#24 Find & Combine Duplicate Names

Did you know that Advisors Assistant has a feature that allows you to search for any possible duplicate names in your database and then combine those records if necessary? You can globally combine all found duplicates or choose one by one to combine the names or leave them alone.

If you have a lot of duplicates, you can use the Find and Combine Possible Duplicates utility. To get to this utility, just go to the Tools menu and click Find and Combine Duplicate Names. This feature will search your entire Advisors Assistant database to locate possible duplicate names. The routine uses the First, Middle and Last Names, Date of Birth, Tax ID, and will use the Primary Producer to determine possible duplicates. It is up to you as the user if you would like to combine the names. You can either globally combine all found duplicates OR if you only have one set of names to combine, you can use the Combine Names Wizard.

With the Combine Names Wizard, you would decide which record should be the “surviving name” and which one should be merged into that surviving record. When you combine names, all of the information (addresses, phone numbers, notes, etc.) from the “name to combine” will be added to the “surviving name” record. You may end up with some address or phone number duplicates but those are easy to delete. If duplicate insurance and investments are found, the duplicate will be deleted.

Please keep in mind that combining names is irreversible so you should make a backup before you perform this function in case you combine the wrong names.