Protection against contact duplication
Duplicate contacts are contacts with multiple cards in Planfix. This results in there being overlapping information that corresponds to one person or company. This is a common problem in CRM systems. Planfix uses several mechanisms to prevent duplicate contacts from being created.
Uniqueness by email address
Planfix doesn't allow users to add contacts or companies with email addresses already being used in the account. This mechanism considers employee email addresses as well as contact and company email addresses. If a user attempts to create a contact with an email address that's already in use in Planfix, the system will return the following message:
Uniqueness check by name
When a user enters a new contact's first and last name, Planfix searches in the background for existing contacts with the same name. If a match is found, a link is provided to the existing contact:
Clicking this link shows the match's information, and the user can decide if they would still like to add the new contact.
The first and last name check works as follows:
- If you enter only a first name for a new contact and leave the "Last Name" field empty, Planfix will search for a match based on word parts.
- Example: let's say you're trying to add a new contact with the first name Max, and there's a contact named Max Jones in the system. Planfix will return Max Jones as a match.
- If you enter the last name but leave the first name field blank, the system will look for an exact match.
- Example: let's say you're trying to add a new contact with the last name Thompson, and there's already a contact named Natalie Thompson in the system. Planfix will not consider Natalie Thompson a match;
- If both the first and last name fields are filled in, both fields will be used to search for a potential duplicate. The first-name search will be done based on word parts, and the last-name search will be done based on an exact match.
- Example: let's say you're trying to add a new contact named Max Smith, and there's a contact named Max Jones in the system. Planfix will return Max Jones as a match.
- Example: let's say you're trying to add a new contact named Jane Thompson, and there's a contact named Natalie Thompson in the system. Planfix will not consider this a match.
Uniqueness check by phone number
As with names, when you enter a phone number, Planfix searches in the background for matches in existing contacts. If a match is found, a link is provided to the existing contact:
Clicking this link shows the match's information, and the user can decide if they would still like to add the new contact.
Important
- Planfix doesn't allow users to add contacts with email addresses that already exist in the system. This is because email addresses can be used to communicate with contacts, and they can be used to access Planfix. Exception: when importing contacts with the option Treat all contacts as new enabled, the system does not check for matches in the existing contact database.
- In all other cases, if there is a match on name, phone number, or some other field, the system will warn you about potential duplication but will leave the decision up to you.
- Duplicate contacts in Planfix can be merged. When this is done, data about the merged contacts that have been accumulated in the system will also be merged.