This article provides guidance on identifying and resolving duplicate staff profiles in preparation for the DfE School Workforce Census. It details the process for merging or deleting profiles, the necessary permissions, and the implications of these actions, emphasizing that merges and deletions cannot be undone. It also addresses common FAQs regarding bulk actions and handling unflagged duplicates.
You can identify and resolve suspected duplicate records for:
- student duplicates in preparation for DfE School Census
- guardian duplicates to improve communication to guardians and save costs on avoiding to send multiple text messages to the same guardians
- staff duplicates (shown below) in preparation for DfE School Workforce Census
Please note that once a profile merge has been carried out this cannot be undone, so be sure to carefully check the two profiles you intend to merge before carrying out the operation.
Permissions
You will need the School: General Admin: Administer permission to merge or delete staff profiles. If you don't have permission, you'll need to ask your admin team to give you permission using these instructions.
Merging or deleting staff profiles
Managing staff duplicates
To merge two staff profiles go to School > Data > Data Quality Dashboard > Suspected Duplicates > Staff.
Click the row that includes the staff you would like to merge to review the information in the slide over.
If you still want to merge the profiles, select one of these resolutions from the drop-down box:
- Merge staff B into staff A - blank fields in Staff A will be filled by information from Staff B and if conflicting information exists for a field, the information from Staff A and Staff B will be kept
- Merge staff A into staff B - blank fields in Staff B will be filled by information from Staff A and if conflicting information exists for a field, the information from Staff B and Staff A will be kept
- Keep records separate - nothing is changed and there will continue to be two separate profiles.
Click Resolve to implement the changes. The duplicates will then move to the Resolved tab.
Deleting a single staff member
Deleting staff members should only be done if they are a duplicate or have been added to your site in error. You should not delete staff who have worked in your school, as the data may be required for the Workforce Census. For these staff, we recommend following the data retention policy instead.
If you want to delete a duplicate staff member, you'll need to do this from the Admin section of their staff profile. This process cannot be reversed, so make sure this is the correct course of action.
FAQ
Can we delete profiles in bulk?
It is not possible to delete profiles in bulk from the Duplicates page. Profiles cannot be restored once deleted so it's very important you check a deletion is needed.
Can we merge profiles in bulk?
No, it is not possible to merge profiles in bulk. Profiles cannot be un-merged so it's very important you check a merge is needed for each potential duplicate that is flagged.
Can we keep records separate in bulk?
Yes you can - just tick the boxes next to the profiles you want to keep separate. Click the Bulk action button to select Bulk set as 'Keep separate'.
They'll then show in the Resolved tab.
Someone is a duplicate but isn't flagging as one
If you're sure that two staff members are duplicates but aren't being identified as duplicates, make sure that their names are identical. Please note that if a user has a guardian and a staff profile, these do not count as duplicates.
Go to the profile that has the incorrect name, and change their name to exactly match the name on the other profile.
If they're not flagging on the Data Quality Dashboard, be sure to check the Resolved tab to see if someone mistakenly chose to keep the profiles separate.
Can I undo the resolution I chose?
- If you have merged or deleted profiles, this cannot be changed.
- If you have chosen to keep records separate, you can change the resolution.
Click into the Resolved tab and select the resolved duplicates. In the slide over, you can then select a new resolution.
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