What happens if I have duplicate company records in Procore's Company Directory?
Answer
Procore was designed to allow users with the appropriate permissions to add new companies to their project's Directory (see Add a Company to the Project Directory). For every new company added to a project's Directory, a corresponding record is also created in the Company level Directory. This ensures that all company records that have been added to your projects are captured in the overarching Company level Directory.
Also, when companies are invited to tender from the Procore Construction Network, the company is automatically added to your Company Directory as a "Connected" company. See What happens when companies and users are added from the Procore Construction Network to the Company Directory?
How Duplicated Company Entries Occur
When you add a new company record to a project's Directory tool, the system automatically adds that company record to the Company level Directory tool. If another user adds the same company to their project Directory with a small variation in spelling or abbreviation, both records will appear in the Company Directory.
Example
Jack, a project manager, added a new company record to Project A's Directory and named the company, 'Star Framing.'
Jane, also a project manager, added the same company to Project B's Directory, only she named the company, 'Star Framing, LLC.'
Since both project managers spelled the company name differently when creating the company record, the system created two (2) unique company records in your organisation's Company level Directory tool. One for 'Star Framing' and one for 'Star Framing, LLC.'
Preventing or consolidating duplicate entries ensures that all of the user, office, tenderer, insurance and change history information for the company is stored in a single record, instead of splitting data between two (2) or more records. This ensures that your tender processes, insurance tracking and reporting remain accurate. The most common ways for duplicated entries to occur include:
- Multiple entries for the same company (e.g., a subcontractor, contractor, outside vendor) are accidentally created in the Company Directory when different users add the same company (with different spellings) to two different projects.
- Small spelling inconsistencies can occur during the vendor import process.
If you find duplicate company records in your system, follow the steps in Merge Companies to resolve the issue.
What if One of the companies is "Connected"?
Connected Companies are created when inviting companies to tender from the Procore Construction Network. At this time, you cannot merge Connected and unconnected companies into a single record. However, there are other ways that you can manage duplicates. See How are duplicate companies handled between the Directory tool and Procore Construction Network?
Important Note for Accounts Using ERP Integrations
If your company's Procore account has been integrated with a third-party Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, it is also possible to introduce duplicate entries when data in synced between your ERP system and Procore.
When your Procore account is integrated with a third-party ERP system, it is very important to eliminate multiple entries from the Company Directory. This is because vendor records in the ERP system must share a direct link to its corresponding company entry in Procore. This one-to-one relationship (i.e., vendor-to-company) ensures data integrity between the two systems. For instructions, see: