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AO Business Match

Overview

Advanced Object (AO) Business Match identifies matching businesses using their name, address, ZIP Code, phone number, and URL. It affords a high degree of control over the matching process, with numerous parameters that can be adjusted to improve match quality. The default settings in the configuration dialog represent best business practices and provide a very good starting point. AO Business Match accepts a single stream as input and produces a single output containing the original records with the match IDs and other optional information appended. To use the AO Business Match, you must have both a Business Name field and address fields (Address, either whole or components, City, State and ZIP Code).

Records output with null Match IDs are uniques (unmatched). Records with non-null Match IDs are matches. Use the Output match info option on the Options tab to distinguish Master/Unique/Duplicate and append other match information (see AO Match Append Info for details on output).

AO Business Match configuration parameters

AO Business Match has six sets of configuration parameters in addition to the standard execution options: Input, Input 2, Match, Segment, Options, and Table.

AO Business Match: Input tab

Business

Parameter

Description

Business name

(Required) Company name used for matching.

  • Default: blank

Business name 2

(Optional) Alternate company name that can also be used for cross-field matching (for example, Lotus & IBM). Allows for different companies to be matched to either field.

  • Default: blank

Business keyword

(Optional) Firm keyword to allow for matching to be qualified based on special field (for example, BCBS of MA vs. BCBS of ME) The ME/MA would be in its own field.

  • Default: blank

Address

Parameter

Description

Address type

Specify whether input address is Full address or Component address.

  • Default: full address

Address1

Required if Address type is Full address. First line of unparsed address.

  • Default: blank

Address2

Optional if Address type is Full address. Second line of unparsed address.

  • Default: blank

Street number

Required if Address type is Component address. Street number (123 E Main Street NW Apt 101).

  • Default: blank

Street predir

Required if Address type is Component address. Street predirectional (123 E Main Street NW Apt 101).

  • Default: blank

Street name

Required if Address type is Component address. Street name (123 E Main Street NW Apt 101).

  • Default: blank

Street suffix

Required if Address type is Component address. Street suffix (123 E Main Street NW Apt 101).

  • Default: blank

Street postdir

Required if Address type is Component address. Street postdirectional (123 E Main Street NW Apt 101).

  • Default: blank

Suite/Apt #/Bldg

Required if Address type is Component address. Suite/apartment number (123 E Main Street NW Apt 101).

  • Default: blank

Address last line

Parameter

Description

City

Required. City.

  • Default: blank

State

Required. State.

  • Default: blank

ZIP

Required. ZIP Code.

  • Default: blank

Other match fields

Parameter

Description

Phone

(Optional) Telephone number or alternate input field.

  • Default: blank

URL

(Optional) Web address. Alternate input field can be specified.

  • Default: blank

Unique Record ID

Parameter

Description

Record ID

(Optional) Field containing the unique record ID.

  • Default: blank

AO Business Match: Input2 tab

If alternate input fields are specified, these are compared to the primary versions specified on the Input tab.

Alternate address

If you specify an alternate address, it must have the same format as the primary address on the Input tab. If multiple addresses are used, the Address ID may not represent a single location.

Single field address

Field

Description

Address1

(Required) First line of unparsed address.

  • Default: blank

Address2

Optional. Second line of unparsed address.

  • Default: blank

OR Multi-field address

Field

Description

Street number

(Required) Street number (123 E Main Street NW Apt 101).

  • Default: blank

Street predir

(Required) Street predirectional (123 E Main Street NW Apt 101).

  • Default: blank

Street name

(Required) Street name (123 E Main Street NW Apt 101).

  • Default: blank

Street suffix

(Required) Street suffix (123 E Main Street NW Apt 101).

  • Default: blank

Street postdir

(Required) Street postdirectional (123 E Main Street NW Apt 101).

  • Default: blank

Suite/Apt #/Bldg

(Required) Suite/apartment number (123 E Main Street NW Apt 101).

  • Default: blank

Address last line

Field

Description

City

(Required) City.

  • Default: blank

State

(Required) State.

  • Default: blank

ZIP

(Required) ZIP Code.

  • Default: blank

Alternate other match fields

Field

Description

Phone 2
Phone 3

(Optional) Telephone number or alternate input field.

  • Default: blank

URL 2
URL 3

(Optional) Web address. Alternate input field can be specified.

  • Default: blank

AO Business Match: Match tab

Business matching

Field

Description

Business score

Match threshold for business name field after any optional business adjustments (described below) are taking into account.

  • Default: Medium-Tight (80)

Match nicknames

Allows for personal names in a firm to be standardized. For example, in Liz Smith Enterprises versus Elizabeth Smith Enterprises, Liz and Elizabeth would be treated as identical.

  • Default: no

Ethnic nickname match

If selected, matches less common, but valid nicknames (such as Sean/John). Unwanted nicknames can be removed by adding a "remove" entry to the Name alias table.

  • Default: no

Initials

Recover match points if Initial matches a name (for example, J Robin Smith Inc versus Jonathon Robert Smith, Inc).

  • Default: Treat as Similar (75)

Acronyms

Assign acronym matches a specific score for their part of the match (for example, International Machine Parts versus IMP).

  • Default: Treat as Similar (75)

Abbreviations

Recover match points due to an abbreviation identified by pattern rather than known value (for example, Halbert Construction Contractors versus Hlbrt Construction Contractors).

  • Default: Treat as Similar (75)

Missing words

Recover match points due to missing or disjoint words (for example, Halston Construction Contractors versus Halston Contractors).

  • Default: Treat as Similar (75)

Word match threshold

Set minimum similarity threshold to consider any pair of words "the same."

  • Default: (61)

Business keyword matching

Field

Description

Keyword score

Match threshold for business keyword field after optional business Keyword adjustments (described below) are taken into account.

  • Default: blank

Match blank keyword

Specifies method for matching blank business keyword input field. Options are:

  • Blanks Never Match: if either or both records have blank field, they will not match.

  • Blank vs. Blank Only: if both records have blank field, they will match. If only one is blank, they will not match.

  • Blank vs. Non Blank Only: if only one record has blank field, they will match. If both have blank field, they will not match.

  • Both One Blank and Both Blanks Match: matches either case; one or both records with a blank field for Business keyword.

  • Default: Blank vs. Blank Only.

Match abbreviations

Allows for variations in the business keyword field (for example, MISS vs. MISSISSIPPI to be considered an exact match as a case of abbreviation).

  • Default: no

Address matching

Field

Description

Address score

Match threshold for address fields, set globally for all address components.

  • Default: Tight (88)

Street number score

Optional match threshold for street number field.

  • Default: blank

Street name score

Optional match threshold for street name field.

  • Default: blank

Suite score

Optional match threshold for apt/suite # field.

  • Default: blank

Simple street numbers

If selected, 101A and 101 Main Street are treated as identical.

  • Default: no

Substring match on suite number

If selected, increases flexibility in matching of apt/suite # by allowing substring matches such as 10 vs. 101.

  • Default: no

Match PO Box/Street

If selected, allows for records where one address is a PO Box and the other is a street address to be considered a match (Y/N) when the ZIP Codes are the same. If enabled, this has an independent segmentation (ZIP Code only) than the one set by the Segment address data by parameter.

  • Default: no

PO Box match score

Alternate match threshold for business field if Match PO Box to street is set to "Y". You may want a higher match threshold for PO Box/Street matching then when matching the same address format. This ensures tighter matches to reduce false positives when PO Box and Street are alike.

  • Default: blank

Other matching

Field

Description

Phone score

Match threshold for Phone field.

  • Default: Exact (100)

URL score

Match threshold for URL field.

  • Default: Exact (100)

AO Business Match: Segment tab

Segmentation

Field

Description

Match only within segment

If selected, data will be compared solely within the segment as defined below.

  • Default: yes

Segment data by

Specifies method for defining sort and comparison minimums for address data. Options are:

  • ZIP

  • ST_NAME (ZIP + Street Name)

  • ST_NUMBER (ZIP + Street Number)

  • ZIP+ST_NAME+ST_NUMBER (ZIP + Street Name + Street Number) (Default)

  • Custom (specify custom field below)

Street name letters

The number of letters of the street name to be used in address data segmentation. Ignored when segment type is Custom.

  • Default: 3

Street number digits

The number of digits of the street number to be used in address data segmentation. Ignored when segment type is Custom.

  • Default: 3

Custom segment

Optional. If Segment data by is Custom, the field containing the segment key.

  • Default: blank

Segment size limits

Field

Description

Limit segment

Turns on segmentation limits for all active match criteria.

  • Default: off

Max segment size

If Limit segment is selected, specifies maximum number of records compared in a single comparison group. The default setting allows for nearly-unlimited segment size. If you want to limit segment size to avoid runaway computation, potentially at the expense of missing a few record matches, set this to a lower value like 1000.

  • Default: 20000

AO Business Match: Options tab

Reporting

Field

Description

Output component match IDs

If selected, outputs IDs showing the match groups for each match logic in addition to the consolidated result.

  • Default: no

Output match score

If selected, outputs the overall score from the match records as a percentage between 1-100.

  • Default: no

Output match info

If selected, outputs additional Match information. "Y" will generate Match Type, Group Counts/Order/Rank, Unique No., HOH Flag at the finest level. "All" will generate the same information at all levels as determined by the criteria selected (for example, Address, Phone, Email).

  • Default: N

Source control

Field

Description

Source

Field containing the logical description for input data source. This is usually defined in AO Define Source.

  • Default: blank

Priority

Field containing Match Rank Priority value, typically assigned using AO Define Source. Determines a record's position in a match group.

  • Default: blank

Suppress flag

Field containing suppression definition for a source (value should be Y or N)

  • Default: blank

Internal dedupe flag

Field containing a Y/N flag indicating whether or not data from a particular source should be compared against itself (deduped) or solely against other sources. As a general rule, master databases are not internally deduped whereas update files are.

  • Default: blank

Compare sources not internally deduped

If a matching process has more than one source with the internal dedupe field set to "N", selecting this will compare the two sources.

  • Default: yes

Master record

Values in text fields sort in alphabetical order, even if the characters are numbers. Numbers are sorted by the first digit, then by the second digit, and so on, instead of by the numeric values. Thus "12" will appear before "7". Check data types or use leading zeros ("07") to ensure correct tie-breaking. Most text fields have a limit of 100MB.

Field

Description

Random priority

Uses random sorting as final tie-breaker. This option may generate different results for each run. If this is option is not selected, the final tie-breaker is the input record order.

  • Default: no

Tie-breaker field 1

The first field used to break priority ties.

  • Default: blank

Order 1

If ASCENDING, then lower values of Tie-breaker 1 field will have higher priority.

  • Default: ASCENDING

Tie-breaker field 2

The second field used to break priority ties.

  • Default: blank

Order 2

If ASCENDING, then lower values of Tie-breaker 2 field will have higher priority.

  • Default: ASCENDING

Tie-breaker field 3

The third field used to break priority ties.

  • Default: blank

Order 3

If ASCENDING, then lower values of Tie-breaker 3 field will have higher priority.

  • Default: ASCENDING

Parallel processing

Field

Description

Parallelism level

Set to the lesser of the number of CPU cores on the Execution Server, or the number of threads configured in the project in which the macro is embedded.

  • Default: 1

Optimize for large segments

If you receive warnings like "Window Compare segment size for value (06828EAS3135) has exceeded 2000," enable this option. Comparing large candidate groups may reduce matching efficiency. Selecting this option increases the number of records that can be sent to a matching process without slowing processing.

  • Default: no

AO Business Match: Table tab

Field

Description

Name alias table

Path and name of optional DLD table used to augment or override the alias values defined within the macro. The table must be of the following form.

ALIAS

STANDARD

REMOVE

Peg

Margaret

FALSE

Margie

Margaret

Jon

John

TRUE

where ALIAS and STANDARD are Text fields and REMOVE is Boolean. In the example above, Peg and Margie are defined as new aliases for Margaret (a blank REMOVE field is treated as FALSE), while the TRUE value in the REMOVE field explicitly suppresses Jon as an alias for John.

  • Default: blank

Business alias table

Path and name of optional DLD table used to augment or override the alias values defined within the macro. The table must be of the following form.

ALIAS

STANDARD

REMOVE

Paving

Asphalt

FALSE

Hotmix

Asphalt

Reproduction

Copying

Copying

where ALIAS and STANDARD are Text fields and REMOVE is Boolean. In the example above, Paving and Hotmix are defined as new aliases for Asphalt (a blank REMOVE field is treated as FALSE), while the TRUE value in the REMOVE field explicitly suppresses Reproduction as an alias for Copying.

  • Default: blank

Business noise table

Path and name of optional DLD table used to add additional "noise" words for Firm matching. The table must be a single-column DLD table of the folowing form.

WORDS

Corporation

Inc

Company

where WORDS is a Text field. The example above shows data that shouldn’t contribute to the match score because it is contextually meaningless. If you are matching financial institutions, word BANK could be a "noise" word.

  • Default: blank

Configure AO Business Match

  1. Select AO Business Contact Match.

  2. Go to the Input tab on the Properties pane.

  3. Select the input fields.

  4. Optionally, specify alternate input fields on the Input2 tab.

  5. Go to the Match tab to edit matching options.

  6. Go to the Segment tab to edit segmentation options.

  7. Go to the Options tab to configure reporting, source control, master record, and other options.

  8. Optionally, go to the Table tab to specify alias and noise reference tables.

  9. Optionally, go to the Execution tab, and then set Web service options.

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