Duplicates across Rows Vs Duplicates across Columns

Hello Group Members,

 

We are familiar with the Duplicate Key feature in IDEA which has been covered in the Back to Basics post of last week.

 

The Duplicate Key feature is best used while seeking out Duplicate fields in a database where the fields to match may be one or a combination of fields up to and including eight. Here the values to be matched are across rows in the IDEA Data file. So an apt example would be - to look for duplicate expenses incurred by a Branch Office on Processing Charges, Agreement Charges, Stamp Duty Charges, Insurance Charges and more while entering into a Loan Agreement with a Bank or Financial Institution. Here the duplicate checks would apply to the fields Processing Charges, Agreement Charges, Stamp Duty Charges, Insurance Charges and more across various rows of the data file in IDEA for the same Loan Agreement Number or Borrower ID.

 

So in the case above a duplicate check across rows is best served through a Duplicate Key check in IDEA.

 

Now let us analyse an alternate dimension in the very same Loan file. If the Auditor wishes to check for Loan Sanction Date being the same as the Borrower Loan Document Receipt Date and Loan Agreement Date being the same as the Disbursal Date given that these milestones should be 2 working days apart (borrower approver collusion or favouritism) - Direct Extraction can be applied to look for Borrower Loan Document Receipt Date = Loan Sanction Date .AND. Loan Agreement Date = Disbursal Date

 

In this case we use Direct Extraction to look for matching Dates across fields in the same file which is quite different than looking for Duplicates across rows using Duplicate Key.

 

Best Regards

 

Group Admin Team