How to Merge Duplicate Profiles

These two records need to be merged into one. But before we learn how to merge duplicates, we need to understand how duplicate records are created, in the first place.

These are usually due to parent errors. And there are two common ways why a duplicate record is created in the system.

The first one is because two different user parent emails have been used to create a student record inside the system.

For example, if the Dad has submitted an inquiry and then the mom has submitted the application form further down the track, they've used each their own email, and there's no way for the system to know that this is the same student that we're talking about.

In this video, I will show you an example of this. If we search for Robert, there is a duplicate here. So we can see there are two "Robert tests," one in "enquiry," and one in "enrolment" status, and this is essentially the same student.

For the record with status, "enquiry," the primary parent is "John" the Dad, whilst the record in "enrolment" status the primary parent is Allusha.

So what we want to do is essentially to merge these students into one.

Before we can merge the students, we need to make sure that the parent details line up so the most updated information doesn't get overwritten.

The way to do this is to make sure that "parent one" is the same for both student records.

You need to decide which parent to keep.

In this case, usually, we want to keep the parent furthest down in the enrollment journey.

For Robert, the mom is the one that has submitted the application form and that's further along the enrolment journey than the enquiry, which the "dad" has completed for the other duplicate record. Therefore, we want to keep the mom as the main user parent.

Now that this is decided, we need to make sure that Allusha is both "parent one" and "primary parent" for both records.

For this duplicate, which is Robert Test in enrolment status, this is already correct.

Parent one and user parent, which is the parent with a dashboard and has the little man next to it, is already Allusha.

Then we need to go to the other duplicate, which is the Robert Test in "enquiry" status.

We go to the parent one tab, and here we need to make a change, as "John" is set to "parent one."

So parent two, which is Allusha, needs to be moved to be both "Parent one" and primary parent.

So we have our actions here.

First of all, switch Parent one and Parent two, which will now put Allusha as Parent one.

Whilst, John the Dad has been moved to parent two.

He is still the primary parent with access to the dashboard.

So we also need to switch the primary point of contact to Allusha.

If we go to the Parent one tab now, we can see that Allusha is both the parent one and primary parent for the duplicate in "enquiry" status as well.

Now that the parent details are lined up for both the duplicates, we can go to Contacts, and All Prospective.

From this screen, in the top right corner, we would need to search for Robert Test, find our duplicates and select them.

Make sure to select both the records.

Then click on "Merge Records" in the top right corner.

If you have three or four records for the same student, you would need to merge them two at a time.

Once you click on Merge Profiles, you would need to select which profiles you would keep.

In this case, we would keep the one furthest along, which is the enrolment status.

Make sure to select the correct record to keep.

Finally, we would click Merge.

Now we only have one record, which is kept to enrolment status.

The second record has automatically been moved into trashed status.

We can search for it and find it and revive it from here at any point in time, as long as it's not permanently deleted by data retention.

If you search for Robert, you'll also only have one record come up in your search.

The second way to create a duplicate is usually for parents to go into their parent dashboard and then click on new enrollment or new enquiry form.

When the parents then go through the form, instead of selecting the existing record for "Robert," they click on "add a new student" where they write in the information from scratch.

What this does is that it creates a new profile for Robert as a sibling record.

This will show the new "Robert Test" linked as a sibling. And in that case, you would need to go through the final merge process as the parents already are lined up correctly.