Can I select which record to retain as the master while merging records?

Yes, when merging records to resolve duplicates, you can specify which record to retain as the master.

You can do this when:

• manually creating duplicate resolution requests
• overriding the system mapping for merge requests
• set the Master Record Selection profile option which controls the method used to identify which record in a duplicate set becomes the master during a merge

Create Duplicate Resolution Requests Manually

When you're sure that two or more records are confirmed duplicates, you can decide to create a duplicate resolution request manually using the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Duplicate Resolution work area as follows: Navigator > Customer Data Management > Duplicate Resolution.

2. Click Tasks and then click Create Resolution Request.

3. Search for the records that you want to merge, link, or test merge. For example, select the Party Type as Person and enter the Name as John, and click Search.

   Note: You can only search on standard fields using the Advanced Search option. Custom fields of the Accounts or Contacts objects aren't available.

4. Select two or more duplicate records using the Shift or Control key.

5. Click Actions > Create Request.

6. Enter a name for the request in the Create Request: Select Type dialog.

7. Select the request type as Generic, Merge, Link, or Test Merge. You can also select the Master Record, if needed.

8. Click OK.

   You can also submit request dispatch jobs directly from the Duplicate Resolution work area by clicking the Dispatch button, which will submit the job for immediate processing.

Override System Mapping

You can override system mapping for merge requests by manually modifying it. To manually modify system mapping, you must select the master record and its associated attributes, and then specify the resolution for the child entity conflicts and errors.

You can resolve child entity conflicts and errors by merging, transferring, or removing the record attributes.

You can override system mapping using these steps:

1. Navigate to the Duplicate Resolution work area as follows: Navigator > Customer Data Management > Duplicate Resolution.

2. Select the duplicate resolution request for which you want to override system mappings and drill down through the request ID to the Review Merge Request page.

   Note: You can override system mappings only for those merge requests that are in New status, which indicates that the request is open for review and processing. The status depends on the following:

3. Click Override on the Review Merge Request page to view the Override System Mapping: Select Master Record page.

4. In the duplicate set on the page, select the record that you want to make the master and click Set Master.

   Optionally, you can also remove records from the duplicate set to prevent them from being merged. You can also mark the removed record as a nonduplicate to exclude it from all the subsequent merge requests.

5. Click Next to navigate to the Override System Mapping: Map Profile Attributes page.

6. Select a value from any of the duplicate records for each profile attribute to be retained in the master record.

   If the number of duplicate records is five or less than five, you can select the value from the record columns. If the number of duplicate records is greater than five, you can select the value from the value choice list. In the profile attribute value choice list, you can hover over the value to see the attribute value's record. This helps you associate the correct value with the master record. You can also manually enter a new value in the Final Value column for an attribute.

7. On the Override System Mapping: Map Entities page, you can merge two or more entities into a single entity. You can also remove merge entities, such as addresses, from the merge processes by clicking the Remove icon. If the Remove icon isn't available, you must enable the ORA_ZCH_ALLOW_REMOVE_FEATURE profile option. For more information about creating this profile option, see the Enable the Remove Option on the Override System Mapping UI section in this topic. Child entities associated with the entities that are removed using the Remove icon won't be transferred to the master record.

8. Click Next to view the Override System Mapping: Review page. Now you can review the mapping settings and click Submit to override the default system mappings. In case there are edits, click Back to make updates to the mapping settings before submission.

Controls the method used to identify which record in a duplicate set becomes the master during a merge.

The options are:

• Select master record using survivorship rule: Logic configured with Oracle business rules using the Manage Survivorship Rules setup task determines the master.

• Select the oldest record as master: The record with the earliest creation date is the master.

• Select the latest record as master: With the most recent creation date is the master.

• Select master based on duplicate identification results: Internal logic of the duplication identification process determines the master.

• Select master record using Data Quality Rules: Logic configured with Application Composer Data Quality Rules determines the master.

Consider these points:

• The Select the older record as master and Select the latest record as master options use optimized internal processes and may offer the best performance.

• Master Record Selection can't be survivorship rule or Data Quality Rules if the Merge Scope has been set to Customer data management specific areas with restrictions.

• The Duplicate Identification batch process identifies a preliminary master record, but the final determination of master record occurs within duplicate resolution processing per the Master Record Selection Setting. Select the Select master based on duplicate identification results option if you want to retain the master record selection from the duplicate identification results.