Finding and resolving matching entities

Identify possible matching entities on the chart and resolve the potential matches by inspecting the results and deciding what action to take.

About this task

Procedure

  1. Click the Analyze tab, and click Find Matching Entities on the ribbon menu.
    The Find Matching Entities pane opens.
  2. Select the type of matching you want from the drop-down list.
    OptionDescription
    Smart Matching The semantic type that is assigned to the entity is used as the basis for the match. For example, the entity types Doctor, Male, and Anonymous might all be assigned the Person semantic type. Common properties of people such as national identifier and date of birth are then examined to find potential matches. Smart matching considers a broad range of criteria, including attribute instances and database properties that are assigned the same semantic types. You can specify a threshold to indicate how strong the match must be and you can choose which entities to include in the search.
    Smart Matching Against Selection Similar to Smart Matching, however chart items are matched only against the current selection on the chart surface. For example, if the entity Danny KENT is the only entity that is selected on the chart, matches are made only against Danny KENT.
    Label Matching A specialized form of entity matching that compares entity identities and labels. No two entities can have the same identity but identities can differ by letter case or by their digits only. For example, you can search for identities that have matching letters, excluding letter case and digits.
    Previously Linked Matches Search your chart to find matches that you previously found and preserved on the chart by adding a Match link between them. You can find matching entities, ignoring any previously linked entities, as many times as you like. When everything of interest is linked, use Previously Linked Matches to retrieve all the resulting links from your previous searches.
  3. To set up the search criteria for the type of entity matching that you select, click Setup.
    The Setup dialog for your selected matching type opens.
  4. Select your setup options, for example set the threshold for Smart Matching, or the character matches for Label Matching.
  5. Click Find.
    Any matches are displayed in a tree view in the Matched Sets area of the Find Matching Entities pane.
  6. Use the tools in the Matched Sets area to resolve the matches.
    Note: You can run Find Matching Entities as many times as you like with different options and different setups.