Duplicating a member and avoiding duplicates

Three tools save you time and keep the database free of double records: copying a member, to register a brother or sister; the checks GestiClub makes while you type and when you save a new member; and the Duplicate contacts tool, which finds and merges the duplicates already there.

To register the brother or sister of a member, start from their record rather than from an empty one: GestiClub takes over the household's data.

1. 1The member's rowtick the box at the start of the row. Only one member row must be selected.
2. 2Open a copyopens the Add a member window, already filled in with the household's data.

1. 1Titletaken over from the copied member.
2. 2First nameempty: type the new member's.
3. 3Last nametaken over.
4. 4Date of birthempty: type it.
5. 5Legal representativesboth representatives are taken over, already linked to their record, with their roles.
6. 6Addresstaken over, like the landline, the nationality and the language.

The rest has to be typed: the gender, the salutation, the AVS number, the email, the mobile and the photo. The club and billing data are not taken over either: groups, subscriptions and role have to be assigned, and the status is Active member. If the copied member belongs to a family, the new member is added to it.

As soon as the first and last name are typed, GestiClub looks for a person with exactly that first and last name; capital letters and accents do not count. It searches among the people who have a record without being members: legal representatives and the contact persons of companies. If a date of birth is already typed, it must match too. When it finds someone, the Person already exists window opens. A member with this name is flagged later, when saving (see "Same name, another date of birth").

1. 1The person foundGestiClub asks you whether it is the same person. If several people match, they are listed with their date of birth and their email.
2. 2No, add a new memberit is another person with the same name: you carry on typing, and the question is no longer asked for this name and this date.
3. 3Yes, convertit is the same person, who is not a member yet: a parent or a contact person, for example. The form is filled in with their data; when saving, their record becomes a member's, without a duplicate, and the people in charge of the contact notifications are told by email (chapter 12: Notifications).

When saving, GestiClub checks the first and last name again, this time without taking the date of birth into account. If a person has the same name, even with a date of birth a few days apart, the Possible duplicate window opens. Nothing is saved until you have chosen.

1. 1The messagethe number of similar records found.
2. 2The record foundname, date of birth, status and email. Compare them with what you typed: a date a few days apart often gives away a typing error.
3. 3Open existingcloses the entry and opens the existing member's record. For a person who is not a member (Non-member tag), the link is called Convert to member: it creates the member on their record, with the data typed.
4. 4Cancelgoes back to the form, to correct what you typed.
5. 5Create anywaycreates a new member. To be kept for true namesakes.

When the first name, last name and date of birth, or the first name, last name and email, exactly match an existing record, it is without any doubt the same person: GestiClub refuses to save.

1. 1The red bannerCould not save, with the reason: "This person already exists", followed by their name.
2. 2The Last name fieldoutlined in red, with the same message.

No button lets you override this: use the existing record. If this person is not a member yet, answer Yes, convert in the Person already exists window.

The checks above prevent new duplicates. To find the ones the database already holds, after an import for example, or because the same person was entered as a parent and then as a member, click Duplicate contacts in the toolbar.

The Duplicate contacts window goes through every record in the database, members or not, and sorts the duplicates into two groups.

1. 1Same personsame first name and same last name, with the same email address or the same date of birth: it is surely the same person, recorded several times.
2. 2Record keptthe oldest record, the one the club has used for the longest. Everything is gathered on it.
3. 3Mergegathers the other record into the kept record, then deletes it. Carries a member or Carries an account shows that this record is a member's or has an access to GestiClub: these are taken over too.
4. 4To reviewrecords that look alike without surely being the same person: same first and last name, shortened first name (Max and Maxime), almost identical first name or date of birth a few days apart. Here, a typing error: Timeo instead of Timéo, born a day later.
5. 5Not a duplicatefor two different people, twins for example: the pair will no longer be suggested.

The merge moves everything to the kept record: children, lists, history, member, invoices and access to GestiClub. The empty fields of the kept record are completed with those of the other record. If both records have an access, GestiClub keeps the active one, otherwise the oldest.