Reltio Connect

Hello,

It is my understanding that during the match process, all match rules are reviewed and the one with the highest confidence level is used for a merge.  Is there a particular order in which they are reviewed or can this order be set?  We are starting a match rule tuning process and are curious how it works.

Thank you,
Erin Byrne

Hi Erin,

You are close in your description of your match rules.

Match rules are configured as either automatic or suspect.  All the match rules fire at once.  If any of the automatic rules are true, then there will be an automatic merge.  If  any of the suspect rules are true then there will be a data steward review.  If both are true, there will be a merge.

Since all the rules are firing, there is no need to control the order.

Is this helpful?

For a complete and detailed tutorial on rule types and how they are evaluated by the match engine, I recommend this comprehensive, 20 minute module in Reltio Academy, "Four Rule Types and the Comparison Formula". Also, the precedence that Gino mentions is described and documented here in Reltio Documentation, https://docs.reltio.com/matchmerge/groupelementsconf.html?hl=precedence
The key takeaway is that each rule type sends a "directive" (aka a recommendation) to a decisioning engine which collects all the directives from all the rules that evaluated to TRUE, and then makes the final call as to whether the candidate pair of records will be merged or merely "queued for review".

Not to blow his horn too much, but @Curt Pearlman did an EXCELLENT job on that Reltio Academy course!​

Erin, and anyone else who wondered how this works under the covers....

You'll see this in the training video mentioned. For the simple goal of entity consolidation*,  the short explanation is that each candidate pair of entities (determined through tokenization) is evaluated by all of your match rules and they collectively send a set of directives to the decisioning engine. The engine then performs a single, resulting action (1, 2, or 3 below) on the candidate pair:
1. Merge the pair
2. Queue the pair for review
3. Do nothing

More Detailed Explanation:

All rules in your config will evaluate the candidate-pair in parallel and there is no sequence.  Your match config can use any combination of the four rule types shown in the video. Each rule in your config is tasked with delivering a binary directive of True or False to the decisioning engine as regards asking it to perform a 'queue for review' on the pair or a 'merge' on the pair.  Let's focus on the suspect and auto rules since those are by far the most widely used across all Reltio tenants.

• Each 'suspect' rule evaluates to False (aka "Do nothing") or to True (aka "Queue the pair for review") 
• Each 'auto' rule evaluates to False (aka "Do nothing") or to True (aka "Merge the pair")  

The decisioning engine waits until all rules have delivered their directives for the pair. It then, as @Gino Fortunato mentioned, uses simple logic to determine what it will ultimately do with the pair.  If one or more 'auto' rules evaluated to True, the engine will merge the pair; Else, if one or more 'suspect' rules evaluated to True, it will queue the pair for review; Else it will do nothing with the pair.

Even if you include relevance-based matching or invent a custom match rule which provide you additional flexibility, they operate within the same framework and deliver binary directives to the decisioning engine, no different than what is described above and can be included in your config along with the traditional rules. 

There is one add'l point related to the  engine's logic. If your match config includes a 'Negative Match Rule' and that rule evaluates to True, then the engine demotes all merge directives it has received from the 'auto' rules and treats them as "queue for review" thus preventing any possibility of a merge from your rules. This is explained thoroughly with a good example here, https://docs.reltio.com/matchmerge/negativerule.html

Hope this helps.

*For now let's ignore the adjacent capability of asking the engine to create entity-to-entity relationships which is a different matter. ​​

How do I get access to Reltio Academy？ When I tried to set up an account, I got the message "Your email does not match one of our active partner domain names. Please ensure you are using your business email or contact us at training@reltio.com for support."

Hi Vivian, 

It looks like you were accessing the Partner link for our Reltio Academy, not the Customer link. I've just sent you an invitation to the Customer version - so please let me know if you don't get it! 

You can access the video Curt mentioned here: https://academy.reltio.com/items/four-rule-types-and-the-comparison-formula

I hope this helps, but please let me know if you have any questions!

Sorry @Vivian Wu and to other customers who tried to use the link I provided previously. That link was tied to Academy via the Partner Portal avenue.
For non-partners, try this link I think for Reltio Academy
https://academy.reltio.com/en-US/users/sign_in
​

Hi Vivian, 

I'm glad to hear you're interested! It looks like you were trying to register on the Partner version of Reltio Academy. I've just sent you an invitation email to the Customer version - please click on "Accept Invitation" to register - and you can access Curt's video here: https://academy.reltio.com/items/four-rule-types-and-the-comparison-formula

I hope this helps, but please feel free to ask any other questions you may have!