Product: ImportOmatic
Description: Address Processing Rules are available under the Profile Navigation pane processing options within each profile in ImportOmatic. Setting these options allow the user to control address processing behavior. The range of control can include using the Similarity Simulator to indicate how sensitive IOM is to changes presented by incoming addresses as opposed to an existing address on the constituent record.  The user can also decide how to handle addresses regardless of the Similarity Score. Additional rule settings will also allow control over how IOM will handle a previous address when a new address record is being established.

Version: 3.0 and above

Environment: All


Answer:


*Settings on this screen do not affect duplicate search results; they merely determine what happens with address information after a match in Raiser’s Edge has been selected. 









If the constituent is new to RE, ImportOmatic will automatically add the incoming address to the new record.

The new address will contain whatever information you have defined in your Field Map, Virtual Fields, and Defaults.

 

If the constituent exists in RE, ImportOmatic should:

There are three options for handling addresses when an existing constituent is being updated.

The following options apply to constituent addresses and relationship addresses.  

 

Always add incoming address as a new address, regardless of existing address on record.

Select this option to add the incoming address as a new address without making any changes to existing addresses and without any consideration as to whether the new address is a possible duplicate of an existing address.  The new address will become the preferred address unless the field mapping includes the Preferred value mapped to No.

 

Always pause the import to show Advanced Address Processing form.

Select this option to use the interactive Advanced Address Processing form (AAP) for each and every imported address.  The AAP provides the user with the opportunity to make a quick but accurate decision on address changes by bringing all the relevant address information together in one place and providing four buttons to allow the user to take the proper action.  See Advanced Address Processing for more information about this feature.

 

Compare the incoming address to existing addresses on the record and assign a Similarity Score.

Select this option to calculate an address similarity score between the incoming address block and each of the constituent’s addresses and determine IOM’s behavior based on the score.

 

The incoming address block is compared to each of the existing addresses on the constituent record, and the existing address (or addresses) receives a Similarity Score.  You can define how ImportOmatic should behave, based on which range the score falls within.  If a record has multiple addresses falling in different ranges, the highest applicable range's action will take precedence.  If multiple addresses fall within that highest range, the import will stop to defer to your judgment, unless you select the following option:

 
If multiple addresses qualify, autopick based on address type or if one is preferred

If you have multiple copies of the same address on an existing record, you will see many results with very similar scores, within the same range.  By default, IOM will stop to show that you have 2 or more addresses within the range, unless there is a single address within a higher range.  By selecting this option, you advise IOM to select the address that has the same address type as your incoming address.  If no matching address types exist on the record, IOM will attempt to select the preferred address.  If the preferred address falls in a lower scoring range, IOM will not be able to auto-pick it and will display the addresses for your to decide during the import.

 

Setting the Similarity Score ranges

The Similarity Score ranges only apply if you have selected the option to "Compare the incoming addresses to existing addresses on the record and assign a Similarity Score." There are two sliding bars that allow you to set a low, middle, and high range of scores for address handling.  You may move the bars together to create just two ranges, as well.  This allows you to set varying rules, depending on how similar the incoming address is to your existing addresses, thus speeding up your importing process.

 

The Similarity Score rules only apply if the city, state, and zip code match the existing address(es) on the constituent's record.  If the city, state, or ZIP/postal code do not match on an address, IOM will first look to see if there are any other addresses on the record that do have matching city, state, and ZIP/postal code.  If so, those will be scored using the rules below and the non-matching address(es) will be ignored.  If no addresses on the record have the same city, state, and ZIP/postal code, IOM will apply the action defined in the lowest Similarity Score range. 

 

By default, IOM will set your ranges as 0 - 49 (Add New), 50 - 84 (Show Me), and 85 - 100 (Ignore).  This means addresses that are very dissimilar will be automatically added as new records, somewhat similar will be presented to the user during the import, and very similar addresses will be left as-is in Raiser's Edge.  You may adjust the scores and actions, based on the quality/recency of the data you are importing compared to your database.  When setting the scores and actions for your low, middle, and high ranges, consider how you would handle these types of matches when reviewing addresses yourself.  Review Similarity Score for more information on how scores are assigned.

 

Ignore

The incoming address will not be imported, and the existing addresses will be left as-is.  Note that phone and email address information will always be processed even if address information is ignored.

 

Show Me

The import will pause to show the Advanced Address Processing (AAP) screen.  The AAP provides the user with the opportunity to review the address matching and make a case-by-case decision on how to update the constituent's address information.  See Advanced Address Processing for more information about using this feature.

 

Add New

The incoming address will be added as a new address.  The new address will become the preferred address unless the field mapping includes the Preferred value mapped to No.

 

Update

The incoming address will overwrite the existing, matching address.  This option will apply if there is a single matching record in this range, or if auto-pick is enabled and successfully picks a single matching address to update.  Otherwise, the AAP will display, allowing the user to decide how to update the record.

 

To ensure you do not receive false alerts due to zip versus zip+4 differences, please make sure all United States country records are linked to the United States ISO Name in Raiser's Edge, under Config > International.  Additionally, under Tools > User Options > General, mark the option to use long descriptions for display and data entry.  If that setting conflicts with your preferred user options, you may consider creating a user name specific to running imports through ImportOmatic.

 

 

Ignore new addresses with no address block (email and phone numbers will still be processed)

If importing records with no address block, or address lines, select this box to ignore these addresses. When importing new city, state, or zip these will be seen as a new address and will try to update; checking this box will ignore those addresses.

 

Email and phone updates will still be processed.

 

Similarity Score

When updating an existing constituent, IOM compares the new address block value with existing values to determine a similarity score.  Similarity score is  calculated using the Levenshtein Distance, which measures the number of individual character changes required to change one string into another.  Length of the address block also plays a part in the score.  For instance, a change of a single character will be a bigger factor in the similarity score with an address block of 10 characters than it will with an address block of 30 characters.  

The similarity score is based only on the address block.  IOM views any changes in city, state, or ZIP/postal code values as significantly different.  For this reason, if the city, state, or ZIP/postal code is different, IOM will automatically consider that address significantly different, and apply the lowest scoring range's action, if no matching addresses exist on the record.  The exception to this rule is for ZIP codes where the only difference is the existence of a “plus four” code on one of the addresses. 

 

 

The Address Similarity Simulator allows you to experiment with the sensitivity levels of the similarity score using the same criteria used during actual import processing.  To open the simulator, click on Tell me more about the Similarity Score.  Enter two variations of an address block and click the Test button to see the similarity score.

 

Continue testing scores until you can determine the similarity score thresholds with which you are most comfortable.  Keep in mind that this score only applies if the city, state, and ZIP/postal code are matches already, so there is a preliminary level of matching applied before the score is even calculated.  Once you are comfortable with a score(s), adjust the sliding scale and low/middle/high actions to match.










The below refers to IOM versions previous to 3.0:


Calculate Address Similarity Score. If new address scores below the Address Similarity Score threshold:


This option is in place to allow a selection to be made based on the following:


A. Always add new addresses for constituent record types

B. Show advanced address processing form

C. Always ignore new address information

D. Update Existing addresses that meet or exceed the Similarity Score with the new address data


In order to decide which option is best, the address data that is being imported should be considered.


Option A - "Add as a new address", will add each address that is mapped in the data file to be imported as the Preferred Home address unless you have mapped another type for the address or designated that the incoming address should NOT be the preferred address in your profile mapping.


Option B - "Show advanced address processing form", will allow the advanced address processing form window to appear when there is a "significant change" occurring within the address line. The advanced address processing form allows new address information being presented to the constituent record to be viewed, edited, or added with the user's approval instead of automatically adding without any input from the user, such as what occurs with Option A.


Option C - "Always ignore new address information", this option may be selected when the address is being mapped in the profile for matching purposes only and does not need to be updated to the database. This option will allow all address information, although mapped, to be ignored and not added to the database during the importing process.


Option D - "Update existing addresses that meet or exceed the Similarity Score with the new address data", this can be selected in addition to the above options. The above options are active when the new address data is below the similarity score. This option will update the existing address when the score is above the threshold.


There is also a check box located at the bottom of the "Addresses" processing rule options pane titled "Ignore New Addresses with No Address Block" - This option will allow IOM to skip prompting regarding blank addresses.


Making selections regarding the previous address: 


If a new address is being designated, IOM allows options to be set for how to handle the previous address under "New Preferred Address" in the profile navigation pane.


The options available in this section are as listed below (you may select as many of these options as needed):


A. Uncheck "Send Mail to this address" - This option will allow the Send Mail to this address button to be deselected on the previous address, so that it will no longer appear as an address where mail can be sent.


B. Set "Type" to (drop down table of address types available with this option) - This option will allow a type such as "previous address" or "former address" to be added to the address record that is no longer the preferred address record for the constituent.


C. Set "Date to" to current date and set "Date from" on new - This option will allow the "Date To" field on the previous address record to be populated with the date the import is run. At the same time, the "Date from" will be populated on the new incoming preferred address record.


D. Copy attributes to new address - This option will allow any address attributes from the now previous address record to be added to the new preferred address attribute tab on the address record.


E. Copy phones/emails to new address - This option will allow any phones/emails existing on the now previous address to be added to the new preferred address record.


F. Copy the data to a new alternate address record and update the existing preferred address record to preserve links when the imported constituent is an individual.


G. Copy the data to a new alternate address record and update the existing preferred address record to preserve links when the imported constituent is an organization.



Making Selections When The Same Phone/Email Type Being Imported is currently in use on the record:


Option A. Ignore New Value - This option allows IOM to view the record and compare the type that is mapped to the phone/email in the data file and if the type is already in use on the record the value from the data file will NOT be added.


Option B. Update Existing (checkbox) Move Old Value to an Attribute: (drop down menu of address attribute categories available) - This option allows IOM to view the record and compare the type that is mapped to the phone/email in the data file and if the type is already in use on the record, the phone/email associated with the type will be overwritten with the phone/email value from the data file. If the additional check box option is selected, before the existing value is overwritten, the existing value is moved to the address attribute tab and associated with the attribute selected in the drop down field, whether it is a phone number or email address.  ***Note: When the address attribute is selected, the address attribute selected must be both a table address attribute and linked to the phone type table in RE.


Option C. Add new value as attribute (drop down menu of address attribute categories available) - This option allows IOM to view the record and compare the type that is mapped to the phone/email in the data file and if the type is already in use on the record, the existing value will remain unchanged and the value being imported from the data file will immediately be added to the address attribute tab and associated with the address attribute selected in the drop down field, whether it is a phone number or email address. ***Note: When the address attribute is selected, the address attribute selected must be both a table address attribute and linked to the phone type table in RE.


Option D. Assign available matching phone type with a different number - This option allows IOM to view the record and compare the type that is mapped to the phone/email in the data file and if the type is already in use on the record, IOM will select a matching type and associate the matching type with the incoming phone/email value being imported to the record.


***Note: The format of the available matching phone/email type must be "label(space)#", For example - if the type that is mapped is "Home" and "Home" is found to be in use on the record already, IOM will look for an available matching type of "Home 1" "Home 2" or "Home 3". If the matching type is not in the correct format, IOM will be unable to locate an available matching type to use.


There are two other check box options that can be used with Option D:


1. Start at lowest number if specified phone type is in use -This additional option allows IOM to look for the lowest numbered available matching option in ascending sequence.


2. Create new phone type table entry if all matching types are in use  - This additional options gives IOM the ability to create the correctly formatted available matching type if it is unable to locate an available matching type to associate with the incoming phone/email value from the data file.


Refer to the ImportOmatic User Guide for additional information.