Merge Student Records

Duplicate Student Records

Sometimes students enroll in an agency, leave for any number of reasons, and then return to the same agency later in the current fiscal year.  Students may also leave in a previous fiscal year and return to the agency in a subsequent fiscal year.  ABE clients with data that was migrated to LACES from a legacy system, or independent literacy agencies who imported student records from a legacy system, may already have existing records for students who left but later returned.  When those students return to the same agency for services, you should NOT enter a new student record.  The student should not have multiple records in the same agency. 

When you enter a student record in your agency that matches the SSN, first/last name, or last name/birthdate/sex of a student already entered in LACES, you will get a Potential Match warning. The warning will not prevent you from entering a duplicate record, but alerts you that a person already exists in your agency with matching data.  Don't ignore the Potential Match warning, but verify if a student record already exists before entering another record.  While it is possible that more than one student has the same last and first name, the likelihood that more than one student has the same last and first name, birthdate, SSN, and sex is slim.  Always verify before continuing to enter a Potential Match record in the same agency.

If you begin a new student intake form and get any of the following “Potential Match” messages, be sure to click the link to determine if the student you are about to enter already has a record, or is a completely new person. 

• Potential match on SSN

• Potential match on Last Name and First Name

• Potential match on Last Name, Birthdate, and Sex

The Potential Match process only detects students with exact data.  If a student's name has changed, for example, or if the original record was entered with Last Name and First Name transposed in the fields, a Potential Match alert will not display.  You may need to search the student records to see if a record already exists for a student who returns to an agency after exiting in a previous or the current FY, since the student may not display on the grid with the Current Fiscal Year filter applied.  Remove the filter and search by last name or first name in the student grid fields.  You may also search the Last Name grid column by the first name, or the First Name grid column by the last name, in case the field values were transposed. 

If a record already exists, you may simply add new assessments, enrollments, and hours to the existing record, and update any fields, such as address and phone numbers.  

Do NOT update or delete:

• The student's intake date.  This date is intended to inform you when the student initially entered your program and should not be updated. 

• The student's initial work history record.  Employment Status is a required field.  Any work history follow-up records may be added, but there must always be an initial work history record.  The initial work history record Start Date typically matches the intake date, since Employment Status is a required student intake field and a work history record is automatically created with the intake date. 

Remember:

Don't ignore the Potential Match alert when entering a new student record.  Verify if a student record already exists before entering a new record. 

Importing Student Records

The Student Import does not go through the "standard" business rules that are triggered when entering records manually.  When a student record has already been imported, but then Last Name, First Name, Birthdate, or Gender is updated on the import file and imported again, a new record will be added.  This may result in duplicate records that may be merged. 

This affects clients who have access to the add-on Student Import. 

Merging

When to Merge Records

Duplicate student records in the same agency may be merged, but you are not required by LACES to merge duplicate records.  Duplicate records typically exist as the result of data migration, or because a student exited in a previous FY and a new record was added when they returned for additional services.  If students with duplicate records do not return and are not receiving current FY services, there may be no need to merge the records.  In those scenarios, it is up to the agency if they want to clean up duplicate records by merging. 

However, records should be merged if a student has duplicate records in an agency where they are receiving services in the current FY.  When duplicate student records exist, it is possible that current FY data has been entered in both records, or important data entered in one record but not the other.  In these cases, the records should be merged so all of the data is in one record. 

Potential Duplicate Students Search

You may search for potential duplicate students prior to entering a new student intake by running the "Potential Duplicate Students" search.  Note that the search, which was added as part of Release 2022.5.0 on 4/15/2022, is intended to be run at the local agencies, not at the SEA.  This is a replaceable search that returns duplicate students according to three separate match types:

Duplicate SSN, or

First Name, Last Name, DOB, Sex, or

First  and Last Name

To run the search:

1. Click the >Searches link at the top left of the student grid. 

2. Expand the General category, if necessary. 

3. Select Potential Duplicate Students or click the Replace button on the search.  (Note that selecting this search replaces any search already applied at the student grid, so by default it runs on all students. It cannot be added to an existing search.)

4. Potential duplicate student records are returned, regardless of FY, based on the duplicate match criteria.

5. Drill down on any of the rows populating # of Students by match type. 

After running the search, you may apply the corresponding shared view "Review Potential Duplicate Student Data." 

1. Click the down arrow on the View field at the top left of the student grid. 

2. Expand the Shared View category, if necessary. 

3. Select the Review Potential Duplicate Student Data view. 

4. The view contains the fields used for potential duplicates

If any students returned from the search are returning for services in the current FY, it is recommended that you first verify that the records are the same student before merging.  

The merge process cannot cannot be undone. 

Also, remember that you cannot delete a student record using the Delete button at the top of the student record if that student was included on prior year NRS Reports.  Doing so would change the numbers so they no longer match what was submitted to OCTAE. Student records can be merged even if they were included on prior year NRS tables because all of the FY Summary data used to generate the tables will be retained in the student record that is kept.

There are several approaches you may take, depending on the amount of data in each record.  

It is possible for more than two records to exist in an agency for the same student, especially if data was migrated to LACES from a legacy system.  In that case, you must first merge two of the records, then merge the resulting record with the other duplicate. For example, if a student has three records in the same agency, you would merge two of the records, then merge with the remaining duplicate record. The following message will display if more than two records were selected before attempting to merge.  

Unable to Merge

Selected Students cannot be merged.

You must have exactly 2 Students in the grid.

Merging Records

Before merging student records, remember that you cannot undo the merge. Be sure you are merging the correct records. 

After you find duplicate records to merge, it is recommended that you:

• Look at the data in each record so you are familiar with the data before merging.  This is an important step so you know what you are merging.   

• Determine if the data in one record is more up-to-date.  For example, if the student name, birthdate, or social security number are different in each record, determine which values are correct.  You can always update data later, but be aware that data for the same student may be incorrect in one of the records. 

To merge records:

1. Go to the student area. 

2. Run the Potential Duplicate Students search if you have not already done so, and drill down on one of the cells on the search rows. 

3. Apply the Review Potential Duplicate Student Data view if you have not already done so. 

4. Subset the records you wish to merge.  Remember that if there are more than two student records, you must merge two records first, then merge with the remaining duplicate record if one exists. 

Open each record and look at the intake date, assessments, enrollments, hours, demographics, and education tabs to familiarize yourself with the data currently in each record before proceeding. Make sure the records are for the same student. 

5. Select Merge Students from the More toolbar menu. 

6. The Merge Students window displays. 

Before proceeding, it is important to understand what displays on the window. 

1 Target Record 

• The record with the earliest Student ID will always display as the Target record, indicated by "Keep and Update."  This record will typically have the earlier intake date. 

2  Source Record

• The record with the most recent Student ID will always display as the Source record, indicated by "Copy From and Delete." This record will typically have the most recent intake date.  All values are automatically selected for this record.  Since this record has the most recent intake date, the student contact information may be more up-to-date.  

3  Panels

• Look at the Student Data panel below as an example. Notice that Overall Status is read only.  This will update appropriately in the merged record based on enrollment. 

• If individual records exist in the student record at any of the panels, the message "Records will be merged" displays. For example, a comment in one student record will not match a comment in the other record, so there is no difference; the comments records will both be added to the merged student record. 

• Only fields with differences are shown.  The message "# field values matched" will display when there are no differences in the data in the fields between the two student records.  

• Open each merge panel to check for differences. 

7. Look at each panel where differences are indicated and decide which values you wish to copy from the student Source record to the student Target Record.  The values selected on the Source record will be copied to the Target record, overwriting the field values in the Target record.  Make sure you select the correct values. 

8. Click Merge and Return. 

9. The merged record displays on the grid. 

After merging:

• Data is merged into the Target record and the Source record is deleted. 

• A new current FY summary for the merged record is automatically generated. 

• All previous FY summaries will display.  If the merged records both had FY summaries for NRS FY 20-21, for example, you will see two FY summary records for that year in the merged student record. 

• Assessments and hours are synced so a new PoP record is added in the merged record (if the student has the required data for a current FY PoP). 

• The read only field "Employment Status at Intake" at the Demographics panel displays the employment status at intake from the record with the earliest intake date.

• The audit log displays records for the data that was created, deleted, or updated as a result of the merge.  Note that the audit log record for the deleted student record as the result of a merge does not show Display Name.

Tip:  When the two records being merged have different programs, be sure to check the desired program at both the Key Info and Education panels in the merge window prior to merging. 

Data Persistence fields

The Data Persistence fields on the student education page are not automatically updated after merging.  These fields are updated each evening as a scheduled job.

• Days in Program - Overall

• Days in Program - Current FY

• Days Enrolled - Overall

• Days Enrolled - Current FY

• Days on Waitlist

Once the records are merged you may enter current FY data to the merged record, such as assessments, enrollments, and hours. 

Records Merged in Error

The merge cannot be undone, either by the user or by LPS tech support.  If you merged records in error, you must review the Audit Log to recreate each record.  However, if the records are from a previous FY, previous FY PoPs and FY summaries cannot be updated. 

ALWAYS VERIFY THAT YOU ARE MERGING THE APPROPRIATE RECORDS.

Cross Agency Tracking

Merging duplicate student records in the same agency is not to be confused with Cross Agency Tracking (CAT).  Clients must opt in to  CAT, which allows limited student data to be matched and copied/linked to another agency in the same LACES client.  The potential match warnings are the same.  If your client has opted into CAT, be sure to click the link to determine if the student you are about to enter already has a record, or is a completely new person, or has an existing record in another agency in the client. 

Last update: 9/27/2023