Question:
Is it possible to identify and remove duplicate volunteer records from our account?
Answer:
Although CERVIS has several measures in place to attempt to prevent the creation of duplicate volunteer records, it may still happen from time to time.
To LOCATE possible duplicate records in your account, please follow the steps below:
- Login to your CERVIS account.
- Click on the Search/Manage Volunteer Database link under the "Volunteer Management" section of the Main Dashboard.
- Click the Find Duplicate Volunteer Profiles radio button under the "Advanced Options" section of the page.
This will display a listing of all volunteer profiles with a first and last name match.
Taking this action prompts the system to find these matches for you to review. In some cases these might be different people, therefore reviewing these accounts is necessary to determine that.
To MERGE confirmed duplicate records from your account:
Merging two profiles together will combine all of the volunteer's groups, interests, availability, equipment, skills, notes, file attachments, checklist items, and service history into a single profile. Once completed this action cannot be undone.
- Select the confirmed duplicate profiles by clicking the checkbox to the left of the volunteer record for each row. You may only select 2 records at a time.
- From the "Volunteer Management Bulk Options" dropdown menu at the top of the listing choose Merge Selected Volunteer Profiles and click the corresponding button next to it.
- On the merge profiles screen, select the direction of the merge and click the Merge Volunteer Profiles button.
- Hover over the volunteer's name or the magnifying glass next to it to see a snapshot of the volunteer's profile to help you determine the difference between the two accounts.
- Click the OK button at the confirmation prompt to finalize the merge.
To REMOVE / DELETE duplicate records from your account in lieu of merging:
Before proceeding, note that deleting a Volunteer CANNOT BE UNDONE and will erase all records of event participation, all file attachments and any other information recorded for the Volunteer.
If the Volunteer is no longer active in your organization, it might be a better idea to just anonymize the profile instead or simply mark them as "inactive" in the Volunteer management dashboard. Deleting a Volunteer should mainly be used for removing known duplicate Volunteer entries.
- Click on the Manage Volunteer (
) icon just to the right of the checkbox for the desired row.
- Click the Delete <volunteer name> from CERVIS link at the bottom of the screen. Please note that only CERVIS users with the Administrator access level will have this option available.
- Click the Yes, Proceed with Delete button to confirm the profile deletion. As a note: You will not be able to delete a volunteer profile until they have been unregistered from all events, removed as the Event Organizer for all Events, removed as the Group Contact for any Groups, and removed as the Interest Category Contact for any Interest Categories.
Please Note: Once the volunteer profile has been merged or deleted, both profiles may be removed from the duplicate volunteer search list. This does not mean that both profiles have been deleted, but that one profile was deleted and that the other no longer is identified as a possible duplicate.