Merging Records with Active Workflow Instances
When you merge records, the records may have active workflow instances running on them. In this case, NetSuite keeps the workflow instance running on the record that you choose to keep and cancels any other workflow instance.
For example, you merge duplicate customer records that each have an active workflow instance named Process Customer running. Depending on the options you choose in the Merge Type list on the manage duplicates page, NetSuite keeps one of the records, merges the other entity fields with that record, and cancels any workflow instances on the duplicates. In this example, only one instance of the Process Customer workflow will run on the record after the merge operation.
System notes are not transferred from duplicate entity records to the primary entity record during a merge. Merging entities updates the system notes and last modified date for all transactions associated with the duplicate entity or entities. The system notes for these transactions will indicate that they were updated by the Duplicate Resolution process.
Merging entities is a data-intensive operation, and complex merges of many records such as transactions, custom fields, or workflows may time out when processing. You should test the merge process in a sandbox account first to ensure that it can be completed.
You should designate the entity with the most transactions as the primary record and entities with fewer transactions as duplicates to reduce the time it takes to complete the merge. You should also avoid merging entities with large numbers of transactions whenever possible.
For more information about the types of merges that you can perform, see Submitting Merge Operations.