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Resolve groups and subsets
Understand merge, disconnect, ignore, and delete decisions, including their application to selected records.
A candidate group is evidence to review, not a statement that all its records belong to one person. Choose a decision for the records you have actually investigated, then verify both selected and unselected records.
Stewardship: what action is approved
| Decision | Meaning | Effect on records | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merge | These representations describe the same subject | Builds a survivor from the selected records | STEWARD or ADMIN |
| Disconnect | These records should remain separate | Records separation relationships; keeps the records | STEWARD or ADMIN |
| Ignore | This candidate group should leave ordinary review | Marks the group ignored; keeps its records | ADMIN |
| Delete | These records should be removed | Removes the selected records from current data; history depends on configuration | STEWARD or ADMIN |
Escalation records a case requiring further review. It is separate from these
decisions and does not resolve identity or create a mastered record.
Classification and action are also separate: MATCH does not itself perform
a merge. An attached automatic steward applies its configured rules.
Decisions on part of a group
Suppose A and B describe Ana, while C describes another person who shares a contact address. The index can place all three together. Selecting A and B for a merge creates one mastered representation from those two; C remains a separate current record. The candidate groups and scores can change afterwards.
To separate C from A and B, select C for a partial disconnect. Golden records C–A and C–B as unrelated in both directions. It does not declare A and B unrelated to each other. Existing separations are retained.
A full disconnect records separation across the group. It is not a split of the index: records are not deleted or physically removed from the group merely because that judgment was recorded. Reindexing does not erase the judgment. Do not use disappearance from every candidate view as your only verification.
A selected-record delete removes only that selection. Ignoring is a group state, not a partial-record delete. Use the API operation appropriate to the selection; do not substitute a bucket identifier for a cluster identifier.
A separation constrains later merges
A merge containing a separated pair is refused with 409 unless the caller
explicitly sets crossSeparations and provides a comment. This override revokes
the crossed pairs; other separations survive and are inherited by the survivor.
Keep the override off in automation unless the workflow explicitly reviews and reverses the earlier decision. A high similarity score does not cancel a human separation.
Merger: which values become mastered
The merger chooses values according to its configuration. Preview and inspect the result: similar records can still have different addresses, incomplete fields, or conflicting source values. Provenance records contributing origins; it is not proof that every value was agreed by every source.
Undo is conditional
Undo requires retained source records in history and a record produced by a merge. If the survivor was merged again, undo that later merge first. If needed history is unavailable, undo cannot reconstruct it.
Undo restores absorbed records and preserves applicable separation decisions; it does not carry all later edits on the survivor into those restored records. On a table without history, do not promise reversible or durable mastering across a later source reload. Verify the table’s history configuration before making decisions that depend on it.
Diagnose by concern
| Symptom | Review first |
|---|---|
| Expected records never become candidates | Indexer mappings and normalization |
| A candidate has an unexpected classification | Classifier inputs, weights and thresholds |
| An automatic decision is inappropriate | Steward rule selection, ordering and action |
| A survivor has an unexpected value | Merger selection and source values |
| A merge is refused | Separation relationships and the requested selection |
| A disconnect did not remove a candidate | The distinction between grouping and recorded judgment |
See Review duplicates in Aurelia, Steward duplicate candidates, and Automate duplicate decisions.