Merging person profiles is an important step in ensuring that the appropriate individuals are accurately associated to sponsored projects. Merging profiles becomes necessary when sponsored proposals are entered into GMAS prior to an individual being in Harvard HR systems. Person profiles are often created by users as a temporary placeholder for that individual until they start working and are issued a HUID.
Who can merge a person profile
Users identified as Super Users can merge person profiles. These are usually individuals who work in the Central Sponsored Offices in the pre-award roles.
What does it mean to merge a person profile
Any person profile in GMAS can be merged with another person profile with or without a HUID. (Note: two profiles with HUIDs cannot be merged as this is HR’s way of making these two profiles distinct from each other.) When a non HUID profile is merged with another person profile, all person attributes and project data for the two profiles are merged to be associated to the profile identified as the correct profile, and the profile identified as the duplicate is deleted from GMAS.
Details of the what the person attributes and Project data are:
| Person Attributes | Project Data |
| Jon Records | Admin Team (which transfers to the applicable person's to-do) |
| Email Addresses | Approvals |
| Phone Numbers | Notifications |
| Addresses | Requests |
| Degrees | Research Team |
| Agency Credentials | Segment Revisions |
| Person Approvals | Scheduled Reports |
| Documents | Segments |
| Signatures | |
| Subagreements |
Once person profiles are merged, the action cannot be reversed. This is why the functionality is limited to the Super User roles. Merging person profiles incorrectly can cause issues with data and security.
How to merge a person profile
Prior to beginning this process, the two profiles to be merged should be identified. This process is not reversible, and the profiles should be reviewed prior to doing these steps.
1. Navigate to the person profile of the individual who is the duplicate (this is the non HUID profile that will be deleted).
2. Select <Merge and delete> from the person profile
- This action is only available to Super Users and will only show on person profiles that do not have a HUID – reach out to your Sponsored Programs Pre-award representative for assistance if you do not see the action.
3. Perform a lookup for the person you would like to merge the incorrect profile with (this is the non HUID or HUID profile that will consume all of the data of the deleted profile)
4. Review the merger details, and then select <OK> to commit the action (noting that this process cannot be reversed once <OK> is selected>.
Once this process is completed, the profile that was identified as the duplicate (the first profile searched for) will be deleted and will no longer appear in person search results. The person identified as the correct profile will now have all of the person attributes and project data previously associated with the duplicate profile.
For more detailed information, please refer to this job aid.