New Policy Regarding Merge Requests

We have a new internal policy that requires, at minimum, two of the three fields to be an exact match prior to processing a merge request.

• First and Last Name

• SSN, and

• Date of Birth

If two are an exact match, the third component cannot blatantly contradict the other (see the third example below). This new policy ensures confirmation from the point of request that our Helpdesk is only merging records that belong to the same person.

Here are some examples:

Although your merge request may not meet our merging criteria as stated above, rest assured this will not impact federal reporting as federal reports automatically de-duplicate to ensure the same person isn't reported twice. Apart from the data entry headache of figuring out which client record in the system matches the individual you are serving, having duplicates floating around HMIS does not impede accurate reporting to HUD nor timely dataentry.