A winner rule is an automated set of criteria that, when applied, defines which record is the most up to date and should remain in your CRM after merging duplicate records.
This feature is a quicker, more complete way to choose a winner, using rules you define or pre-built rules to automate your process. Set rules for how duplicate records are merged into a single winning record, using multiple (sequential) rules to catch all your records.
To use winner rules:
- Select Winner Rules. A modal will open.
- Select a First Rule from the dropdown menu. This can be a pre-built rule or a rule you create.
- If needed, select additional rules to be applied sequentially.
- Select Apply Winner Rules.
Creating a Winner Rule
At the bottom of the modal, select Manage Rules to add or remove rules with the criteria you need. To create a new rule, select + Add New Rule.
Note: You can also create a winner rule at any time by opening Settings (gear icon) at the top of the app, selecting Manage Winner Rules, and then selecting + Add New Rule.
Once the Add Winner Rule modal opens:
- Name your rule and optionally give it a description.
- Set the object your rule applies to.
- Choose the fields that will be part of the rule.
- Choose a condition for each field.
- Set a value if necessary.
- Give each field a score.
- Choose + Add Selection Condition if you need to add fields and conditions to this rule.
- Select Save and Close to return to Manage Winner Rules.
- Close the modal to return to Apply Winner Rules.
For example, to create a rule for Most Complete Record, pick the fields most critical to your business, such as First Name, Last Name, Company, Phone, and Email. Then set the condition “Is Populated.” No value is needed for this condition. Set a higher score for more critical information. You might score Phone as a 10 for your business, whereas Email might score only a 5. When DemandTools picks a winner between duplicate records, it will look for the record with more critical, highly scored information.
Optionally, you can assign a score delta—the difference between two scores—so DemandTools selects a winner only if the difference is greater than or equal to that delta.
Previewing Winners and Duplicates
Once the rules are applied, in the preview grid you can see the highlighted trophies that denote the winner rows, under the WINNER column. You can select and unselect trophies to manually override any winner rule selection.
Rules with no score delta will automatically select a winning row for each duplicate group where a winner was not selected, ending any rule sequencing.
If desired, you can clear winner rules after applying by selecting Clear Rules.
Pre-Built Winner Rules
DemandTools offers a number of pre-built rules for use when selecting winner records. These can be used as is or modified as needed. The rules will vary by object.
Account Rules
- Most Active Contracts: Dynamically counts the number of ACTIVE contracts related to the Account
- Record with the most active contracts wins with a score of 10
- Most Opportunities and Contacts: Counts the number of Opportunities and Contacts related to the Account
- Most Opportunities scores 50 points
- Most Contacts scores 49 points
- Uses a "Score Delta" of 1, so a winner will only be chosen when one record scores higher
- Can result in NO winning record being selected if there is a tie (they both have the same number of Opportunities and Contacts)
- Most Recently Modified Record: Based on the Last Modified Date
- Most recently modified record wins with a score of 99
- Newest Record: Based on the Created Date
- Newest record wins with a score of 99
- Oldest Record: Based on the Created Date
- Oldest record wins with a score of 99
After applying either the Most Active Contracts or Most Opportunities and Contacts rule, the calculated counts can be displayed in the results grid. Select "Show More Fields" and pick "Calc_OpportunityCount", "Calc_ContactCount", Calc_ActiveContractCount".
Note: These "fields" are for display only and will only show in this particular results grid. They cannot be saved as fields to always show when running a particular scenario (e.g. selected in Step 1 of Single Table Dedupe). The counts are NOT saved to the Account record.
Contact Rules
- Most Opportunities: Counts the number of Opportunities related to the Contact
- Record with the most Opportunities wins with a score of 99
- Most Recently Modified Record: Based on the Last Modified Date
- Most recently modified record wins with a score of 99
- Newest Record: Based on the Created Date
- Newest record wins with a score of 99
- Oldest Record: Based on the Created Date
- Oldest record wins with a score of 99
After applying Most Opportunities, the calculated count can be displayed in the results grid. Select "Show More Fields" and pick "Calc_ContactOpportunityCount".
Lead Rules
- Lead Status Qualified: Based on the Status field
- Record with a Status of "Qualified" wins with a score of 10
- Uses a "Score Delta" of 1, so a winner will only be chosen when one record scores higher
- Can result in NO winning record being selected if there is a tie
- Most Recently Modified Record: Based on the Last Modified Date
- Most recently modified record wins with a score of 99
- Newest Record: Based on the Created Date
- Newest record wins with a score of 99
- Oldest Record: Based on the Created Date
- Oldest record wins with a score of 99
Opportunity Rules
- Most Recently Modified Record: Based on the Last Modified Date
- Most recently modified record wins with a score of 99
- Newest Record: Based on the Created Date
- Newest record wins with a score of 99
- Oldest Record: Based on the Created Date
- Oldest record wins with a score of 99
- Opportunity Rule - Highest Stage: Based on the StageName Field
- Ranks standard Stagename picklist values
- Uses a "Score Delta" of 1, so a winner will only be chosen when one record scores higher
- Can result in NO winning record being selected if there is a tie
