Client Records and Households
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      Personal ID

      This article defines Personal ID and explains how it is used for identifying duplicate client records.

      This article is for the current interface. For the new Clarity interface article, please click this link.

      When a client record is created in Clarity Human Services, it is assigned a Personal ID.

      The Personal ID is a 32-character mix of numbers and letters that does not contain the client’s Unique Identifier (UID), does not contain any Personal Identifying Information (PII), and is not a duplicate of a Personal ID that is already in use.

      Users can view a client's Personal ID by hovering over the information icon next to the client's UID  in the client profile.

      personal ID-1

      Changing a Client's Personal ID

      Clarity Human Services provides two methods for changing a client's Personal ID:

      1. If the system finds a new/recovered/updated record with Personal Identifying Information that matches another record, the system will automatically deduplicate the records by updating the Personal ID of the new/recovered/updated record to the Personal ID of the matching record. This process is described below.
      2. System administrators can manually change the Personal ID of a client record to match the Personal ID of another record, or change the Personal ID of a client record so that it no longer matches the Personal ID of another record. Refer to our Link/Unlink Tool article for details.

      Automatic Deduplication

      The system features an automatic deduplication process for designating that client records are associated with the same client without having to merge the records.

      Whenever a client record is created, recovered, or updated, the system searches for any client records with Personal Identifying Information (PII) that matches the PII in the new/recovered/updated record but have a different Personal ID.

       (“Updated” in this case means a change to First Name, Last Name, SSN, DOB, Race and Ethnicity, Gender, or Veteran Status.)

      Note: "Automatic deduplication” is not the same as merging. Automatic deduplication assigns the same Personal ID to records to indicate that they are associated with the same client, but it does not merge those records. 


      The process for automatic deduplication is as follows:

      • First, the system conducts a “full matching” search, which considers two records to match if they meet one of the following three sets of criteria:

      These fields exactly match between the two records:

      • SSN
      • First Name
      • Last Name
      		 AND

      The following are true for both records:

      • Quality of SSN = “Full SSN Reported”
      • Quality of Name = “Full Name Reported”

      These fields exactly match between the two records:

      • SSN
      • DOB
      		 AND

      The following are true for both records:

      • Quality of SSN = “Full SSN Reported”
      • Quality of DOB = “Full DOB Reported”

      These fields exactly match between the two records:

      • First Name
      • Last Name
      • Gender
      • Race and Ethnicity
      • Veteran Status
      		 AND

      The following are true for both records:

      • Quality of Name = “Full Name Reported”
      • Gender and Race and Ethnicity do not equal any of the following:
        • “Client doesn’t know”
        • “Client prefers not to answer”
        • “Data not collected”
        • NULL
      • If no exact matches are found, the system will look for records that are likely a match, according to parameters established using the Levenshtein “fuzzy matching” algorithm. This method provides highly accurate identification of records that should be deduplicated because they are associated with the same client.
      • If matching records are found, the system will automatically deduplicate those records by updating the Personal ID of the new/recovered/updated record to the Personal ID of the matching record.


      Published: 09/17/2024