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About Data Matching for the SDQ Matching Server

The following is the data matching process used by the Siebel Data Quality (SDQ) Matching Server. This process is organized to present information in a sequence corresponding to the order in which events are likely to occur.

• Keys are generated for the existing customer records in the database.

  Typically, keys are generated and refreshed on a periodic basis by the data administrator. In addition, if real-time deduplication is enabled for end users, keys are also automatically generated for a customer record whenever a user inserts or modifies an existing record.

• When a user enters or modifies a record or the administrator submits a batch deduplication request, the SDQ Matching Server identifies candidate matches for each record by locating existing records whose corresponding keys fall within a range around the master record. Like the keys, these ranges are based on a person's name (first name, middle name, last name) for prospects and contacts, and account name for accounts.
• A match score is computed for each candidate record.

  The match score is a combination of a large number of rules that compensate for how frequently a given name or word appears in the real world. The rules then weigh the similarity of each field on the record according to the real-world frequency of the name. For example, Smith is a common last name, so a match on a last name of Smith would carry less weight than a match on a rare last name. Any existing records in which match scores exceed the threshold specified in the Data Quality Settings are considered as matches.

For information about administrative tasks using the SDQ Matcher Server, see Process of Using Data Matching (Deduplication).