Siebel Server Sync Guide > Siebel Server Sync for Microsoft Exchange Server Architecture Overview >

About SSSE Contact Record Matching

During the extract process that synchronizes Siebel data and Microsoft Exchange data, SSSE carries out a number of checks to determine whether a contact record designated for synchronization matches an existing contact record or not. This topic describes how SSSE performs contact record matching, and describes the following parameters, which affect the SSSE contact record matching process:

• Visibility Type Setting
• The IgnoreContactMatching parameter

About the Visibility Type Setting

The Visibility type setting determines which records a user can synchronize, and therefore which records SSSE searches when attempting to determine whether a contact record is a duplicate or not. When the Visibility setting is set to All, the user can synchronize any of the data that is visible to them and that is enabled for synchronization. If the Visibility setting is set to Sales Rep, then the user can synchronize data that is associated with the user's position; this data is visible to the user in the My Contacts view.

When resolving contact records, if a user's visibility is set to Sales Rep, then SSSE only checks the Siebel records associated with the user's position for duplicate contact records. If a user's visibility is set to All, then SSSE checks all Siebel records visible to the user in the Contact domain for duplicate contact records. For information on the Visibility setting, see Setting User-Level Synchronization.

About the IgnoreContactMatching Parameter

The SSSE configurable parameter, IgnoreContactMatching, determines whether or not SSSE attempts to match contact records during the ongoing synchronization extract process.

If the IgnoreContactMatching parameter is set to FALSE (the default value), then SSSE compares Microsoft Exchange and Siebel records to determine whether or not a contact record that is being synchronized matches an existing contact record. If a matching record is not found, then SSSE creates a new contact record. If a matching record is found, then SSSE creates an association between the records and overrides the existing contact record field values with the field values of the record that is being synchronized, unless the field values of the record being synchronized are Null or blank. Setting the IgnoreContactMatching parameter to FALSE helps to ensure that duplicate contact records are not created during the synchronization process. For more information about this process, see About the Contact Record Matching Process.

If the IgnoreContactMatching parameter is set to TRUE, then SSSE does not attempt to match a contact record that is being synchronized with existing contact records. Disabling contact record matching optimizes the performance of the synchronization process but can result in duplicate contact records being created, which must be resolved manually. For information on specifying values for the IgnoreContactMatching parameter, see Enabling and Disabling Contact Record Matching.

About the Contact Record Matching Process

In determining whether or not a contact record designated for synchronization matches an existing contact record, SSSE first tries to match the contact record using the email address; if the record does not have an email address, then SSSE then attempts to match the contact record using first and last names.

Assume a new contact is added to Microsoft Exchange and it is being synchronized to the Siebel application for the first time. In order to minimize duplicate contacts, SSSE uses the following steps to attempt to match it with any existing contacts in Siebel, rather than automatically creating a new contact:.

1. Email matching. If the Exchange contact has an email address, then SSSE queries all existing Siebel contacts for a contact with the same email address.

   This search is meant to identify a matching record regardless of variations in the contact's name. For example, the contact William Smith with the email address william.smith@company.com exists in the Siebel database, and a user creates a new contact Bill Smith with email address william.smith@company.com. The query for the email address shows that they are the same contact, but a query that included first and last name would not have found a match.

   If SSSE finds one and only one match, then it considers a match to be found and it skips the rest of the matching process.

2. First and Last Name and Email matching. If no single contact match is found, then SSSE queries all existing Siebel contacts for a record with the same email address, first name, and last name. Given the previous step, this query will find a result only if the same email address is associated with multiple contacts.

   There are two common examples of this. The first is the case where two people (such as a married couple) share an email address, but both contacts can exist separately in Microsoft Exchange or in the Siebel application. The second is the case where some common mailbox is shared amongst many people, such as support@company.com.

   In either case, we need additional criteria beyond email address to identify which contact is being synchronized. If this query returns one and only one match, then SSSE considers a match to be found and it skips the rest of the matching process.

3. First and Last Name Matching. As its final attempt to find a match, SSSE queries for a contact that has a match on a first and last name and that has no email address in the Siebel database.

   For example, this type of query will find that the Microsoft Exchange contact named John Smith (with or without an email address) matches the Siebel contact named John Smith who does not have an email address. The reason for this is that, if the existing Siebel record for John Smith has an email address that does not match, then it is a different John Smith.

   Because many people might have the same name, a match SSSE considers a match to be found only if it finds one and only one matching record.

After completing these steps, SSSE takes one of the following actions:

If a single match was found, then SSSE associate the syncing user with the existing Siebel Contact and marks the Sync Flag as true for that user.

If zero or multiple matches were found, then SSSE creates a new Siebel Contact record for the syncing user and marks the Sync Flag as true.

NOTE:  A similar process applies if a new Siebel contact record is being synced to a Microsoft Exchange mailbox for the first time. then SSSE performs these three queries to attempt to find a match before automatically creating a new contact in Exchange.

Related Topics

About Synchronizing Records during Initial Extract

About Synchronizing Records During the Ongoing Extract Process