Skip to main content

Merging Data in Planhat

If you have duplicate data in Planhat, you can use some of our tools to merge those records

Christian Dreyer avatar
Written by Christian Dreyer
Updated over a month ago

Planhat's API and database largely prevent creation of forbidden duplicates. Planhat considers records to be duplicates if they either:

  • have the same sourceId on the same model (e.g. you have 2 End Users with the same sourceId), or

  • have the same externalId and are associated with the same Company (or if the records in question are Companies, if these Companies have the same externalId).

The rules for what is considered a forbidden duplicate, and how Planhat handles attempts to import duplicate data, are explained in greater detail in this article and in our API docs.

If you, for any reason, have duplicate data in Planhat, this may cause problems when attempting to sync with external systems, be it through integrations or via our API.

Records with duplicate Unique Identifiers (UIDs) can therefore be merged using our Powertools for merging forbidden duplicates. You can also merge some records individually.

Where to find Powertools in upgraded Planhat

In upgraded Planhat (ws.planhat.com), you can access the "Merge Duplicate Models" Powertool for each model by:

  1. Going to the "Data" Global Tool

  2. Selecting your choice of model from the column on the left-hand side

  3. Clicking the "Powertools" tab

For example:

How does the Merge Powertool work?

Order of Merge Process

Here you decide which keyable to be processed first in the merge process. This is an important detail. For example, if you first process by sourceId, and then by externalId, then after all duplicate sourceIds are merged, it may be that there are no longer any externalId duplicates. This would be the case if any duplicate externalId values were merged into other records while merging on sourceId.

Prioritise Retained Data By

Here you can set a numeric or date value that you want to use to determine the relative importance of duplicate records. For example, if you have one Enduser created on January 1st 2020, and another that was created on January 1st 2022, then you may generally want to prioritise data on the old record over the new record. In order to prioritise by the oldest created date, you would simply pick "created date" and "ascending", meaning that the smallest date value is given highest priority.

What data is merged using the Powertool?

The Powertool merges all fields on duplicate records on the selected model. In other words, Planhat will first identify records that have the same sourceId, or the same externalId on the same Company, and will then populate a single duplicate record with data from the other duplicates. This includes:

  • fields of any type - including list, multipicklist, team member, team members

📌 Please note that User Activities and Custom Metrics will not be merged; instead, the record that is "retained" through your priority setting will also retain its metrics.

Alternative: merging from Profiles

Sometimes, you come across duplicates while browsing the platform. Rather than merging all data in bulk, according to Planhat's de-duplication rules, you may want to merge the record individually. This is available for Companies and End Users.

In order to do this, go to the ellipsis in the top right of the Company or End User Full-Page Profile, and select "Merge with other company" or "Merge with other contacts" for Companies and End Users, respectively.

You can read more about merging individual records here for Companies, and here for End Users!

Click the image to view it enlarged

Did this answer your question?