Handling Duplicate Contacts in the CAS-to-TargetX Integration

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The CAS-to-TargetX integration depends on successfully creating or matching a Contact record in TargetX before it can load related admissions data and documents. When TargetX duplicate-management rules block the creation of a Contact, the entire downstream load for that applicant is prevented.

Contact Identification and Duplicate Controls

When an applicant record is transferred from CAS to TargetX, the integration first attempts to create a Contact record in TargetX.

The SRM ETL ID field identifies each Contact. This value is typically constructed from the CAS applicant’s:

First name
Last name
Email address

For example, an applicant named Jordan Smith with the email address jordan.smith@example.edu may receive an SRM ETL ID derived from those values.

In addition to the SRM ETL ID, TargetX applies its own duplicate-detection rules. These rules compare the incoming CAS applicant data against existing TargetX Contact records. Depending on the institution’s TargetX configuration, the comparison may consider values such as name, email address, and other identifying information.

If TargetX identifies the incoming applicant as a potential duplicate, it returns an error and prevents the integration from creating the new Contact record.

CAS-to-TargetX Processing Sequence

The CAS-to-TargetX integration processes each applicant in a required order:

Create the Contact record in TargetX.
Create the related Application record.
Create the related Enrollment History record, when applicable.
Load additional applicant data, such as Recommendations and Test Scores, when included in the integration scope.
Associate CAS documents to the appropriate TargetX record, including:
- Full Application PDF
- Program-level documents
- Transcripts
- Other applicant documents configured for export

The Contact record is the prerequisite for all subsequent processing. If the Contact cannot be created, the integration has no TargetX record to which it can attach the application, enrollment history, supplemental data, or documents.

CAS data and documents are exported from WebAdMIT one time as part of the scheduled integration run. Therefore, records that fail during that run must be corrected and handled in accordance with the steps outlined in this documentation.

Impact of a TargetX Duplicate Error

When TargetX duplicate rules prevent the creation of a Contact, the following downstream records and activities are also blocked for that applicant:

Integration Component	Result When Duplicate Rule is Triggered
TargetX Contact	Not created.
TargetX Application	Not created.
Enrollment History	Not created.
Recommendations	Not loaded.
Test Scores	Not loaded.
Full Application PDF	Not loaded.
Program-level Documents and Transcripts	Not loaded.

In short, a duplicate error at the Contact creation step prevents the applicant’s complete CAS record from being loaded into TargetX.

Identifying Duplicate Errors in Informatica

Informatica is the extract, transform, and load (ETL) platform installed as part of the TargetX implementation. It is used to move applicant data and documents from CAS/WebAdMIT into TargetX.

In a production environment, the CAS-to-TargetX integration is commonly scheduled to run nightly. After each run, Informatica sends an automated status report by email to the designated institutional staff member.

For a successful load, the In Progress Contact and Submitted Contact data flows should report zero errors:

Errors in either the Contact data flow should be reviewed promptly because they may indicate that TargetX duplicate rules prevented one or more applicant Contact records from being created. Since Contact creation is the first dependency in the process, these errors also indicate that the related application data and documents may not have loaded.

How to Resolve Duplicate Errors

As soon as the email with a contact error is received, please follow the steps below to resolve Informatica errors.

Log in to your production TargetX instance.
Navigate to the integration tab and click Single Sign-on for Informatica.
This will open Informatica in a new tab.
From the services available, click Monitor.
Next, click All Jobs in the left panel.
In the “All Jobs” page, search for your linear taskflow:
Click the linear taskflow that failed, and this will open the taskflow’s executed tasks.
Click the Log File icon, next to the failed task:
This downloads the Log File to your computer.
Navigate to the folder on your computer where the log file is downloaded.
Open the log file in Notepad or Notepad++.
Search for the line “more than one record found for external id field” in the Log File, and this brings you to the error part of the Log File:
This will also provide you with details of the CAS applicant data, like the applicant’s first name, last name, and SRM ETL ID.
Search for this contact in your production TargetX instance.
Edit the SRM ETL ID for the applicant, which is usually found under the “System Information” section in the Contact page in TargetX.
Replace the SRM ETL ID on the contact record in TargetX with the SRM ETL ID found in the log file:
Save your changes.
If you have multiple records that failed to load, then steps 14-->17 must be repeated for each applicant record that failed to load.

In Progress vs Submitted Applications

For your CAS->TargetX data integration, you could have opted to bring over both In Progress and Submitted applications.

Different tasks in Informatica are set up to first load the In Progress contact, then the Submitted contact.

Both the In Progress and Submitted contact tasks can fail if the TargetX duplicate rules prevent the contact from being created.

For In Progress contact failing to load, the steps in the How to resolve duplicate errors section should resolve the issue.

However, for submitted applications, since we are also bringing over the data and the documents, which are exported only once from WebAdMIT, you must first complete the steps listed under the section How to resolve duplicate errors and then complete the following steps in WebAdMIT:

Log in to WebAdMIT production.
Once logged in, navigate to the CAS\Cycle for which the applicant failed to load by clicking on the drop-down in the top right corner.
Once logged in to the right CAS\Cycle, click the “Search” option in the left panel:
Now search for the applicant that failed to load, using the firstname and lastname found in the log file from step 12 in the How to resolve duplicate errors section.
In the top right corner, under Search Actions, first click Clear Last Printed date for ALL Docs for Checked Applicants and then click Clear Last Exported Timestamp for Checked Applicants:
This enables the data and documents to be resent from WebAdMIT->TargetX, the next time the integration runs.

Check your email for the integration that was executed once the duplicate issues were resolved in TargetX as well as WebAdMIT, and it should now show zero errors in loading either the In Progress Contact or the Submitted Contact.

Check which applicants previously did not load into TargetX by looking them up in TargetX. This should be done especially for submitted applications to ensure the application and its documents are loaded into TargetX.

Important Caveats and Follow-Up Actions

After resolving a duplicate-related error, it is important to review the Informatica linear flow completion email to confirm that the applicant data loaded successfully into TargetX.

A resolved duplicate issue does not automatically confirm that the subsequent integration run completed successfully. The In Progress Contact and/or Submitted Contact task should be reviewed after each reprocessing attempt.

If either task continues to report an error, one or more of the following conditions may apply:

The duplicate-resolution steps were not completed correctly, or the existing TargetX Contact record still meets the criteria for a duplicate match.
A new duplicate issue has occurred. For example, another application may have entered an In Progress or Submitted status, triggering a new Contact creation attempt.
A TargetX workflow, validation rule, automation, required-field configuration, or other TargetX process is preventing the data from loading successfully.
The error may be unrelated to duplicate management and require separate investigation.

For every reported Informatica error, review both the automated email notification and the associated Informatica session or task log. The email provides a high-level indication of which task failed. At the same time, the log files contain the detailed error message needed to identify the cause and determine the appropriate next step.

Escalation to TargetX Support

If the Informatica error message does not indicate a duplicate-related issue, escalate the issue to TargetX for further investigation.

Non-Premier Services clients: Contact TargetX Support through the standard support channel.
Premier Services clients: Submit a ticket to the TargetX Premier Services team.

When escalating an issue, include the Informatica task name, the date and time of the failed run, the affected applicant identifier(s), the full error message, and relevant log file excerpts. Providing this information upfront will help TargetX diagnose the issue more efficiently.