MatchUp Web Service:FAQ
Getting Started Process
- What is the process to get started with using MatchUp Web Service?
- Create a MatchUp Web Service account with your Melissa Data sales representative. You will be assigned a UserID for your account.
- Once you have a valid MatchUp account, you can use the service endpoints here to create a job, submit records, and retrieve the results.
- Unlike our deduping solutions from Melissa Data, there are no libraries to register or data files to install, making the ‘get started’ process very easy.
Result Formatting and Properties
- How are retrieved results formatted? What properties are available?
Like other MatchUp implementations, the service returns an Output Status, Dupe Group, Count, and Matchkey for each record. You can use these properties for proprietary decision making such as linking and consolidating duplicate records, updating a master database, or simply removing duplicate records.
Matching Strategy Flexibility and Custom Matchcodes
- Are available matching strategies flexible? Can I create my own matchcodes?
At this time, the matching strategies available to the service cannot be edited nor can custom matchcodes be created for use. For a list of available matching strategies and respective input fields required to use each matchcode, see the GetMatchcodeList request and response section of the documentation. While we always recommend starting out with basic matching strategies, please reach out to us with your suggestions for matchcode (as well as other features) additions you would like to see.
Matchcode Evaluation
- What is my Selected MatchCode evaluating, and how?
Unlike our other MatchUp solutions, the MatchUp Web Service does not give you the flexibility to create or configure your own matching rules. Therefore the details (matchcode settings) are hidden from you. Whereas the matchcodes for the other distributed solutions are by default designed as baseline matching strategies and are 'tight' in their logic, the MatchUp Web Service, in most cases uses additional advanced matchcode options to perform more advanced matching and provide more practical duplicates. For example, 'Address' based matchcodes evaluate records to the 'Suite' level (tighter than other MatchUp solutions), while 'Fuzzy Name' based matchcodes are configured with more advanced options. To see the required fields (necessary datatypes) used for each matchcode, see GetMatchcodeList.
Hidden Matchcode Hit Combinations
- Why is the Service returning additional Results Codes with additional Matchcode Hit Combinations whose rules are hidden from me?
The service is designed to accurately group records together and reflect how inexact records can fall into the same output group. But since the details of the matching rules are hidden, you can ignore the returned Hit Combination result codes and simply evaluate the initial status code (MS01, MS02 or MS03) to determine if a record is unique, or matched other records. Evaluating the returned Hit Combination result codes will give you a basic idea of the datatypes which resulted in the match. For more details, see Matchcode Information.
Life of Transmitted Data
- How long will Melissa Data store my data? How long do I have to retrieve the Results from a submitted job?
Our current policy for data storage life for customers using the MatchUp Web Service is monitored and manually determined by Melissa Database Administrators. Currently, life of transmitted data is set to 1 week. This means that when a SubmitJob request returns a JobID, you have 1 week to submit records and retrieve your output results. After this time your data will be destroyed one week after the job was created.