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Understanding parish records

Sacramentum uses three separate types of records for parishioners, each with a different purpose. Understanding how they connect is the key to managing identity cleanly and merging duplicates safely.

The three record types​

RecordWhat it's forWhere to find it
Login accountLets someone sign in to the systemUsers tab
RequesterTracks who submitted a request (Mass intention, offering, etc.)Requesters tab
PersonThe main parish identity record for this human beingPeople tab

A Household groups related People together into a family. You manage those in the Households tab.

How they connect​

In the cleanest case, one parishioner has all three connected in a chain:

Login account  →  Requester  →  Person  →  Household
  (sign-in)       (requests)    (identity)   (family)

But many valid records are incomplete:

  • A walk-in parishioner has a Requester and maybe a Person, but no login account.
  • A funeral home has a Requester, but no Person record — it's not a human being.
  • A newly imported Person may not have a Requester yet.

All of these are normal.

The key rule

Requesters are for tracking requests. People are for tracking identity. Login accounts are for sign-in access. They are connected but not the same thing.

Which tab should I use?​

I need to...Go to
Fix a requester's phone number or emailRequesters tab → Edit
See who submitted a Mass intentionRequesters tab → View
Merge duplicate request profilesRequesters tab → select and Merge
See or edit the main parish record for a personPeople tab
Merge duplicate identity recordsPeople tab → select and Merge
Organize family groupingsHouseholds tab
Create or manage sign-in accountsUsers tab
Review flagged identity matchesIdentity Review tab

Common situations​

A name appears twice in the Requesters tab​

This usually means the same person submitted requests on different occasions (once online, once in person) and two separate requester profiles were created.

What to do: Select both requesters, click Merge Selected, and follow the wizard. See Managing requesters for step-by-step instructions.

The same person appears twice in the People tab​

This means two separate Person records exist for the same human being. This is a deeper duplicate than a requester duplicate.

What to do: Select both people, click Merge Selected, and follow the wizard. See Managing people for details.

An organization has no Person record​

That's correct. Organizations (funeral homes, ministries, schools) are valid requesters but they are not people. Don't create a Person record for them.

A requester has no login account​

That's normal. Many parishioners interact with the parish in person or by phone and never create an online account. The requester profile still tracks their request history.

A couple's requester should become one person's​

Example: "John & Jane Smith" should now be just "Jane Smith."

What to do:

  1. Edit the requester profile — change the kind from Joint Household to Individual and update the name.
  2. Separately, review the linked Person and Household records in their respective tabs.

Changing the requester does not automatically update People or Households.

The merge rule​

When both the Requesters tab and the People tab have duplicates for the same individual, always merge People first, then merge Requesters.

This is because if two requesters point to two different Person records, the system will block the requester merge until you resolve the Person-level duplicate.

SituationWhat to do
Two requesters, same linked PersonMerge Requesters directly
Two requesters, only one has a Person linkMerge Requesters directly — the Person link carries over
Two requesters, different linked PeopleMerge People first, then merge Requesters
Two requesters, different login accountsMerge Requesters — choose which login account stays
Multiple duplicates across both tabsMerge People first, then merge Requesters

Login accounts during merges​

Login accounts are never automatically merged. If two requesters being merged are linked to different login accounts, the system asks you to choose which one stays attached to the surviving requester. The other account is not deleted — it simply becomes unlinked.

For parish staff, the safest mental model is: keep one login account link, but don't expect account-merging.

What if something goes wrong?​

Can I undo a merge? Merges cannot be automatically undone. The system keeps a full audit trail of what was merged and when, but reversing a merge requires administrator intervention. This is why the system asks you to type MERGE as confirmation.

I picked the wrong record to keep. Contact your system administrator. The merged record's data is preserved in audit logs, so recovery is possible but must be done manually.

A grouped merge stopped partway through. If a grouped merge encounters an error after some records have already been merged, the system tells you how many steps completed. The remaining records are untouched and you can retry them.

I'm not sure whether to merge. When in doubt, don't merge. It's better to leave duplicates temporarily than to merge records that shouldn't be combined. You can always come back later.

Quick glossary​

TermMeaning
Login accountA sign-in credential for accessing the system online
RequesterA record of who submitted a request — tracks request history, contact info, and payments
PersonThe main parish record for a real human being — the authoritative identity
HouseholdA family grouping that connects related People
RegisteredA requester linked to a login account
Walk-inA requester with no login account
IndividualA requester representing one person
Joint householdA requester representing a couple
OrganizationA requester that is not a person (funeral home, ministry, business)
MergeCombining duplicate records into one, moving all linked data to the survivor
Target / Kept recordThe record that survives a merge
ConflictWhen merged records have different values for the same field — you choose which to keep