Purdue University Identification: PUID Daily Update
Daily Updating and Processing Suspense Records
Each night the PUID system is fed updates from each participating system. The first
update is changes to the system keys, such as the Registrar's Student ID, or
Personnel's SSNO. The second update is data which has changed in the participating
system. These are changes to data in records which already are in PUID, and new
records that are not yet in PUID.
Changes to system keys, and changes to data in existing records, will update
automatically and will not create Suspense entries.
Suspense records are created when the system cannot automatically handle new
records from participating systems. The nightly update can automatically handle
a new record if:
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The new record has no high or medium score matches (on name, dob, and
system key) to any other record in the PUID system. A new PUID is assigned
and the person is added to the PUID database.
-
The new record has one and only one high score match on the PUID system,
and it is to a person with a different relationship to the University. For
instance, a new employee record matching an student relationship. In this
case, the new employee relationship is connected to the existing PUID record.
The few updates we have run indicate that more than 90% of new records can be
automatically handled by the PUID system. The remaining 5% to 10% need to be
reviewed by a person, and are put on the suspense file to allow that review.
Records on the suspense file are given a "reason" which indicates how many and
what kind of matches were found. These reasons are:
-
Multiple high-score matches - more that one high score match was found,
indicating that the new record is quite likely one of these people, but the
system cannot be certain which one.
-
Multiple medium-score matches - more that one medium score match was
found, indicating that the new record might be one of these people, but likely not.
system cannot be certain which one.
-
Single medium-score match - one and only one match was found on the PUID
system, but it was not a close enough match to be certain this is the same person.
-
Single match found; same relationship / different System ID - one and only
one high score match was found on the PUID system, but it is for the same
relationship as the new record. For instance, a new employee record matches
only to another employee relationship in PUID. It could be a duplicate record
has been created in the participating system, or a system key change was missed,
or it is a new record for a person who very closely resembles a person already on
the PUID system (such as a twin).
In each of these cases, the system cannot determine the correct action to take with
the new record, and an experienced person needs to handle the record.
The suspense review part of the PUID system is entered by clicking on the "Process
Suspense" link at the bottom of the Purdue Person Search page.