The merge view
Overview
The Merge view allows you combine values from records to create a golden record. The number of steps required to complete the process depends on your data structure. The merge process may impact data not directly involved in the merge due to foreign key relationships to other tables. You will be given the opportunity to address each one of these dependencies.
Available actions and view concepts are discussed further in the following headings:
Merge view actions presents an overview of the view's interface.
Steps to merge records walks you through a basic merge scenario to create a golden record.
Relationship dependencies describes how the merge view handles certain foreign key relationships.
Merge view actions
Interaction with the Merge view falls into two basic categories—navigation and value selection. The add-on automatically guides you forward in the merge process, but at times you may need to return to a previous step. Selecting values to merge is pretty straightforward, but there are a couple of available options to help the process along.
See the following headings for more details on these subjects:
Merge view navigation
Navigation in the Merge view is fairly intuitive. The upper-left section of the view contains a dropdown list of all steps required to complete the current merge operation. The bottom of the page includes Next and Back buttons to navigate one step at a time. Depending on your data structure, a merge may involve many steps. This is where the dropdown list provides an advantage by allowing you to jump back to any previously completed step.
You have the ability to preview a record by hovering over its primary key field and clicking the 
icon. You can lock columns which allows you to scroll through others while still viewing the locked column. Click the 
icon when hovering over a column's title. Locked columns stack left to right after the primary key column. Additionally, horizontal scrolling is synchronized so that you can see the same information in both tables at the same time.
Value selection
Selecting values to merge happens in the following ways:
Selecting field values: Click a field to select its value for inclusion in the golden record. If you click the first field of a record, the entire record gets selected. You may want to perform this step first to provide a reference record that will be displayed in the preview section. All subsequent selections are reflected in the preview record at the bottom of the page.
Selecting list values: Some fields, such as enumerations and groups, can contain a list of values. You have control over which of these values are included in the merge. To choose the values, click the field's
icon and select the desired values. The counter shows how many of the possible values are included.
Selecting dependencies: After completing the first page in the Merge view, you will be guided through choosing which dependencies (from related tables) are included in the merge. The add-on presents a different page for each dependency. See Relationship dependencies for more information on dependencies.
Steps to merge records
When merging records, you select the field values you want to include in the new golden record. The first page in the view allows you to select values. Each additional page will allow you to manage how the merge will impact related tables. The number of pages required to complete the merge process can vary depending on your data structure and configuration settings.
To begin the merge process:
Access the merge view in one of the following ways:
When viewing a table: Select the records to include in the merge and from the actions menu choose Match and Merge > Merge records.
After stewardship:
After inline matching:
Click to select the fields you want to merge into the golden record. Clicking a record's primary key selects the entire record. You may want to select the most accurate record first to act as a baseline. Then you can fine tune values by selecting other fields. The choices you make are reflected by the preview at the bottom of the page. Once satisfied, click Next.
This step depends on your data structure and configuration settings:
If this merge will not impact other tables, or your configuration is set to ignore relationship dependencies, the add-on presents you with the Summary page. See the next step for more information.
If other tables can be impacted by this merge, you are presented with a page to select the relationships to update. The values from the pivot record are selected automatically when entering the Merge view after stewardship. If you do not have sufficient permissions to display the dependency, the add-on automatically makes the selection based on the pivot record.
When you reach the Summary step, the add-on provides you an overview of what the merged record will look like. Click Merge to complete the process, or use the navigation dropdown to access previous steps to make changes.
Relationship dependencies
A merge operation can impact related table records. Depending on data structure and add-on configuration, new records may be created, or existing fields updated.
Administrators can configure the following merge behaviors that affect related records:
Allow users to manually update.
Enable the add-on to automatically update.
Ignore relationships altogether.
Relationship tab
The Relationship tab displays information about tables related to a configured table. Administrators can set whether the relationship is used in merge operations. The following table describes the Relationship tab's properties and options:
Property | Description |
|---|---|
Relationship code | Any naming convention without white spaces. |
Relationship name | The relationship name is automatically derived from the label of the related table. |
Relationship management | Manual: Each relationship needs to be selected manually during the merge process. Automatic: Relationships will be automatically selected based on the pivot. None: No relationships are selected. |
Limitations
The add-on can only lookup relationships that exist within the current data model. Other relationships are updated automatically based on any selected pivot record.
There are two cases when the add-on can't automatically update dependant records in the current data model:
When the related record's primary key includes the foreign key of a merged record.
When the related record has a compound primary key.