Near Match Detection
The Near Match Detection feature helps identify duplicate entities in the database, such as customers and vendors. This feature is available in accounts which use Latin or Cyrillic characters.
In NetSuite, standard duplicate detection relies on exact matches of names and other criteria which you set in the Set Up Duplicate Detection page. The system alerts you of potential duplicates if two or more entities have the same information. For example, if two entities share the same name, NetSuite alerts you of a potential duplicate record.
The Near Match Detection feature identifies duplicates based on similar but not exact match criteria. This enhancement improves duplicate detection by catching duplicates created from misspellings, typos, and other minor variations in data.
Near Match Detection only identifies duplicates when creating new entity records in the NetSuite UI. To detect duplicates within your existing records, you can go to Lists > Mass Update > Entity Duplicate Resolution to search for all possible duplicate records based on your criteria. With the duplicate resolution mass update, you can find and resolve large numbers of duplicate records in your NetSuite account in a single operation.
To set up Near Match Detection
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Administrators can go to Setup > Company > (Company Management) Duplicate Detection (Administrator) and check the Near Match Detection box. The feature can be disabled at any time to revert to the exact match detection method.
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Set which entities and which fields to look for duplicates in. If you set multiple fields for an entity, Near Match Detection will consider all of them when looking for duplicates.
For example, if you set duplicate detection to look for customers and use the Name and Email fields to match on, duplicate detection will only look for customers that have similar names AND email addresses.
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If you want to detect duplicate entities across all of your subsidiaries, check the Detect Duplicates Across Subsidiaries (Customers and Vendors Only) box.
When this box is checked, Near Match Detection will check for duplicates even across subsidiaries that the user doesn't have access to.
Near Match Detection will start comparing data in your selected entity fields after you've entered three characters. More characters will help it better identify duplicates.
When potential duplicates have been detected, a notification banner highlighting records that could be merged into one entity record will appear.
For more information, see Duplicate Detection Preferences and Duplicate Record Detection.