How does Paribus 365 compare with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Merge feature?

Why Paribus Discovery?

A Paribus Discovery subscription becomes an option if you are looking to resolve an existing problem with duplication within a Microsoft Dynamics 365 instance.  Paribus Discovery is the cure for duplicates.   However, the question does need to be posed – Why purchase a Paribus Discovery subscription when Microsoft Dynamics 365 has a built-in merge capability?  Here are a few reasons to justify the expense.

1. Identifying the duplicates
   Knowing you have a problem with duplicates and finding them is a different matter.  The exact duplicates may be easy to find in a list view.  However, it can be more difficult to find those where the word sequencing varies eg. Bath University, University of Bath or a synonym or ordinal numbers have been used eg. First Planet Services, 1^st Planet Services.The QMatch+ algorithm within Paribus Discovery will identify these potential matches.
2. Understanding the scale of the problem
   With a trial of Paribus Discovery, before any outlay takes place, it is possible to get an idea of how many duplicates the instance contains.  Match Sessions can be run against Accounts, Contacts and Leads to return a list of potential duplicates.  There is no comparable feature available within Microsoft Dynamics 365.
3. Identifying the primary record
   The fields shown in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Merge Record pane cannot be configured.  The information columns within Paribus Discovery are configurable and can be set to aid identification of the primary record eg. to show number of associated contacts or show when a record was created/last modified.
4. Merging more than two records at once
   With Paribus Discovery there is no restriction to the number of records within a group to be merged. With Microsoft Dynamics 365 it would be necessary to perform two separate merges if a group of three duplicates was found.
5. Managing merges in bulk
   Paribus Discovery provides a plugin to manage the merge of all the duplicates after you have reviewed the potentials list.  This will go through all the duplicate groups in turn contained within one Merge Session.  The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Merge is a manual operation.
6. Automated field data selection
   Using the standard merge rules for Accounts, Contacts and Leads will automatically make use of the data within all 1:1 fields whether it originates in the primary or one of the member records.  This is a selectable option within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Merge but could be missed.

7. Automated primary record selection
   A company may have a rule that a primary record should be selected.  Provision is made in the Paribus Discovery merge plugin to automatically set the primary record.  Some rules provided are earliest created or most recently modified.

8. Deactivate or delete
   With Paribus Discovery merge plugin the option is provided to decide how to deal with the discarded record(s).  The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Merge built-in tool sets the discarded record to an Inactive State which means there is an additional task to tidy up and delete old records.

After you have resolved the duplication within your CRM system you will want to keep it from getting into a poor state again.  This is where Paribus Interactive can assist.  To find out more about both of these products, visit www.paribuscloud.com.