Names, email addresses and telephone numbers are useful when looking for duplicate contacts. Account records require a different approach, with company names, postal addresses and website domains providing relevant information for comparison.

The value of those fields depends on how your organisation uses its CRM. Shared office telephone numbers do not necessarily indicate duplicate contacts, while variations in company names can make existing accounts harder to recognise. These details are worth checking against other identifying information before treating records as duplicates.

To make CRM deduplication useful across both record types, Duplicare lets administrators apply rules suited to the records being checked, rather than relying on the same comparison for every contact and account.

How do matching rules identify duplicate records with different details?

When customer details are recorded differently, CRM deduplication needs more than identical-field comparisons. Duplicare’s Dedupe+ rules support exact, fuzzy and cross-field matching to help identify these variations.

A telephone number stored as Business Phone in one contact, for example, might appear as Home Phone in another. Duplicare’s documented Exact Match Across Fields rule compares values across these selected fields, identifying a potential match that a same-field comparison would overlook.

The deduplication software also supports combining different matching conditions, with options for handling incomplete information where appropriate. This gives CRM teams greater flexibility when records contain inconsistent names or details stored across different fields.

The criteria need to suit the data being checked. Broader rules generally identify more potential matches but also increase the number of unrelated records requiring investigation. Stricter rules narrow the results, although genuine duplicates with incomplete information are more likely to be missed.

The Duplicare duplicate detection guide explains the available matching conditions and configuration options in more detail.

How does real-time duplicate detection work in Dynamics 365?

With Duplicare’s real-time detection enabled, potential matches appear as users enter customer information on configured Dynamics 365 forms. When the details satisfy an enabled Dedupe+ rule, a warning highlights an existing contact or account that warrants attention.

The Real Time Enabled setting controls which rules participate in these checks. The relevant main and quick-create forms also require the documented customisations. This is worth checking when introducing deduplication software into an existing Dynamics 365 environment: enabling a rule alone will not produce warnings across every form.

For sales and customer-facing teams, this brings CRM deduplication into the normal record-entry workflow. The warning gives them an opportunity to inspect the existing contact or account before continuing, with the decision depending on the customer information available.

How do you check existing Dynamics 365 records for duplicates in bulk?

Imports and integrations do not necessarily use the Dynamics 365 forms configured for real-time warnings. CRM deduplication therefore also needs a way to check records already held in the system. Duplicare’s Dedupe+ Jobs provide that separate batch workflow, applying selected matching rules across the relevant dataset or a defined group of records.

Filtered views help administrators concentrate on the records that need checking. They allow a job to focus on a particular group, such as active contacts, without including every historic entry. The deduplication software also supports scheduling, so the same checks can be repeated as more data enters the CRM.

Once a job finishes, the Results tab displays suspected duplicates in groups for review. Automatic merging is switched off by default, so the identified records remain available for investigation before any decision to consolidate them.

More information about filtered views, schedules and job settings is available in the Dedupe+ Jobs guide.

How do you review duplicate detection results in Dynamics 365?

Once potential duplicates have been identified, the way they are reviewed depends on how the check was run. Real-time warnings appear during record entry, whereas completed Dedupe+ Jobs group findings from existing data. The distinction helps teams decide whether to check a match as they work or review a set of records together.

During real-time checks, the Duplicates Detected+ interface displays matching records and identifies the Dedupe+ rule responsible for the warning. Knowing which rule triggered the match helps users understand why the records have been flagged. The feature requires a supported online environment and the relevant configuration, as explained in the Duplicates Detected+ documentation.

Batch checks bring suspected duplicates together in groups. Administrators reviewing these results have the option to defer uncertain matches using Skip, while Ignore applies to records confirmed as separate customers. The ignore workflow also offers exclusion rules, which help prevent known non-duplicates from returning in future checks.

For CRM deduplication to remain manageable, teams also need to share the review work. The deduplication software supports assigning groups to different users, so colleagues familiar with particular contacts or accounts can assess the relevant matches.

The evidence held in the CRM remains important throughout that process. Where contact records share a telephone number but have conflicting identifiers or account histories, further investigation is needed before treating them as genuine duplicates.