Duplicate Management

Improve Data Quality

Explain how duplicate data is wasteful. Explain how your company wins when you prevent duplicate data. Identify solutions for resolving and preventing duplicate data.
  • Duplicate Management is free of charge for Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited editions.
    • Can help teams find and manage duplicates for:
      • Business Accounts,
      • Contacts,
      • Leads,
      • Person accounts, and
      • Records created from custom objects.
    • Tool is very configurable and can be set up for fuzzy matching, such as matching on last name only.
  • Matching Rule: the criteria to identify duplicate records.
    • Three standard matching rules: business accounts, contacts and leads, and person accounts. Others can be easily created.
  • Duplicate Rule: when Salesforce takes actions based on having identified duplicates using the matching rules.
    • Can be configured such that reps either:
      • See an alert that they’re about to create a duplicate, or
      • Are blocked from creating the duplicate altogether.
  • Manage duplicate rules via: Setup » Feature Settings » Data.com » Duplicate Rules/Matching Rules

Data Duplication General Notes

  • Duplicate Records:
    • Can waste your users' time.
    • Negatively affect your company’s reputation.
  • Standard duplicate rules are available if your org was create in Spring ‘15 or later.
  • Duplicate management helps sales reps know when they’re creating a potential duplicate record.

Resolve and Prevent Duplicate Data

Explain the difference between matching rules and duplicate rules. Identify features of standard matching rules. Discover options for customizing matching rules. Create matching rules.
  • Matching Rules and Duplicate Rules are accessible in Setup.
    • Setup » Quick Find » “Duplicate” » Matching Rules
    • Setup » Quick Find » “Duplicate” » Duplicate Rules
    • Each duplicate rule consists of multiple matching rules
  • Salesforce includes standard matching rules for Accounts, Contacts, and Leads.
    • A matching rule consists of fields assembled like this: First Name AND Last Name AND Title AND Account. Each field includes a set of matching criteria. For example:
      • Name: Katherine Martinez could match Kate Martinez
      • Title: VP could match Vice President
      • Account: Acme Inc. could match Acme
      • These “fuzzy matching” algorithms are based on industry standards. If enough of the fields are deemed to match, then the records are considered a possible duplicate.
  • There are a few ways to alert users when Salesforce identifies a potential duplicate.
    • In Lightning App builder (Setup » Quick Find » “Lightning” » Lightning App Builder), ensure the potential duplicates component is included in the layout for the object in question.
    • It is possible to prevent users from creating duplicate records at all. On the Duplicate Rules page, change the Action On Create and Action On Edit rules from Allow to Block.

Other Resources

  • Help - Create or Edit Duplicate Rules
  • Help - Things to Know About Duplicate Rules
  • Help - Help Your Users Minimize or Merge Duplicates
  • Video - Use Matching Rules to Hunt Down Duplicate Records

Reports on Creation of Duplicate Accounts/Leads

  • Setup » Quick Find » “Report Type” » Report Types » New Custom Report Type
    • Primary object, Accounts (for example), Next
    • For secondary object, use dropdown to select Duplicate Record Items