a duplicate. In this case, a merge button will appear in addition to the options above. Clicking on this button will bring you to a page where you can choose which profile to maintain. 

The merge button will only appear if both profiles are Active. The Merge option works the same way as if the user were merging two profiles directly from the Client Duplicates list. They are clicking Merge on the profile they want to discard.

Possible Duplicate pop-up adding Household Members 

The same steps apply as above, except after you click on Yes that this is the client you're looking for,  you will need to select if you want to Link or Move the individual into the household. 

After selecting your option the system will ask you to select a relationship between the individual you're adding and the client's profile you are in. 

Possible Duplicate is NOT the person I'm trying to add 

When you add a client with 3 pieces of matching criteria the orange Possible Duplicate box will appear. You will have the option to select See More from there you can simply select No if this is not a client duplicate. This will take you back to creating the profile and the pair of duplicates will be listed in the Dismissed Client Duplicates List. 

Not sure if the Possible Duplicate is the person I'm trying to add 

When you add a client with 3 pieces of matching criteria the orange Possible Duplicate box will appear. 
You will have the option to select See More from there you can review the information. You cannot ignore a duplicate you can either select Yes or No. Yes will take you to that possible duplicate's profile. No will take you back to the profile you were creating and the pair of duplicates will be listed in the Dismissed Client Duplicates List. View will show you a more details profile of the possible duplicate if you need more information to verify.

Searching for a specific pair of duplicates

If you're looking for a particular duplicate that you know is in the system, you can easily use the Keywords search at the top right of the Client Duplicates page. To access this page: 

1. Open up Case Management.
2. On the left-hand side of the screen select Clients. 
3. Select Client Duplicates. 
4. In the Keywords search enter the name of the client you would like to find. 

Troubleshooting inability to locate duplicates 

If you are sure that a client has at least three of the same fields matching that the Client Duplicates list catches, and you cannot find it on the Clients Duplicates list, it's possible a Possible Duplicate popped up for this pair during intake and someone may have clicked on Dismiss. 

In order to access a list of dismissed client duplicates:

1. Open up Case Management.
2. On the left-hand side of the screen select Clients. 
3. Select Client Duplicates. 
4. Select View Dismissed Client Duplicates at the top of the screen. 
5. Utilize the Keywords search box to locate the missing duplicate clients. 
6. Once found select the Un-dismiss button.
7. Navigate back to the Client Duplicates page. 
8. You may have to search for them again if they do not appear right away. 

Determining if a pair is a duplicate & which profile to keep

Outside of confirming matches by name, there are a few other ways to determine if a client is a duplicate: 

1. Check the profile for completeness: How much of the profile has been completed? If one is missing a lot of information, there is a chance that it was added in a rush or that information was taken from a paper form. 
2. Look at the Last Updated date and Household Visits: This will let you know the last time someone served the client under each profile. You will likely want to keep the profile that has been updated most recently. 
3. Look at Date of Birth: Check to see if the month and day were reversed (example: 1989-07-10 vs. 1989-10-07) 
4. Look at Housing Type: Housing type can be a clue about the person's current situation. Pay close attention to situations where the housing type says Homeless or With Friends/Family as there is a chance the duplicate could have been created when they were transitioning their housing. 
5. Look at other household member: If there is only one client in the household, it's easy to match profiles one-to-one. If there are other household members, determine how many (if any) are a direct match. 

What to do if a pair is not a duplicate

If a pair is not a duplicate follow these steps to properly dismiss them as duplicates. 

1. Open up Case Management.
2. On the left-hand side of the screen select Clients. 
3. Select Client Duplicates. 
4. Search for the client or navigate through the list to review all duplicates listed on each page. 
5. If you know a pair is NOT a duplicate, click the Dismiss button beside the pair. 
6. The pairing will be added to the dismissed duplicates list. 

How to merge duplicates into one profile 

Criteria to appear as a duplicate

Duplicates are matched based on 3 of the 4 following criteria matching: 

• First name
• Last name
• Date of birth field (One of the following counts as a match): 
  • DOB: YYYY-MM
  • DOB: MM-DD
  • DOB: YYYY-DD
• Address Line 1

Independent of the criteria above, duplicates will also appear if an exact match is found on the email address. The duplicate pop-up will not appear if the email address matches are for people residing in the same household (to account for cases where household members share emails). 

Locating the duplicates 

1. Open up Case Management.
2. On the left-hand side of the screen select Clients. 
3. Select Client Duplicates. 
4. You can go between pages by using the pagination at the bottom of the page. It will also show you a count of how many pairs of duplicates there are in your list. 
5. If you're looking for a particular duplicate you can utilize the Keywords search box in the top right of the page. Any matching fields that the system found duplicated will be highlighted. You can search for the following: 
   • ID: The individual's Link2Feed ID number. 
   • First name: the individual's first name. 
   • Last name: the individual's last name. 
   • Date of birth: the individual's date of birth.
   • Address: the address of the household the individual is in. 
   • Agency: the organization where the individual's original household was created. 
   • Created by: the user who created the individual's profile

Viewing and merging

1. Click on the View button to compare the client files. A new tab will open allowing you to view information about both clients. 
2. Click on the Edit icon on the view page under a client you'd like to edit. 
   This is what you will see upon clicking the View button: 
   
3. On the Client Duplicates page, Click on the Merge button to merge a client file into another. 
4. A new page will appear showing Merge Options. 
   • Within this screen, you will be able to see the information that will be merged. 
   • The Merged Maintained Profile section will show you what the client's profile will look like when the duplicates are merged. 
   • If there are other members within the household that's going to be deleted, the system will mention them and provide you with an opportunity to decide what you would like to do with them. 
   • A dropdown list of options will be displayed: 
     
     • Leave in existing household: leave this individual in the household it's currently in. Do not delete this household because this individual does not belong in the merged household. 
     • Merge: merge this individual with another individual (which can be selected from this list) in the Maintained household. 
     • Move into maintained profile's household: move this individual into the Maintained household.
     • Once a selection is made a notification will appear letting you know what will happen with the discarded household. 
5. Click on Save to confirm the merge. 
6. A notification will appear at the top of the page including that the duplicate has been merged. 
7. Any duplicates in the Clients Duplicates list within those households will also be removed from the list. 
8. Click on the Dismiss button to dismiss a pair of duplicates. A notification will appear at the top of the page indicating that the pair has been dismissed. 
   

When in the View tab it is important to remember to close this tab. You'll be returning to the Client Duplicates list and if you don't close the View tab, it will time out and end up logging you out in your current tab.

General tips on how to use the Client Duplicates & Dismissed Client Duplicates list 

Within both the client duplicates & dismissed client duplicates lists there are options to ensure you can find the information you need more easily. 

Sortable Lists 

All columns in both lists can be sorted. There are up and down arrows beside each heading so users can sort by a certain column. 

Filters

In order to easier sort client duplicates, filters are listed at the top of both lists as follows: 

The use of 2 for the Number of Matching Criteria field is being deprecated and will be phased out in a future rollout. Use of this might show unexpected results. We advise that, when searching by matching criteria, you use at least 3 matching criteria.

• Location: if at least one of the duplicates was created at that location. This will only show the organizations the person has access to under the Locations list in their user profile. 
• Start Date / End Date: date range of when the client duplicates were added to the Client Duplicates list. 
• Number of Matching Criteria: the amount of matching fields (first name, last name, date of birth, address), the drop-down list starts with 2. 
• Household Details: Two options - No Visits or No Other Household Members.
• Keywords: this is the search box you will use on both lists. You can use the same options available in client intake to search: 
  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • First, Last
  • Last, First
  • Partial Name
  • Date of Birth
  • Client ID Number
  • Address Street Name
  • Address Including Street Number

Grouping by household 

To easier manage duplicates, household members are shown in the lists. Please note if there is more than one household member in the household, the primary client's name will be shown and a collapse/expand button will appear to show other individuals in that household. 

If there are no other household members in the household, the button won't show. 

Client Duplicates & Dismissed Duplicates list notification

There's a notification on both lists to indicate that the client's information shown on the list is what their current profile looks like now. If it was different when their names were originally added to that list, that information will be shown in brackets. This better helps the user know what information put the client on the list in the first place. 

Bulk Dismissing Duplicates 

To enable bulk dismissing of duplicates simply toggle the switch at the top of the list to ON. This will create an additional column with a checkbox beside each duplicate pairing. 

You can select the pairings you want to dismiss individually by clicking the checkbox beside the pair or select all matches in the table by clicking the green All button. The red All button will de-select all. 

To bulk dismiss all of the selected pairs, scroll to the bottom of the table and click the grey Dismiss button. The button will turn red when you hover over it. 

A pop-up will appear summarizing all of the duplicates you have selected to be dismissed. Clicking Confirm at either the top or bottom of this list will dismiss the duplicates listed.