Company Merge
Overview
Company Merge is a Gainsight Admin feature, that helps Admins merge two Gainsight company records into a single master company. This article walks you through how to complete the Company Merge process and the impact a Company Merge can have on other applications in Gainsight.
It’s very common for one company to get acquired by another, or for two companies to merge into each other. When this happens, you need to update your records to reflect it. Using the Company Merge feature, you can merge records from the Company object and combine their data into a single master record.
This feature is also recommended for dealing with duplicate records. Duplicate records of the same company can result in inaccurate reporting, rule failures, and can make keeping track of tasks impossible.
Limitations:
- This feature can only merge two companies with each use.
- This feature does not offer a way to automatically merge company records, or identify when company records should be merged together.
- Companies with different base currencies can not be merged. If users attempt to do so, an alert is displayed saying the action can not be initiated.
If two Account records are merged in Salesforce, their corresponding company records in Gainsight are not automatically merged together. After a Salesforce Account merge is completed, admins should manually merge the associated company records so they match the Account records in Salesforce.
IMPORTANT: If you are completing a Company Merge to match SFDC data after an Account merge, it is important to select the Company associated with the Master Salesforce Account as your Master Company. Failure to do so will result in a merged company that is not associated with the merged Salesforce Account.
Key Terms
The following are key terms associated with using the Company Merge feature.
- Master Company: When merging two companies, you will select one to be the master record or Master Company. All of the data from the other company record will be merged into the master record.
- Secondary Company: The company that is not selected as the master record in a company merge is the Secondary Company. All of the data from the secondary record will be merged into the master record.
- Merge History: You can view a log of every company merge completed in your org from the Merge History page. For more information, refer to the Merge History section.
Precautions
Please review the following information before initiating a Company Merge:
- The Company Merge process is permanent and once the operation is complete it is impossible to revert data to its previous state.
- Assets from the Secondary Company can not be identified with their source company once the merge is performed. All merged data will be associated with the Master Company. The Secondary Company will no longer exist after the merge, and it will not be possible to search for data originally associated with it.
Access Company Merge
To access the Company Merge feature, take the following steps:
- Navigate to Administration > Operations > Data Operations and select Company from the object drop-down field.
- Select the two companies you wish to merge.
- Click the Merge Companies icon. This will open the Company Merge page.
Company Merge Configuration
You have several options to configure how data is merged on the Company Merge page.
Perform the following actions to merge two company records:
- Select the Master Company: Select which company will be the Master record as part of the merge. The secondary Company record will be merged into the Master record.
Note: If you are merging Company records with corresponding SFDC Account records, you should select the Company that corresponds with the Master SFDC Account as your Master record. - Select All: Select this option if you want to use the values of all fields from one of the merged records.
- Select Value: Select the value you want the merged company to keep for the associated field. For number fields, you can also select Aggregation Type.
- Aggregation Type: Select this option to aggregate the data between two number or currency fields, instead of selecting the data from one field to keep for the Master company. This option is useful when the values contained in a number or currency field for one Company do not overlap with the other Company. For example, if you are merging two companies because one acquired the other, and the Employees field for each record represents different sets of people, it makes sense to aggregate the Employees fields as a sum, rather than select the value from one field over the other. You can select the following aggregation options:
- SUM: The sum of the two values added together.
- MIN: The minimum value of the field between the two records.
- MAX: The maximum value of the field between the two records.
- AVG: The average of the two values.
- Show All Fields: Click this option to display all of the available fields for the two records. By default, the Company Merge feature will only display the fields that have different values between the two records.
- Merge: Click to initiate the Company Merge. This will open the Merge Companies window asking you to confirm if you want to merge the two companies. Read and check each box within the window to enable the confirmation button.
Note: The Company Merge process takes some time to complete after it is initiated.
-
Exit: Click to navigate out of the Company Merge and back to the Data Operations page.
Merge History
You can view the history of every Company Merge initiated within your org. This Merge History page is a record of how your Company data has changed. To view this history, click the VIEW LOGS button on the Data Operations page. This will open the Merge History page.
The Merge History page displays the following:
- Merge Logs: This displays an entry for each merge that has been initiated within the org. Click a specific entry to view a summary of the merge.
- Merge Status: The state of the merge request, such as Processing, Success, Partial Success, or Failed.
- Option to Rerun Company Merge: When completing a Company Merge operation, it’s possible that some modules (such as timeline activities, survey responses, journey orchestrator programs, etc.) fail to merge while others succeed. Click Rerun to retrigger a Company Merge, which will then attempt to merge all failed modules. This functionality is available as long as a merge operation has failed modules, and is not available for merge operations when all modules have succeeded. Click Dismiss to remove this message.
- Merge Stats: Basic data about the merge is displayed including the names of merged records, which company was designated as the Master record, the merge Run Type, the merge’s run time, and the user who initiated the merge.
- Log Summary: A list of every object and module that either updated successfully or failed during the Company Merge.
Impacts of Company Merge Feature
The impact of Company Merge on each module is detailed below. You can also review a summary of the impact in the following table:
| Product Area | Impact |
|---|---|
| Timeline, Cockpit & Success Plans | All Timeline entries, CTAs, and Success Plans will be moved to the Master Company. |
| C360 |
Only C360 of the Master Company will be accessible. |
| Relationships | The Secondary Company relationships will be moved to the Master Company. |
| Custom Objects |
Objects looking up to company records containing the GSID of the Secondary Company will be updated with the GSID of the Master Company. Objects that do not have a look up to the Company object are not changed. |
| Reporting Filters | Filters containing the GSIDs of the Secondary Company will be replaced with that of the Master Company. |
| Rules Engine | GSID of the Secondary Company will be replaced by the GSID of the Master Company in filters, tasks and actions. |
| Scorecards | History of the Master Company is retained and the Secondary Company history is deleted. Scorecard resolver determines the scorecard configuration of the merged entity. |
| People Management | Company persons associated with the Secondary Company will be moved to the Master Company. |
| Email Assist | Tokens, Survey 2.0 responses and Reports associated with the Secondary Company will be associated with the Master Company. |
| Journey Orchestrator | Secondary Company references in Participants will get replaced with Master Company references. |
| Surveys | Survey responses associated with the Secondary Company will be associated with the Master Company. |
| Adoption Explorer | Usage data of the Secondary Company is moved to the Master company. |
| Notifications | Notification preferences set at the merged company are automatically moved to the Master company. |
360
Company Merge impacts the following areas for 360 pages:
- Master C360 Page: After Company Merge is completed, only the C360 page for the Master company will remain. This C360 page will display the merged data of the two companies. The C360 page for the secondary company will no longer be available.
- Relationships Move to Master Company: Refer to the Relationships section.
- Sponsor Tracking: After Company Merge is completed, Sponsor profiles that were listed in the secondary company’s C360 > Sponsor Tracking page will be displayed in the Master Company’s C360 > Sponsor Tracking page.
Timeline
Company Merge impacts the following areas for Timeline:
- Timeline Entries Move to Master Company: When two companies are merged, all of the timeline entries from the merged company are moved to the Master company’s timeline.
Note: It’s not possible currently to select which timeline entries are moved. All timeline entries will move to the Master company when a Company Merge is completed.
Data Management
Company Merge impacts the following areas for Data Management:
- During a Company Merge, GSID fields that lookup to the company object will be updated so that if they had the Secondary company's GSID, it will be replaced by the GSID of the Master company. This prevents failures for any rules or reports that use these lookups.
- GSID fields that do not lookup to the company object will not be updated during company merge, even if they contain the Secondary company's GSID. This is to prevent GSIDs being rewritten in the event that customers are using objects to store GSIDs.
Reports and Dashboards
Company Merge impacts the following areas for Reporting and Dashboards:
-
Reporting Filters: When two companies are merged, you can only see the Master company in the Reporting filters. For example, if you have merged companies named ABC and AIVA, where ABC is the master company, you can only see ABC in the Reporting filters.
This behavior is the same for Dashboards and other areas of reporting.
Relationships
Company Merge impacts the following areas for Relationships:
If Relationships are enabled in your org, then all the Relationships associated with the secondary company moves to the master company during a Company Merge. For example, if the master company (M1) has four associated Relationships, and the secondary company (S1) has five associated Relationships then the master company (M1) will have nine Relationships associated after the Company Merge.
Cockpit and Success Plans
Company Merge impacts the following areas for Cockpit and Success Plans:
-
CTAs and Success Plans: When two companies are merged, all the CTAs and Success Plans, including their Tasks and Objectives, associated with the secondary company are moved under the master company. The master company displays the list of all the CTAs and Success Plans that are merged to it.
Notes:- CTAs and Success Plans with all the statuses such as Open, Active, Draft and Closed are moved to the master company.
- Relationship CTAs along with Relationships are moved to the master company. The Relationships that are moved under the master company now displays the list of all the CTAs and Success Plans.
Email Assist
Company Merge impacts the following areas in Email Assist:
-
Tokens, Surveys and Reports in Email Templates: When two companies are merged, you can see that all of the Tokens, Survey 2.0 responses and Reports associated with the secondary company are now associated with the master company. The master company now displays all of the Tokens, Survey 2.0 responses and Reports from both the secondary and master company.
Journey Orchestrator
When two companies are merged, Child company references in participants will get replaced with parent company references.
If the participants who have already entered the journey will continue in the journey and return parent company reference for Query Builder Sync, Calculated Fields, and Conditional Wait if evaluated.
Scorecards
When you merge two companies, the master company’s history is retained. The secondary company’s Scorecard history, fact, and automated activities are all deleted. However, manual activities created on the secondary company’s scorecard are retained in the master company’s timeline. If the secondary company had a relationship scorecard, this scorecard’s scorecard history, fact, and activities are reassigned to the parent company.
Once merged, the scorecard applicable to the master company as determined by the scorecard resolver, would be applicable from that point on.
Survey 2.0
When two companies are merged, all the Survey 2.0 responses associated with the secondary company will be associated with the master company. The master company displays all of the survey responses from both the secondary and master company. For example, if the company (C1) has 10 responses and the company (C2) has 15 responses, and you merge C1 with C2, where C1 is the master company, then company C1 ends up with 25 responses.
Notes:
- The Survey Email link that is distributed through JO or Gainsight Assist will work even after the companies are merged. The response collected through the old Survey Email link will belong to the master Company.
- The C360 page of the master company will display the merged responses of the two companies.
People Management
When you merge two companies, the Company ID of a person associated with the secondary company will be replaced with the Company ID of the master company in the Company Person object.
The Person record previously visible in the secondary company’s C360 > Person List View will now display in the master company’s C360 page.
For more information on the Person list view in the C360/R360 pages, refer to the Configure 360 Person Section article.
Note: If a person is associated with Company A and Company B, and Company B is merged with Company A, there will be two duplicate person records in the Company Person object for Company A.
Rules Engine
When you merge two companies, if the secondary company’s GSID is used in any rule, this field is automatically replaced with the master company’s GSID field. For example, if you merge Abbett and Acme Companies with Abbett as the master and if Acme company’s GSID is used in any rule, it is automatically replaced with Abbett company’s GSID.
- If you have used the secondary company’s GSID in a rule filter, it is automatically replaced with the master company’s GSID. However, if you have used the secondary company’s name instead of GSID in the filter, no records will be populated for the secondary company filter.
- If you have used the GSID of the secondary company in any task, it is replaced with the GSID of the master company.
- If the secondary company’s GSID is being used in the Action section of the rule, it is automatically replaced by the master company’s GSID.
Adoption Explorer
When two companies are merged, you can see that the usage data associated with the master company and secondary company are summarized under the master company. For instance, you have merged Companies named ABC and AIVA, where ABC is the master company, so going forward after the merge, you would see that the usage data associated with ABC and AIVA is summarized under the master company, i.e ABC. In the Layouts screen, you can no longer see the AIVA company under Company search.
Important: Historical Usage data associated with the secondary company will be still stored in the Gainsight database, after the Company Merge is performed.
Notifications
When two companies are merged, all of the Notification preferences set at the merged company are automatically moved to the Master company. However, the notifications for the events that were received earlier, before the merge, display the name of the merged company. If the user clicks the merged company name, it redirects to the C360 page of the master company.