What’s new?

We have introduced two new guided merge wizards: Contact By ID and Contact By Duplicate Records, allowing users to merge individual or bulk duplicate Contact records through a step-by-step wizard with appropriate safeguards. Person By Duplicate Records and Person By Id have also been added for individual or bulk Person merges by name, email, or postcode. Dual-role Applicants are now automatically excluded from all Applicant merge operations. Record IDs are displayed throughout all merge wizards at selection, confirmation, and results stages for easier verification. Warning notes have also been updated across the Merge Suite to advise users to transfer Portal IDs before completing merges where a source record has an associated Portal Account.

How do I start using it?

Merge Suite - Exclusion of Dual Role Applicants (Applicant and Contact)

Applicants who also hold a Contact role (Dual Role records) are now automatically excluded from merge operations within the Merge Suite. When navigating to Tools ; Merge Suite ; Applicant By ID or Applicant By Duplicate Records and reaching the applicant selection stage in the wizard, these records will be excluded from the merge process, ensuring data integrity and preventing the relationship between applicant and contact records from being broken.

Merge Suite - Person By ID

We have introduced a new Person By ID option within the Merge Suite, allowing users to merge Person records individually using a guided wizard. When navigating to Tools ; Merge Suite ; Person By ID, a four-step wizard will appear, walking you through the following stages:

User Agreement - Review and acknowledge the recommended actions before proceeding with any merge operation.
Person By ID Entry - Select the Person record to merge and the Person record to merge into, using the standard Person picklist. Only Persons within your accessible sectors will be available for selection.
1. The following records will be automatically excluded from both picklists:
  1. Persons who also hold an Applicant or Contact role.
  2. Persons flagged for Right to be Forgotten (RTBF).
  3. Persons included in Mailshot Send Recipients.
Confirmation - Review your selection before starting the merge. The same Person cannot be selected in both fields.
Results - A confirmation message will indicate whether the merge completed successfully or if any errors occurred. If the merge fails, you will be advised to retry or raise a Support Case if the issue persists.

Merge Suite - Contact By ID

A new 'Contact By ID' option is now available within the Merge Suite, allowing users to merge Contact records individually using a guided wizard. When navigating to Tools ; Merge Suite ; Contact By ID, a four-step wizard will appear, walking you through the following stages:

User Agreement: The user has to read and acknowledge the risks and recommendations before proceeding.
Contact By ID Entry: The user selects the source contact (Merge) and the target contact (Into) using searchable picklists.
1. Only contacts and sectors the user has access to are displayed.
Confirmation: The user reviews the merge details and initiates the operation. A loading state is displayed while the merge is in progress.
Results: The outcome of the merge is displayed, including success, failure, or server error messages.

The following protections are in place to prevent data conflicts:

Contacts integrated with Sage Line 50, CloudCall, Pay and Bill, or Merit Payroll are excluded from the source picklist.
Contacts with a dual role (contact and applicant) are excluded from the source picklist.
If the source contact has a portal account, the Portal ID must be transferred to the target record before the merge can be completed.

When two contacts are merged, here is what happens to the associated person record:

If the contact being removed is the only contact linked to that person, the person record will also be deleted.
If the person has other contacts, their person record will remain unchanged.
If the same person appears as a contact at two different clients, the contacts will be merged into one and the person record will remain unchanged.

Merge Suite - Person By Duplicate Records

Users with the Permission to use the Merge Suite can now merge duplicate Person records using the new Person By Duplicate Records option, available under Tools ; Merge Suite.

The merge wizard guides users through five steps:

User Agreement: Users must acknowledge the recommended precautions before proceeding, including backing up data and avoiding use during business hours.
Search Criteria: Users select how duplicates are identified by choosing a Match By option (Name, Email, or Postcode) and optionally narrowing results by Sector.
Person By Duplicate Records Entry: Users select one or more duplicate Persons to merge and choose the target record to merge them into. The picklists are filtered based on the criteria set in the previous step.
1. Only simple Person records are eligible for this merge — dual-role Persons (those who are also an Applicant or Contact), as well as Persons linked to Mailshot Send Recipients or pending deletion requests, are excluded from selection
Confirmation: Users review the merge details before clicking Start Merge. A progress message is displayed while the merge runs. The wizard must remain open until the process completes.
Results: Users are informed whether the merge completed successfully, partially failed, or encountered a server error, with guidance to raise a Support Case if issues persist.

Merge Suite - Contact By Duplicate Records

We have introduced a Contact By Duplicate Records merge wizard, allowing users to merge Contact records in bulk without the need for manual record updates.

When we navigate to Tools and expand Merge Suite, a new Contact By Duplicate Records option is now available, listed alphabetically alongside the existing merge types.

If a merge of any type is already in progress, a notification is displayed and the wizard will not open until the existing merge has completed.

The wizard follows a five-step process:

User Agreement: the user must acknowledge the standard Merge Suite recommendations and confirm they accept responsibility before proceeding.
Search Criteria: the user selects how duplicates are identified, choosing to match by Name, Email, or Postcode, and optionally narrows the search to specific sectors.
Contact Selection: the user selects one or more source Contacts from a picklist that only surfaces records where at least two duplicates are found based on the criteria chosen in Step 2.
1. Contacts integrated with Pay and Bill, Merit Payroll, Sage Line 50, or CloudCall, as well as dual-role Contact/Applicant records, are excluded.
2. A note is displayed reminding the user that if the source record has a Portal Account, the Portal ID must be transferred to the target record before completing the merge.
Confirmation: a summary message is displayed confirming the source and target records before the merge is started. Once initiated, a loading message is shown and the user is advised not to refresh or close the wizard.
Results: on completion, the outcome is displayed — confirming full success, listing any individual records that failed to merge, or reporting a full failure with guidance to raise a Support Case if the issue persists.

Merge Suite - Record IDs Displayed in Merge Wizards

We have introduced record ID visibility across Steps 2, 3, and 4 of the Applicant, Client, Person, and Contact By ID merge wizards, as well as the Attributes, Attribute Master, List of Values, Nationality, and Source merge wizards.

When we navigate to Step 2 of any of the above merge wizards, the record ID is now displayed alongside the record name in both the Source and Target fields, for example: Filed As (Object ID).

When we navigate to Step 3, the confirmation message now includes the record IDs for both the source and target records, displayed as follows: 'Merge 'Filed As (Object ID)' into 'Filed As (Object ID)' and delete Filed As (Object ID)?'

When the merge completes successfully and Step 4 loads, the success message now includes the record ID, displayed as follows: '[Merge Type] Merge is complete. The [Merge Type] 'Filed As (Object ID)' is now removed.'

This allows consultants to confirm that the correct records are being merged before proceeding.

Merge Suite - Portal Account Handling During Client and Applicant Merges

We have introduced additional safeguards and guidance for Client and Applicant merges where Portal Accounts are involved.

When we attempt to merge a Client record that has a linked Contact with an associated Portal Account, or an Applicant record with an associated Portal Account, the merge is blocked for the source record to prevent portal access from being broken for associated contacts. This applies to both By ID and By Duplicate Records merges.

When we navigate to the relevant step of the merge wizard, the notes displayed have been updated to include a reminder that if the source record has a Portal Account, the Portal ID must be transferred to the target record before completing the merge. The updated notes appear as follows:

Applicant By ID and Applicant By Duplicate Records (Step 2 / Step 3) – the existing notes around stored documents, compliance docs, work history, and payroll integrations are retained, with the Portal ID transfer reminder added.

Client By ID (Step 2) and Client By Duplicate Records (Step 3) – the existing notes around payroll integrations and Organisational Chart records are retained, with the Portal ID transfer reminder added.