About the Sun Match Engine Matching Algorithm

The Sun Match Engine compares records containing similar data types by calculating how closely the records match. The resulting comparison weight is either a positive or negative numeric value that represents the degree to which the two sets of data are similar. The match engine relies on probabilistic algorithms to compare data of a given type using a comparison function specific to the type of data being compared. The comparison functions for each matching field are defined in a match configuration file that you can customize for the type of data you are indexing. The formula used to determine the matching weight is based on either matching and unmatching probabilities or on agreement and disagreement weight ranges.

The Sun Match Engine is also designed to standardize free-form text fields, such as street address fields or business names. This allows the match engine to generate a more accurate weight for free-form data.