Accounts/Organization duplicates are a big problem due to information gathered during online registration. While we do our best to look up existing records, spelling errors in the name or address will likely cause a duplicate to be created. Below we have included instructions on how to merge duplicate Organizations in both Salesforce Classic and Lightning along with important things to consider when choosing the Master record.
Important things to consider before merging Organizations
- Chatter posts will not merge into the master record. Make sure to review the Chatter feed for important discussions and if there are many, use that record as the master record. If there are only a few, you could screenshot and add them to the master or create your own post on the master that summarizes what was said and who shared it.
- Schools and Districts with ESE IDs should be the master record
- Be aware of Organization Names. Some will be listed as their acronym or contain other strange alterations of the name. For the purpose of data consitency, we highly recommend using the full name of the organization.
- Records with “Needs Review” checked were created through the online registration system by registrants.
Search for Duplicates (Classic)
In Classic, you can do the following to find duplicate organizations
- Click on the Organization tab
- Scroll down and in on the right, look for and click “Merge Organizations“
- Enter the name of the organization you are looking to merge. Use an * asterisk as a wildcard to help with your search.
If you are still having trouble getting both records to show in your search, you could try renaming them by inculding the word “MergeMe” in the Name and then search based on that instead.
Search for Duplicates (Lightning)
- In Lightning, when you visit an Organization record you should see a warning message at the top of the record saying “We found # potential duplicates”.
- Click on View Duplicates to see the results.
Merge Organizations (Classic)
- After you have found the duplicate records you wish to merge, click the checkbox next to each and press Next. You can merge a max of 3 records at a time.
- Choose the Master Record that will remain and move down the list of fields to select which values to keep. The more detailed and up to date the better.
- When you are finished selecting which fields to keep, click Merge and agree to the warning message that shows. After the merge is complete, you will be redirected to the master record.
Merge Organizations (Lightning)
- Click the checkbox next to each of the potential duplicates you wish to merge
- Choose which record you would like to “Use as Master”. Remember that the one that includes either an ESE ID or Legacy ID should be considered the Master record.
- Check each of the fields you wish to keep in the master and which you would like to be brought over from the old records.
- Click Next
- On the Confirm Merge page click Merge
- The page will refresh and you will be redirected to the master record. You may need to repeat these steps more than once if there were more than 3 duplicates.
