Duplicate Clients
Hunt down those duplicate clients!
This report uses advanced methods to identify potential duplicates, helping you identify duplicate clients with misspelled names, swapped middle-first names, and even matching aliases. You get to choose whether to include clients with Declined - Anonymous consent, and whether you want to expand your search to other Clusters.
Improve your database's uniqueness today!
Your report just found the client I was looking for in like 30 seconds and I had spent hours last night digging through every cluster we had... That was the best $500 of someone else's money that I've ever spent.
Chris Gorman, Saint John Human Development Council
Identifying Duplicates
It's quite difficult to report on duplicate clients because there are so many variables. It's easy enough to look for two files with an identical name, but what if there really are two John Smiths that have different birthdays? And what if what looks like two different birthdays is the same birthday just entered wrong (i.e. 01-03-1990 and 03-01-1990)?
Because it's really hard to tell whether two clients are actually duplicates or just look like duplicates, this report is intended to provide you a list of potential duplicates that you should then verify, using your human brain.
Here's how we make the list of potential duplicates. This report uses a procedure to identify if two fields sound similar. So for example, "James" and "Jimmy" sound pretty similar, as do "Alan" and "Allen." We perform multiple different checks to identify if clients A and B are potentially duplicates:
The last names for A and B have to sound similar
The first name field for A has to sound similar to the first name, middle name, AKA 1, or AKA 2 field for B
The birth year has to be the same for A and B
Depending on your parameters, we might also check for clusters and consent.
The rules here are pretty liberal so you're likely to end up with some false positives. We thought it was best to err on the side of being too liberal than too narrow. If we were too narrow, you'd miss a lot of actual duplicates. But by being too liberal, the only real annoyance is you might see clients on this report that you know aren't actually duplicates.
Report Features
- Highlights hidden clients
- Matches alternate spellings
- Matches across aliases and highlights those with Declined - Anonymous consent
What is Uniqueness?
Uniqueness, can be thought of as the opposite of duplication. Is every data point only in the database once? For homeless services, the most pertinent data point is unique clients, so: is every client only in the database once?
While communities should strive for 100% unique data, it's actually a very difficult data point to measure because you don't know how many files there actually should be, just how many there are.
Because it's very difficult to measure your uniqueness, a common practice is simply to reduce duplicates whenever they are found, and reduce circumstances that lead to more duplicated files. For example:
Only have one cluster
Disallow Declined - Anonymous consent
Instruct staff to create a client file using the client's legal full name instead of a nickname to reduce confusion
Instruct staff to search for a client file before doing an intake
Included in the ABC De-Duplication Bundle
Get those client files in good shape! The ABC De-Duplication Bundle includes two premium reports focusing handling your duplicates for 20% off! Get both reports, for one affordable price!
Work out those duplication issues! This bundle includes 2 reports that together can help you tackle the problem of duplicated client files in HIFIS:
Reports can be purchased individually or as a bundle for 20% off regular price!
Hunt down those duplicate clients! This report uses advanced methods to identify potential duplicates, helping you identify duplicate clients with misspelled names, swapped middle-first names, and even matching aliases. You get to choose whether to include clients with Declined - Anonymous consent, and whether you want to expand your search to other Clusters. Improve your database's uniqueness today!
Hunt down those duplicate clients! This report uses advanced methods to identify potential duplicates, helping you identify duplicate clients with misspelled names, swapped middle-first names, and eve…
Do you suspect that a client disappeared because they were merged? Wonder how frequently your super users are actually using the merge function? If you want to get a better handle on how clients are being merged in your community, this is the report for you! With two different output options, you can choose to either look for a specific client, or review multiple merges that took place in your community.
Do you suspect that a client disappeared because they were merged? Wonder how frequently your super users are actually using the merge function? If you want to get a better handle on how clients are b…
Frequently Asked Questions
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What version of HIFIS is required to run this report? This report should run on any version of HIFIS version 4.0.57 and higher.
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What happens if the report stops working? This report will be maintained into the foreseeable future. If a software update causes it to stop working, or if we find an error, we'll update the file and let you know there's a new version available, at no additional cost to you.
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How long does this report take to run? The run-time varies depending on how much data is in your database, and how long a date range and how many service providers you select when running the report. However, we have tested the report with large data volumes and it runs quickly and efficiently.
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How do I run this report? Check out our README file.
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Do you suspect that a client disappeared because they were merged? Wonder how frequently your super users are actually using the merge function? If you want to get a better handle on how clients are being merged in your community, this is the report for you! With two different output options, you can choose to either look for a specific client, or review multiple merges that took place in your community.
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