Merging Citizens

Merging Citizens in DataGuard CPM allows you to consolidate duplicate records by combining the consent and preference histories of two Citizens into a single record. This process is particularly useful for maintaining a clean and accurate database, ensuring that all data related to an individual is unified under one Citizen.

How Merging Works

• Primary and Secondary Citizens: During the merging process, you select a "primary" Citizen whose history and current state will be retained. The "secondary" Citizen's consent and preference history is then combined with that of the primary Citizen, resulting in a single, comprehensive record.
• Retention or Deletion: After merging, you have the option to either retain the secondary Citizen in your system or automatically delete it. This decision depends on whether you need to keep the secondary Citizen's reference for any reason.
• Merged Current State: As result of merging the histories, the current state—such as active permissions and preferences—of both Citizens is also in turn merged.
• Irreversibility: Merging Citizens is a permanent action and cannot be reversed. If there is any possibility that you might need to separate the records again in the future, consider using the Linking Citizens feature instead, which offers a reversible way to associate multiple records.

Implementating Merging

• API-Only Process: Merging Citizens can be performed via the API.

Merging Citizens is an essential tool for data consolidation within DataGuard CPM, allowing you to streamline your database by eliminating duplicates while preserving the integrity of consent and preference histories. However, due to its irreversible nature, careful consideration should be given to each merge operation, and alternatives like linking should be considered if reversibility is a concern.