Duplicate Accounts

@Dave - so does that mean that "non-easy" cases should still be sent to LS? Can you guys transfer history for us?

The "easy" cases are when only one account has activity, or neither account has activity. (Identify the surviving account, and if it doesn't have the correct Alternate ID then swap the IDs so it does.)

It's more difficult when BOTH accounts have useful history, because history can't be transferred (not even by us). The only extra step we've done in this case is to COPY completions that are on the "dead" account, so that they're also on the "surviving" account. (Just the completions themselves--not any enrollments, credit claims, etc. that might be connected to those completions.) First, you'd still need to select the appropriate "survivor" account and swap IDs if necessary. Next, if there's just a handful of completions you should add them manually to the surviving account...but if someone has a ton of completions, request LS to "copy completions from (bad Alt Id on the dead account) to (good Alt Id on the surviving account)."

Thanks for clarifying current status, Dave. That's disappointing to us as we were told prior to our launch that not only could your team could merge when necessary, but also that an admin ability to do so was likely in the future. We interpreted that to include a complete data transfer, not just completions. For reasons similar to Colette, that's not viable for us long term and we consider this absolutely critical to any system. Can you share where true merge functionality falls on the roadmap?

We have been merging accounts when necessary, which has meant copying completions and possibly swapping Alternate Ids. To eliminate us as the bottleneck, we've been taking steps to provide those tools to admins (first providing the ability to add completions for a learning product, and recently adding the ability to adjust the Alternate Id). The next step will be automating those steps with a consolidated "admin merge."
After that's in place, we will revisit what other records might be practical to "change ownership" of--which is more complex than it sounds. The obvious goal is a "complete data transfer" but business rules--and the fact that some records are tied to the AMS--will make that impossible in certain cases. The eventual result would probably be something like "a complete data transfer where possible, with a list of anything significant that could not be transferred (perhaps with an explanation)."

It's slightly reassuring to hear that a complete data transfer is the end goal - but could you address how far away on the timeline that is, realistically? This is becoming a dire situation for us - already spending 5-6 hours per week manually handling accounts.

Also, re: some records being tied to the AMS....does it help if the merge is initiated by a merge in Personify in the first place, so the AMS is already on board with the transfer?

Colette -- did you ever receive a response from the LS team on a timeline?

To the LearnSomething team -- has there been any additional discussion on expanding the merge capabilities and moving toward a more "complete data transfer" as Dave suggested last year? It would be great to see enrollment progress and credit data transferred, at least in the cases where there isn't duplicate/conflicting data on both accounts.

We cut down a lot of duplicate accounts a few years ago, by the instructions that we send out to our Learners. However, that does not mean it stopped. So we are in the process of putting on a more robust language on our log in page on our website, with a clause that creating a duplicate account could "interrupt a seamless education experience". I have also added some language above our enrollment code box, and our learning "My Training" and "Library" page regarding who to contact if you cannot find your enrollment. And I have recently started adding a title to the first section of a learning product "Now that you are enrolled" OR "Now that you are registered". The verdict is still out, but it cannot hurt.

Thank you all for you feedback! At this time, we do not have a set ETA on when a "complete data transfer" feature will be a part of the "Merge Learners" feature. However, due to the urgency of the issue we are heavily investigating next steps. I will provide more specific updates, as soon as I can.

Perry, any update on the merge capabilities?