Matching records using system rules

When you are creating or editing an import specification that is aligned with an i2 Analyze schema, you can tell the import wizard to use system match rules to identify duplicate system records on your chart, and in the Information Store.

About this task

When you use system rules to identify and resolve duplicate information, you limit the unnecessary creation of new records. For example, your incoming data might contain details about a person that match with a record in the Information Store. If that record was ingested from an external source, it is regarded as system-governed. Analyst's Notebook selects the system record for that person entity rather than creating a new record. If your data matches with a record that is uploaded by another analyst, that record is used instead of creating a duplicate. Missing values in analyst-governed records can be enriched by a range of incoming data, whereas system-governed records gain security and source reference updates. The system rules are defined by your system administrator. For link matching, the rules are set to exact matches on link direction, and match with the same pair of end records.

Procedure

  1. Click the checkbox to select System Matching.
    The wizard compares the property values that you assigned in Assign Columns to the system rules. If the system rules require further assignments, a flag appears next to System Matching.
  2. Hover your mouse pointer over the flag to see a detailed message about your import.
    You can proceed with your import without assigning the required property values, although revisiting your import design at this stage can improve the quality of your record matching. For example, in your import design you might have assigned a property value of Last Name to a Person entity. If you have a system rule that looks for a match on Last Name, this identifies matches in your import data and in the match locations you select. However, if the system rule specifies Last Name and Passport Number, the wizard tells you which value is not assigned. You can return to Assign Columns and add more property values to satisfy the requirements of the system rules before you run the import.
  3. Click the checkboxes to select the locations to include in record matching. The import process uses the system rules to identify matches in the incoming data, with Information Store records, and on your target chart.
    Note:
    When imported records match with multiple records in the Information Store, Analyst's Notebook resolves matches in the following order of preference:
    • System-governed records
    • Records with the greatest number of properties used by the rule(s) conditions
    • Records with the greatest number of properties
    • The record with the earliest created time stamp.

Results

When you run the import, a progress window is displayed. If matches are found, the import is paused. Another window is displayed that shows you the number of matches between the imported data and records from the locations you selected. This information is to help you understand what is happening to your records during the import process and what other actions you might take. For example, if your import data matches with records in the Information Store, you might want to use the Get Matches function to identify them.

What to do next

Click Continue to proceed with the import. When the import completes, a message is displayed to show timing details and the numbers of records that were created or replaced. Alternatively, you can click Cancel to end the import and return to the chart.