The match process identifies data that conforms to the match rules that you have defined. These rules define duplicate data for Informatica MDM Hub to consolidate.

Matching

is the process of comparing two records for points of similarity. If sufficient points of similarity are found to indicate that the two records are probably duplicates of each other, then Informatica MDM Hub flags those records for consolidation.

In a base object, the columns to be used for comparison purposes are called

match columns

. Each match column is based on one or more columns from the base object. Match columns are combined into

match rules

to determine the conditions under which two records are considered to be similar enough to consolidate. Each match rule tells Informatica MDM Hub the combination of match columns it needs to examine for points of similarity. When Informatica MDM Hub finds two records that satisfy a match rule, it records the primary keys of the records, as well as the match rule identifier. The records are flagged for either automatic or manual consolidation according to the category of the match rule.

External match is used to match new data with existing data in a base object, test for matches, and inspect the results without actually loading the data into the base object. External matching is used to pretest data, test match rules, and inspect the results before running the actual match process on the data.