Prior to initiating the Entity Merge Utility, you need to review, prepare, and back up the entity records.
We recommend having a current data backup whenever you run a procedure that manipulates or changes large amounts of data. Create an archived daily backup of your data files prior to initiating the merge program. The system cannot restore data that the program purges.
Define the data in the key entity record so it will be ready for use once the merge completes. The program moves data from the merge entity to the key entity, but it does not evaluate whether the merged data makes sense. The system does not cleanse or update the merged data.
It is very important to set up the key entity properly prior to running the merge utility, because once the utility has completed processing in the phantom, the system purges the entity records on the Entity Merge/Purge List. The system cannot restore purged data.
For example, review the following items for a customer entity:
Branch access.
Credit parameters.
Entity-specific matrix records you need to define for the key entity.
Customer/vendor specific part numbers you need to define for the key entity.
Check that control maintenance records do not lists any entities you plan to merge. For example, the Consolidated Invoice Reports Remit To control maintenance record should not list any customer that you plan to merge.
Review the entity relationship pre-checks that the program performs, Update records, as needed, ahead of time. The program stops the merge if problems exist in the entity relationships.
Suspend or postpone your site's overnight Phantom jobs, such as CHECK.AR and CHECK.LED, from running during the time that you have scheduled the Entity Merge program. Running the overnight jobs interferes with the merge program and may corrupt your data.
Do not suspend or postpone any daily backups of data.
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