Merge People Records

Updated 11/6/24

Sometimes you’ll find duplicate people who have been entered in your site. Person Merge is a super easy way to combine two records. 

The instructions below are for merging 2 student records. The same concept applies when merging staff and volunteer records.

Staff must have a login role of Admin to use the Person Merge feature.

Video Lessons: Admin Level Logins>Admin tab: Person Merge

Decide which record to keep

During the merge, elements from both records will be added onto the final record. But it makes a difference which record you designate as Record/badge ID 1, which is the record you want to keep.

• Record 1 will provide the badge ID, social security number, birthdate, gender, race, and ethnicity. When the SSN on Record 1 is blank, SiD will use the SSN from Record 2 (if there is one).
• Both records supply tests, classes, benchmarks, logs, history items, and attendance hours for the merged record.
• The most recent entries for the student’s name, address, phone, and email will be displayed on the Students>Summary screen of the merged record. They could come from either Record 1 or Record 2. Names and contact info from both records will be retained on the Students>Info screen of the merged record.
• When the Record 1 student photo is blank, the photo from Record 2 will be used if available.

Person Merge steps

1. From the Students tab, search for the student records you want to merge.
2. On the Summary and Info subtabs, compare the records to confirm that the two people are the same. Check visible SSN digits, birthdate, gender, race/ethnicity, and address, phone, and email entries.
   Be certain these are the same people BEFORE you merge! There is no merge "undo" button.
3. Decide which record you want to keep. This will be Badge ID One. Write down the badge IDs for both records, writing a 1 next to the badge ID for Person One (again, the record you want to keep).
   - If you do not work for the MN Dept of Corrections ABE program, continue with Step 4 below.
   - If you do work for the MN Dept of Corrections, follow the directions in the purple box when both student records have the same badge ID. Then go to Step 4.
   
4. Click on the Admin tab, then Person Merge. Complete the form.
   
   • In the Badge ID One box on the left, type the badge ID of the record you want to keep.
   • In the Badge ID Two box: type the badge ID of the record you want to merge into Badge ID One.
     Carefully confirm that you have selected the two students you really want to merge.
     *Double check their names.* <------ Seriously!
   • Click the checkboxes, then type over the characters of their name that are displayed in the text box. Characters are case sensitive.
     • Exception 1: When the last name has only 2 or 3 characters, type only what you see. Do not add a spacebar at the end. Example: The student's last name is Van. "Van" will appear in the confirmation boxes. Type Van, not Van(spacebar).
     • Exception 2: When the last name has 4+ characters, and the 4th character is a blank, you WILL use a spacebar. Example: The student's last name is Del Rio. "Del " will appear in the confirmation boxes. Type Del(spacebar) - 3 characters plus a spacebar, not Del.
5. Click the Merge button.
6. On the next screen, click the "Go To Student Record" link. You will be redirected to the Students>Summary screen of the newly merged record.

After the merge of student records is complete

Check the student name and contact info to be sure it is accurate. Make any adjustments on the Students>Info screen.

Take a look at the  Students>Schedule screen. Make sure the student isn't entered in the same class twice. Try to delete one enrollment. If you cannot, contact SiD Support at [e-mail] for help.

Merge mistakes

If you DO make a mistake and merge the wrong people together, we can unmerge them behind the scenes. As soon as you realize your mistake, do not do any more data entry on the merged record. Send us an email immediately letting us know what happened, including the names and badge IDs of the students. We’ll take of it on our end and let you know when the records are untangled.