# Matching (Fuzzy)

Inaport provides the ability to do fuzzy matching between the source and the target.

Fuzzy matching is used to handle dirty or inconsistent data. It works by comparing an incoming string with the target, and assigning each comparison a SCORE of between 0% (no match) and 100% (perfect match).

For more information, see Matching Overview , Fuzzy Matching, and Fuzzy Matching - Performance and Clustering.

### Cluster Match

To do the scoring, the incoming record must be compared with EVERY record in the target table, This can take a long time, so this setup allows you to CLUSTER the target using the cluster expressions. For example, you might decide to us the first character of the company name to cluster the target. If the incoming record is Acme Corp, it would only be matched against companies beginning with "A".

### Fuzzy Match

Enter the expressions to be used in the source and target to match against.

Example: SOURCE: norm(#Company) matching to TARGET: norm(#comp_name)

### Scoring and Action

Specify the percentage upper and lower bounds for scoring a good, possible or bad match:

Score | Match
--- | ---
Less than lower bound | Not a match
Between lower and upper bound | Possible match - need user review to decide whether to accept
Greater than upper bound | Good match

You can select a review action:

- No review - only accept GOOD matches, do not provide user review.
- Review Possible - pop up a user review dialogue for POSSIBLE matches, accept GOOD matches with no review.
- Review All - review both GOOD and POSSIBLE matches. if there are no good or possible matches, no review occurs.

The user review dialogue box will be shown at run time if necessary.

### Customize Review

The user review can show associated tables of this table - for example if you are matching on the Company table you might want to display associated Person or Case records.

You can select which associated tables and fields to display using the "Customize Review" button.