Duplicate Customer and Project Detection

What it checks

Two separate checks run at the same time:

1. Duplicate customer

When you're creating a new customer record (typing into the inline new-customer fields, not picking one from the dropdown), FieldGroove looks for existing customers in the same company that match on:

• Phone
• Email
• Mobile
• First + Last Name (for individuals)
• Company Name (for business accounts)

Each field is compared with whitespace trimmed and case ignored. A match on any one of these flags the customer as a possible duplicate.

2. Duplicate project at the same address

When you're starting a new opportunity, FieldGroove checks whether an open project or lead already exists at the same site address — even when the address is typed with different formatting.

Open means a status that isn't Complete, Completed, Closed, Cancelled, or Lost.

Address matching is smart:

• Case-insensitive ("Springfield" = "springfield")
• Punctuation-tolerant ("St." = "St", "4380b West Hwy 40," = "4380b West Hwy 40")
• Whitespace-tolerant ("123 Main St" = "123 Main St")
• Abbreviation-aware: "Hwy" matches "Highway", "W" matches "West", "St" matches "Street", "Ave" matches "Avenue", plus the standard direction and street-type abbreviations

So "4380b W Us Highway 40" and "4380b West Us Hwy 40." are treated as the same address.

Where the check runs

Customer Create

When you click Save on a new Customer, a confirmation dialog appears if any matches are found. Each match is on its own line:

Found existing customer [Jane Smith] — already a Lead, assigned to Bob Jones — matched on PHONE.

The dialog shows all matches, not just the first. Pick OK to save anyway, or Cancel to go back and edit.

Lead Create

Same shape as Customer Create — a confirmation dialog with the same match details. If you've picked an existing customer from the Select2 dropdown at the top of the form, the dialog is skipped entirely.

Start New Opportunity

This one shows a yellow warning inline at the top of the form (not a popup), because the form is already inside a modal.

The warning lists both customer matches (if any) and any open projects at the same address — up to 5 newest, then "...and N more open project(s)/lead(s) at this address."

What the warning tells you

Each line in the warning is built to give you everything you need to make a decision:

Found existing customer [Jane Smith] — already a Lead, assigned to Bob Jones — matched on PHONE.

Parts:

• Customer name in brackets
• "already a Lead" if the matched customer is currently classified as a Lead
• "assigned to {Salesman}" — the salesperson currently on that customer record (so you know who to talk to)
• The field that matched — PHONE / EMAIL / MOBILE / FIRST + LAST NAME / COMPANY NAME

For project matches:

Existing open project '4380b West US Hwy 40' at this address — owned by Scott Newell — created 5/27/2026.

Parts:

• The project's name or number
• The owner (salesperson) — resolved from a user ID to their display name
• The creation date

Resolving a possible duplicate

On Start New Opportunity — one-click "Use this customer"

For each matched customer in the warning, you'll see a button labeled "Use [Customer Name]" with the customer's phone and email next to it.

Click that button and FieldGroove will:

1. Set the customer picker at the top of the form to that existing customer
2. Hide the inline new-customer fields (you don't need them anymore)
3. Show a green confirmation: "Linked to Jane Smith. Fill in the project Name/Number or Address and click Start to continue."
4. Leave the warning dismissed so you can finish the form

When you click Start, the new opportunity is created linked to the existing customer record — no new customer is created. The customer-level duplicate is avoided cleanly.

"Continue and save anyway"

If you've confirmed it really isn't a duplicate — common surname, shared phone, different person — click Continue and save anyway at the bottom of the warning. The new record saves as-is with no further prompts.

Cancel / Cancel

Closing the dialog (or clicking Cancel in the bootbox version) just returns you to the form. Edit the fields and try again.

What happens when you pick an existing customer up front

If you select an existing customer from the Select2 picker at the top of the form before saving:

• The customer-level duplicate check is skipped (you've already correctly identified the customer)
• The project-level duplicate check still runs (a second opportunity at the same address is a possible duplicate regardless of customer)

So you'll still get warned about an open project at the same site address — and that's the most useful warning for the "Bob already has an open opp at 123 Main St" case.

What this prevents

• Duplicate customer records — fewer entries to merge later
• Two salespeople starting separate opportunities for the same lead — the warning surfaces the existing assignment so coordination happens upfront
• Re-quoting an active project by accident — the open-project warning catches it before you waste a quote

What this does NOT prevent (yet)

• Soft block, not hard block — the warning informs you, but you can always click "Continue" to override. By design — sometimes a duplicate-looking record really isn't a duplicate.
• Closed projects don't warn — if a project at the address is already Complete, Closed, Cancelled, or Lost, it's treated as historic and no warning shows. That's intentional; a closed project shouldn't block a new sale to the same address.
• No fuzzy name matching yet — typos in names ("Jhon Smith" vs "John Smith") aren't caught. Phone/email/address matching is the main duplicate detector; names are exact-match only.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I keep getting the warning but the address is different — what's happening?
The address normalizer treats "Hwy" and "Highway", "W" and "West", and similar abbreviations as the same. Re-check the city/zip too — if those match, the addresses count as the same even with different street formatting.

Q: I picked an existing customer but I'm still getting a warning. Why?
The customer-level check is skipped when you pick from the dropdown — but the project-level (same address) check still runs. The warning is telling you another open opportunity exists at this address. That's usually what you want to know.

Q: A duplicate I expected to see isn't showing. What happened?
A few possibilities:

• The other record's status is Complete / Closed / Cancelled / Lost — those are excluded
• The phone/email is empty on one side, so there's nothing to match on
• The address is on a different zip code (zip is part of the match)

Q: Can I turn the warning off entirely?
Not as a setting today — the warning always runs. But because it's a soft block, you can always click Continue to save anyway. Reach out to support if your team needs an option to disable it.

Q: How many matches can it show?
The customer-level dialog shows every match, one line per matched field. The project-level warning caps at the 5 most-recently-created matches, plus a "...and N more" summary if there are extras.

Q: My duplicate test isn't catching anything — what should I check?

• Are the two records in the same company (tenant)? Cross-tenant matches aren't possible.
• Is the existing record's status Open (not Complete/Closed/etc.)?
• Are the matching fields actually populated on both sides (not blank)?

Summary

When you...	FieldGroove checks for...	Where the warning appears
Save a new Customer	Matching phone / email / mobile / name / company	Bootbox confirm dialog
Save a new Lead	Same as Customer	Bootbox confirm dialog (skipped if a customer is picked from the dropdown)
Click Start New Opportunity	Customer match (if no existing customer picked) + open project at the same site address	Inline yellow panel at the top of the form

The check runs automatically and requires no configuration. Just save the form — you'll get a heads-up if a duplicate looks likely.

Questions? Reach out to support@fieldgroove.com.