QUICK TIPS
Avoiding Duplicate Members

The Member Tracking System provides numerous warnings about possible duplicate members, contacts and staff/volunteers being added to the system.  Duplicate people will occur only if those warnings are ignored and the possible duplicates are not reviewed. 

1. When adding new members into the Member Tracking System you can choose:  
   Add a New Member in a new household or
   Add another member to the ______ Household
   
   Choose the Add a new member if this is the first member in the household. 
   
   Choose the Add another member to the ______ Household if the new member is a sibling of an existing member.  You would need to choose the sibling on the Members form first and then click on the New Member button.  This will allow a new sibling to be added to the correct sibling that is already in the database.
    

2. Once you choose either option above, you will type in the First and Last Name of the new member and push enter on your keyboard.  The system automatically reviews the entire database for duplicates based on Last Name and First Initial of the First Name. 
   If there are any possible duplicates you will see the screen below.  This screen includes: the Household Name, Address, shows if the person in the database is a Member or Contact or Staff, shows their Age and DOB (Date of Birth).   
    

3. If the person you are entering into the database is a possible match to someone listed then you will click on that persons name and click the Jump to this Member button at the bottom of the Add New Member form.  This will take you to the existing person’s record so you can then UPDATE their record and avoid entering a duplicate person into the program.
    

4. If you choose not to review the possible duplicate record and click the Continue with New Member button then you will see the following message:   "Possible Match Found   There is at least one member with a similar name.  Are you sure this is not a duplicate member?  (Click 'No' to review the possible duplicates.)"

If you answer Yes then you are indicating that this person is NOT a duplicate member and the program will allow you to continue to add that member into the database.

If you answer No then you are indicating that this person IS a duplicate member and you can then click on the person’s name that is a possible duplicate and click on the Jump to this Member button.

NOTE: You can optionally look up a member in the Find dropdown on the Members form by Last Name, First Name, Contact Last Name, Contact First Name, Address and many other choices to see if a person is already in the database before you click on the New Member button.

Vision Computer Programming Services, Inc.
685 Main Street, Suite C
Safety Harbor, FL 34695
(888) 425-6964
Email: email@visioncps.com 
Web Page: www.visioncps.com

Contents Copyright ©2010 Vision Computer Programming Services, Inc.