IM Relationship Resolution Information Center, Version 4.2

Net change utility record comparison

Net change utility compares data on a record-by-record basis breaking each new record into three parts.

Part Definition Action
record key Identifies records that already exist. Uses user-defined number of the leftmost characters of the record.
  • If the key does not match, the record is considered new.
  • If the key matches, net change utility checks the criteria.
record criteria Detects if there is a change in an existing record. The record criteria includes the record key plus a user-defined number of characters to the right of the key.
  • If the criteria does not match, the record is considered a change.
ignored characters Remaining characters in the record Ignored during the comparison process

Example

In this example, a data source has the same customer number in two records. The record key is a 6-character customer number. The record criteria is 26-characters, consisting of the customer number, last name, and first name.

Because the keys match, the net change utility checks the record criteria for more information before deciding if the second record is a change to an existing record or is a duplicate record.

981024Smith		Joe	important customer
991389Clarke Annette	likes the window table
020744Gonzalez Jaime	always wants show tickets
981024Smith  Joseph	likes show tickets


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Last updated: 2009