Siebel CRM Desktop for Microsoft Outlook Administration Guide > How Siebel CRM Desktop Synchronizes Data > How Siebel CRM Desktop Handles a Conflict During Synchronization >

How Siebel CRM Desktop Prevents Duplicate Records

Deduplication is a feature that Siebel CRM Desktop uses to make sure that it only synchronizes a single instance of a record between Microsoft Outlook and the Siebel Server. Assume Siebel CRM Desktop downloads a contact to Microsoft Outlook, and then the user attempts to create another contact that contains the same name. In this situation, Siebel CRM Desktop informs the user that a contact with the same name already exists.

Assume a contact that resides on the Siebel Server does not also exist in Microsoft Outlook due to synchronization filters, and the user creates a contact in Microsoft Outlook that contains the same name as the contact on the Siebel Server. In this situation, Siebel CRM Desktop does not detect a duplicate in Microsoft Outlook and the user saves a local copy of the contact. During the next synchronization, Siebel CRM Desktop does the following work:

1. Detects the duplicate conflict.
2. If all contact fields in both data files are the same, then Siebel CRM Desktop resolves the duplicate without interaction with the user.
3. If some of the fields are different, then Siebel CRM Desktop presents the duplicate records to the user, and then prompts the user to choose which values to keep.

The connector_configuration.xml file includes the set of objects that are configured for synchronization and the definition of the natural keys that Siebel CRM Desktop uses for deduplication. For more information, see How the Origin of an Activity Affects Handling.

How Siebel CRM Desktop Uses a Natural Key to Identify Duplicates

This topic describes how Siebel CRM Desktop uses a natural key to identify duplicates.

Insert a Record from Microsoft Outlook to the Siebel Server

If Siebel CRM Desktop detects a potential insert operation for a record from the data store in Microsoft Outlook to the Siebel database on the Siebel Server, then it does the following work:

1. Queries the Siebel database, using natural keys in the query to identify any record in the Siebel database that is a duplicate of the potential insert operation in Microsoft Outlook.
2. If it finds a duplicate, then Siebel CRM Desktop treats the transaction as a duplicate conflict. It returns the record ID of the Siebel CRM record to Microsoft Outlook so that the association between the record in the Siebel database and the record in Microsoft Outlook is defined for use in incremental synchronizations. To determine if the record exists in the Siebel database before it requests an insert, Siebel CRM Desktop performs this work from Microsoft Outlook as a query to the Siebel Server.

Insert a Record from the Siebel Server to Microsoft Outlook

If Siebel CRM Desktop detects a potential insert operation for a record from the Siebel database on the Siebel Server to the data store in Microsoft Outlook, then it does the following work:

1. Queries the data store in Microsoft Outlook, using natural keys in the query to identify any record in the data store that is a duplicate of the potential insert operation from the Siebel database.
2. If Siebel CRM Desktop finds a duplicate, then it treats the transaction as a duplicate conflict. For more information, see Step 2 in Insert a Record from Microsoft Outlook to the Siebel Server.