Matching Mobile Phone Numbers in Consolidate Records

Custom person-scoped fields marked as unique for merging can be used as additional matching criteria in Consolidate Records. To match on mobile phone number, create a custom field to store a normalized phone value, then use a rule to populate that value from the person mobile phone number.

📝 Note

Only use a phone value as unique for merging when it fits your institution’s duplicate review practices. Shared household phone numbers, recycled phone numbers, and international number formatting can affect match quality.

   

       

⭐ Get Inspired

   

   

This article was adapted from a post by Technolutions staff in the Slate Community Forums' Get Inspired space. Have a great idea for a Get Inspired post? Let us know!

Create the custom field

1. Go to Database → Fields.

2. Create a person-scoped field to store the normalized mobile phone value.

3. Set Unique for Merging to Value contains a unique ID which identifies a single record for merging.

4. Select Save.

After creating the field, refresh the Fields cache, the Configurable Joins library, and the template library.

Create the rule

1. Create a rule that sets the custom Mobile ID field when a mobile phone number exists.

2. In the rule action, configure the custom field with Replace Values from Formula.

3. Add an export for the mobile phone number and rename it to a friendly variable, such as Person-Mobile-Phone.

4. Edit the export and set Format Type to Formula/Custom SQL.

5. Use @val in the formula and remove common phone number formatting characters.

replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(@val,'-',''),'(',''),')',''),',',''),'+',''),' ','')

Try a Slate example 💼

Copy this Suitcase ID and paste it in Database → Suitcase Import to import an example Mobile ID rule:

8375ac55-31a8-4610-825d-0092111154bb:slate-kente-test

Refresh existing records

After the rule is active, run a retroactive refresh for the records that should receive the normalized Mobile ID value.

Review duplicate matches

After records have Mobile ID values, go to Consolidate Records. When duplicate values exist, a Mobile ID section appears under Persons, similar to the standard Email matching section.