What is Duplicate Management in Salesforce?

Duplicate Management is a feature in Salesforce that helps in managing duplicate records in the system. It is a tool that allows administrators to define rules to prevent duplicate records from being created in the system. With Duplicate Management, you can enforce rules on specific objects, such as leads, contacts, accounts, or any custom object.

Duplicate Management in Salesforce is a multi-step process that involves the creation of matching rules, duplicate rules, and reports. Matching rules define the criteria for identifying potential duplicates, while duplicate rules specify the actions to be taken when a duplicate is found. Reports provide a summary of all duplicate records and actions taken by the system.

How Duplicate Management Works in Salesforce?

When a user creates a new record in Salesforce, the system checks for potential duplicates based on the matching rules defined by the administrator. If a potential duplicate is found, the system takes the action specified in the duplicate rule. Duplicate rules can be set to block the creation of a new record, alert the user, or allow the record to be created.

Duplicate rules can be set to enforce sharing rules, which means that the rule will only search for potential duplicates in the pool of records available to the user based on their profile. This helps to ensure that users only see records that they have access to and prevents them from accidentally creating duplicate records.

Duplicate rules can also be set to run in system mode, which means that they will ignore sharing rules and search for potential duplicates in all records in the system. This is useful in cases where administrators need to perform bulk operations or when users need to create records outside of their assigned region.

Matching rules define the criteria used to identify potential duplicates. You can define the matching rules based on specific fields, such as name, email, or phone number. You can also define more complex rules that consider multiple fields and use custom logic.

Once a duplicate record is identified, the system takes the action specified in the duplicate rule. This can include blocking the creation of the new record, alerting the user, or allowing the record to be created.

Best Practices for Duplicate Management in Salesforce:

• Define clear criteria for matching rules: It is essential to define clear criteria for matching rules to ensure that potential duplicates are accurately identified. Use a combination of standard and custom fields to define matching rules and avoid using fields that are frequently changed or updated.

• Choose the right action for duplicate rules: The action specified in the duplicate rule should align with your business requirements. Consider the impact on users and data quality when selecting the action for the duplicate rule.

• Avoid using profiles in duplicate rules: Profiles should not be used in duplicate rules as they can cause conflicts with sharing rules and lead to inaccurate results. Instead, use roles, groups, or permission sets to control access to duplicate rules.

• Monitor and review duplicate records regularly: Regularly monitor and review duplicate records to ensure that they are being correctly identified and managed. Use reports to track the number of duplicate records and the actions taken by the system.

Conclusion:

Duplicate Management is an important feature in Salesforce that helps in managing duplicate records in the system. By defining matching rules and duplicate rules, administrators can prevent users from creating duplicate records and ensure data accuracy. With proper configuration and best practices, duplicate management can help to improve data quality and increase user productivity.