[AccessD] A2003: Checking for Similar Names and or Addresses

[David McAfee]

Don't forget James and little Jimmy Dettman ;)

On Thu, May 14, 2015 at 4:35 AM, Jim Dettman <jimdettman at verizon.net> wrote:

>
> Depends on what the goal is.   If it's only to check for exact matches,
> then
> a collapse of the strings involved (removing all white space) and
> concatenated against an index suffices.
>
> If it's more of a "fuzzy" type of analysis that you want to use, then there
> are various approaches, like soundex (i.e.  One name is "Jim Dettman" vs
> "Jim Debtman").
>
> Weighting would be throwing in comparing the different components, name vs
> address.
>
> On a straight compare though, I've always fully collapsed the strings, then
> do a find on an index.
>
> Jim.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: AccessD [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of
> Darren
> Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2015 11:47 PM
> To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
> Subject: [AccessD] A2003: Checking for Similar Names and or Addresses
>
> Hi Team
> I appreciate this may trigger a right vs. wrong discussion. All comments
> appreciated but this is for a Pro-Bono Project so there are no funds and my
> time is not infinite.
> So a perfect solution is not required. Just a working one :-)
> So...
> I have inherited a dB with approx 12K names and addresses for a community
> project I am working on.
> Data entry has been on home built Access dBs and Excel spreadsheets and
> data
> veracity is poor.
> I can easily identify nearly 1000 records with same first and last names so
> there appear to be a lot of duplicate entries.
> We will handle that and will sanitise the old data. However does anyone
> have
> a quick and easy "test" where I can quickly check completed names (First
> and
> Last) once entered, to see if we have exact or similar matches already in
> the dB?
> I really would like the same thing with addresses?
> I have Googled and I have seen some very complex weighting routines etc -
> Too tricky for me and beyond the scope of this project (and my skill set).
> I just need to present the users with a list of exact matches (I can do
> that
> now) and some potentials, in a list that they can then decide if it's ok to
> proceed or not.
> Many thanks in advance.
> Darren.
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