Duplicate Detection during Record Create and Update Operations Not Supported

Colin Maitland, 20 June 2013

In this blog write about the fact that Duplicate Detection Rules are not triggered when using the Updated User Interface Forms in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. 

Newly created and uncustomised Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Organisations include a number of predefined Duplicate Detection Rules such as those shown in the following screenshot: 

 

Since Rollup 12, newly created and uncustomised Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Organisations also use the Updated User Interface Forms by default for Leads, Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities and Cases. 

Additional Duplicate Detection Rules may be created and published and existing Duplicate Detection Rules may be Unpublished and/or Published as required. 

In the following demonstration I am using the existing standard Accounts with the same Account Name Duplicate Detection Rule and a new custom Accounts with the same Account Number Duplicate Detection Rule. 

 

Accounts with the same Account Name Duplicate Detection Rule: 

 

Accounts with the same Account Number Duplicate Detection Rule:

 

To start, I have also created an Account named Acme New Zealand Limited. I have set the Account Number for this Account to 123456789. 

 

• Test 1: Using the Updated User Interface Form for Accounts, I created a second Account named Acme New Zealand Limited.

  

After clicking either Create or Save, the new Account is created, however the Accounts with the same Name Duplicate Detection Rule is not triggered!

 
 

• Test 2: Using the Classic Form for Account, I created a third Account named Acme New Zealand Limited.
 

 

After clicking Save, the Accounts with the same Name Duplicate Detection Rule is triggered showing the two previously created instances of an Account named Acme New Zealand Limited as potential duplicate records. 

 

I then click Cancel to cancel the creation of a duplicate Account and rename the Account to Acme Australia Limited before clicking Save again.

 

At this point the following Accounts now exist. There are now two Accounts named Acme New Zealand Limited. 

 

• Test 3: Using the Updated User Interface Form for Accounts, I edit the Acme Australia Limited Account by setting the Account Number to 123456789 and click Save.
 

 

The Account is successfully saved, however the Accounts with the same Account Number Duplicate Detection Rule is not triggered! 

• Test 4: Using the Classic Form for Accounts, I edit the second Acme New Zealand Limited Account and set the Account Number to 123456789.
 

 

After clicking Save, the Accounts with the same Account Number Duplicate Detection Rule is triggered showing the two other Accounts with an Account Number of 123456789 as potential duplicate records. I then click Cancel to cancel the creation of a duplicate Account Number.

 

• Test 5: Using the Updated User Interface Form for Accounts, I rename the first Acme New Zealand Limited Account to Acme Australia Limited.

Before Save:

  

After Save:

  

The Account is successfully saved, however the Accounts with the same Name Duplicate Detection Rule is not triggered! 

• Test 6: Using the Classic Form for Accounts, I rename the second Acme New Zealand Limited Account to Acme Australia Limited.

Before Save:

  

 

After clicking Save, the Accounts with the same Account Name Duplicate Detection Rule is triggered as expected. I therefore click Cancel to cancel my change.

  

At this point the following Accounts now exist. There are two duplicates for Acme Australia Limited and three duplicates for Account Number 123456789. 

 

• Test 7: I then tested again with Contacts using the Updated User Interface Form and the Classic Form. The results were the same as that for Accounts. When using the Updated User Interface Form to create or update records the Duplicate Detection Rules are not triggered. When using the Classic Form to create or update records the Duplicate Detection Rules are triggered.

In conclusion, if the use of Duplicate Detection Rules is an important part of your Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 implementation then you do need to be aware of this limited behaviour, and the impact it may have on the integrity of your data, when using the Updated User Interface Form rather than Classic Forms. 

Microsoft have published the following articles regarding this behaviour:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2771688 and http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn281891.aspx#BKMK_DupDet. The second article states that “Duplicate Detection during create and update operations will not be supported for Microsoft Dynamics CRM updated user interface entities. Duplicate Detection of individual records won’t be supported for custom entities as well.”