Data Reformatting

If incoming records contain data that is not formatted properly, it must be reformatted before it can be normalized. One good example of this is free-form text address fields. If you are matching or searching on street addresses that are contained in one or more free-form text fields (that is, the street address is contained in one field, apartment number in another, and so on), that field must be parsed into its individual components (house number, street name, street type, and so on) before the data can be normalized.