Introduction
Imports that Add or Update data for existing Student records must first match the imported row of data to an existing Student. Only if an exact match is established, then then the record will be added or updated. How the matching is performed depends on the particular import and is documented in the "Matching" section of the import instructions. Additional information on the matching algorithm is listed below.
"Potential" vs "Exact" Matching
To aid in troubleshooting import results, LACES will identify for each row whether the Student was successfully matched and to what degree:
Potential Match - if some of the fields match an existing Student record, but there was insufficient match criteria met to determine that there was an exact match, the status "Potential Match" will be listed. The fields that did match an existing Student along with the Student ID will be listed in the "Message" column of the import results.
Exact Match - if enough match criteria is met, then the record will be processed and the status will show either "Added" or "Pre-Existing".
"No Match" - if not enough information matched to any Student in the Agency or Client, the record will be skipped and the status will say "No Match".
Exact Matches based on IDs
Matches based on IDs are considered definitive and will cause an exact match with either no additional information or just birth date as listed below. NOTE that each import defines which IDs are allowed and used for matching. See the "Matching" section of the import.
[Student ID] - LACES unique identifier for a Student within an Agency
[Person ID] - LACES unique identifier for a Person within an Agency
[External ID] - Client-provided ID. Usually provided during initial data loading and represents a unique ID in a client-managed data system.
[Student Unique ID] - arbitrary unique ID that can be added/edited for each Student.
[SSN] AND [Birthdate] - social security number and birthdate.
[GED Candidate ID] AND [Birthdate] - the Pearson GED candidate ID set in Pearson VUE and birthdate.
[HiSET Customer ID] AND [Birthdate] - the HiSET ID and birthdate.
[TABE Student ID] AND [Birthdate] - the DRC TABE Student ID and birthdate.
[CASAS Student ID] - the CASAS TOPSPro Enterprise Student ID
Exact Matches based on Extended Data
[First Name] AND [Last Name] AND [Birthdate] AND any of the following:
Phone, or
Address, or
[First Name] AND [Last Name] AND [Email] AND any of the following:
Phone, or
Address
[First Name] AND [Last Name] AND [Birthdate] AND [Gender]
NOTE: this match criteria is included based on the specific import and Client configuration. See "Matching" notes for the import.
Accents and Address Normalization
Name matches do not consider spaces and accents. E.g., “De Luca” = “Deluca” = “De-Luca” = “Dé Lucá”
Name matches consider swapped first and last names. E.g., First = Last, and Last = First, is considered a match.
Phone matches consider swapped fields. I.e., if a phone number of any type (home, cell, work, other) matches a number of any other type, it is considered a match.
Address matches remove all spaces and punctuation. Common address abbreviations are normalized prior to matching (e.g., “St.”, “St”, “Street”).