What Is Merge and Survivorship?

After MatchLogic identifies duplicate records in your dataset, the Merge and Survivorship module helps you decide what to do with them. Rather than simply discarding duplicates, you define rules that combine the best information from all matching records into a single, authoritative golden record.

The Merge and Survivorship module showing two tabs: Master Record Rules and Overwrite Rules

Why Survivorship Matters

When you have duplicate records, each copy may hold different — and potentially better — information. For example:

  • Record A has a complete postal address but no phone number
  • Record B has a phone number but an abbreviated address
  • Record C has the full name spelled out, while others have it abbreviated

Survivorship rules let you build one complete record by combining the best fields from all duplicates, rather than arbitrarily picking one record and losing the rest.

Two Phases of Merge

The module works in two sequential phases:

  1. Master Record Rules — Determine which record in a group becomes the initial master, and which values fill each field. Operations like Longest, Max, or Most Popular select the best value field-by-field.
  2. Overwrite Rules — After the master is selected, overwrite rules refine specific fields by pulling in values from other records in the group. You can set conditions so that an overwrite only happens if the current value is empty, or if the source record meets certain criteria.

Tip

You can run merge in stages: configure and execute Master Record Rules first, preview the results, then add Overwrite Rules to fine-tune individual fields.

The Master Record

The master record is the single record that represents the group in downstream processes. In the Match Results module, you can manually designate a master per group using the crown checkbox. If you haven't done that, the Merge and Survivorship rules will determine the master automatically based on which record contributed the most winning field values.

Previewing Before Executing

A preview panel shows you how your rules will transform a sample of 3 groups before you commit. This lets you validate your configuration and catch unexpected results without affecting your actual data.

See Running the Merge Process to execute once your rules are configured.