Standardization and Matching Process in Master Index Applications (Repository)

The standardization and matching processes use logic that is defined by a combination of Sun Match Engine configuration files and master index configuration files. During the standardization and match processes, the following occurs.

1. The Sun Match Engine receives an incoming record.

2. The Sun Match Engine standardizes the fields specified for parsing, normalization, and phonetic encoding. These fields are defined in the StandardizationConfig section of the Match Field file and the rules for standardization are defined in the Sun Match Engine standardization configuration files.

3. The master index application queries the database for a candidate selection pool (records that are possible matches) using the blocking query specified in the Threshold file. If the blocking query uses standardized or phonetic fields, the criteria values are obtained from the database.

4. For each possible match, the master index application creates a match string (based on the match columns in the Match Field file) and sends the string to the Sun Match Engine.

5. The Sun Match Engine checks the incoming record against each possible match, producing a matching weight for each. Matching is performed using the weighting rules defined in the match configuration file.