Once data have been loaded into an IDT, it may be

clustered

. This is the process of grouping like rows from a

static copy

of the IDT. For example, you may cluster by name in order to identify duplicates, or you may wish to cluster by name and address to identify "households". The data are extracted from the IDT at the start of the clustering process, grouped, and a report is produced. The clusters are then discarded.

The columns to cluster on, and the search and match strategies used, are all user-definable. However, only columns containing character data (

C

,

F

,

V

,

N

,

R

and

W

) can be used for searching and matching. All columns in the IDT are available to be displayed in the final cluster report.