Unique Identification (UID)
Every individual entered into RDS is identified by a system-generated Unique Identification (UID). Users do not see this ID. The UID that identifies an individual never changes. When an individual or family is re-numbered in the database, the UID remains unchanged for each individual.
The Insta Check-In applications, for example, use the UID for identification, so that if a family or individual is re-numbered, their bar-coded check-in tag is still correct.
Duplicate Individual Type:
The purpose of ‘Duplicate Individual Type’ is to include an individual as a child in that person’s parent’s record, and enter that person also in his/her own family unit as an adult, and not have the individual counted twice in the membership statistics. This does not add an additional record in the database.
If known in advance that the child of a family is to be entered also as an adult in his own family unit, when entering the individual as a child in ADD mode, enter the Individual type as Z – duplicate.
If a person who is a ‘duplicate member’ is added to a family, that person’s type MUST be entered as Z (duplicate) while in ‘Add’ mode.
If a child becomes an adult and marries, forming a new family, the duplicate status keeps the child in the parent’s record without adding an additional record.
The Duplicate Individual Type is a LINK, not a new record.
Benefits of Duplicate Individual Type:
· Maintains multi-generation records for families
· Does not require additional individual entries
· More efficient database