Cross Post from: http://i3.infinityinfo.com/blogs/entry/excluding-incorrectly-matched-duplicates-in-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011
With the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Q4 Service Update (Rollup 5), our friends in Redmond have added two nifty new features to the duplicate detection rules: “Ignore Blank Values” and “Exclude Inactive Matching Records.”
Since the inception of Microsoft Dynamics CRM duplicate detection, it has been nearly impossible to build a stable duplicate detection rule that handled scenarios where either a record was merged and deactivated, or where the fields being checked for duplicates contained null values. Not anymore! Now with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Q4 Service Update (Rollup 5) enhancements, these two duplicate detection scenarios have been addressed. I’ve explained them briefly below, based on test cases that address the scenarios:
“I have merged two contacts into one record, but the inactive record still shows up in the duplicate check when I modify the current record.”
This was a common scenario that occurred because the duplicate check rules did not factor in the “Active” status, so merged records became duplicates. Simply adding “statecode” or “statuscode” to the match conditions did not work, because new records would also be ignored. Microsoft has fixed this with the addition of this new flag, “Exclude Inactive Matching Records,” which filters out all matches to inactive records when it is checked.
“I am getting thousands of duplicates when the wizard pops up, but they don’t make sense.”
This issue usually occurred when admins would create duplicate detection rules against fields that weren’t “Business Required,” thus causing unwanted duplication, because Microsoft Dynamics CRM would match on the field exactly as it was, without ignoring nulls. With the addition of this new flag, “Ignore Blank Values,” you can still match on things like email for a contact without making the field required. Since we know that we won’t always have an email address for every single contact, this will help with the common complaint that arises during configuration of contact duplicate detection rules.
These two enhancements are sure to help alleviate some common pain points with the out of box duplicate detection wizard. You will find these helpful additions in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online right now, and for On-Premise versions with Rollup 5 applied.