In several places in Advisors Assistant it is necessary to check to see if a contact is already in the database.  Depending on the operation being performed, different actions may be taken.

Here is information about how duplicates are detected. The order in which the comparisons are performed is the order listed.

1.If a Tax ID is supplied and that Tax ID is found in the database, regardless of formatting, the names are considered matching records.  This is the case even if the actual contact's name is different.  Tax ID is not used in this manner in investment downloads since vendors do not always send the Tax ID of the investor.

2.If the name being compared is an Organization, then we only look at Organizations in Advisors Assistant.

3.First, Middle, and Last Names: We use these fields when they are located in both records being compared.  For example, John Smith and John William Smith would be considered NOT a match as far as the name is concerned.

4.Middle Name vs Middle Initial:  When there is a full middle name in one record and only a middle initial in the other record (John William Smith vs John W Smith), these can be considered a match as long as there is only one matching record in Advisors Assistant.

5.If the names being compared have different Primary Producers, they are never a match.

6.If the Date of Birth is in both records, they can override matching names.  Date of Birth is used to reduce the number of matches.

7.Name Suffix: If there is a suffix in both names being compared, Jr, Sr. etc., they are used to reduce the number of matches. If one name is Jr and the other is Sr, they are not a match.  Punctuation is removed.

Remember, these procedures may be slightly modified depending on the operation being performed.