Overwrite: From Master and From Best Record

From Master and From Best Record are two overwrite operations that explicitly copy a field value from a specific record in the group, rather than calculating a value across all records. They are only available in Overwrite Rules, not in Master Record Rules.

From Master

The From Master operation copies the field value directly from whichever record was designated the master during the Master Record determination phase. The master's value for this field is used as-is in the golden record — no comparison across other records takes place.

When to Use From Master

• You have a trusted primary source and always want to preserve its values for certain fields, regardless of what other records say.
• Identifier fields (internal IDs, account numbers) should always come from the canonical source system.
• You want to guarantee consistency — if the master was chosen because it came from a reliable CRM, use From Master to carry all its key reference fields forward unchanged.

Example: Your master determination rules favor records from your CRM data source. You configure an overwrite rule for AccountID using From Master. The golden record will always carry the CRM's account ID, even if other sources have different identifiers for the same entity.

From Best Record

The From Best Record operation copies the field value from the record with the highest match score in the group. The "best record" is determined by the maximum overall match score across all match definitions — it is not necessarily the same record as the master.

When to Use From Best Record

• You want to pull contact detail fields (email, phone) from the record most confidently identified by the matching engine.
• The master is chosen by data completeness, but the best-scoring record may have fresher or more accurate contact information.
• You want a quality-driven field selection without manually specifying which data source to prefer.

Example: A group of five records contains contact information from several sources. The master was determined by name completeness. However, the record with the highest match score (97) has a verified email address. Configuring EmailAddress with From Best Record copies that verified email into the golden record.

Combining with Conditions

Both operations can be combined with overwrite conditions. For example:

• From Master + Field Is Empty — only copy the master's value if the golden record field is currently null (useful as a fallback).
• From Best Record + Record Is Selected — only use the best-scoring record's value if that record was also manually marked as "Selected" in Match Results.