Merge Program Member Custom Fields

[Michael_Florin]

Hello all!

Product Docs say that Program Member Custom Fields (PMCF) are being merged:

• When you merge two people, the winner’s Program Member custom field data will be used. But if the winner has none, the loser’s value will be used.

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/marketo/using/product-docs/core-marketo-concepts/programs...

But I don't see it. I imported a person into a program with PMCF (option5, option6...):

Then I merged with another person. 

I don't see the PMCF here, but I guess that's to be expected, as they are program specific.

Now the winning record is a program member, and I see the PMCF changes in their activity history. (Screenshot 1 is actually from the winning record.) But I don't see PMCF in the Program Member tab view or in tokens on an email.  {{{member.option5}}, {{{member.option6}}...

Any idea why this doesn't work?

[derelict_wombat]

Based on the documentation I agree this looks like it should have worked.  Have you tested this with any other records and are seeing the same results? (i'm assuming you confirmed that the winner was the record with the PCMF). 

 I don't have an answer but maybe its a question for support?  Would love to hear how this is resolved. 

[Michael_Florin]

Yes, it's never working.

And actually it shouldn't matter if the winner or the loser has PMCF values, right? If both have values, the winner's are taken, if just one of them has values, they should appear on the winner.

I've filed a support case. Let's see what they say. I'll keep you posted. 🙂

[derelict_wombat]

Exactly - Per the docs it should just take the winner no matter what.  

Looking forward to hearing back on what support tells you

[Michael_Florin]

@derelict_wombat - I haven't forgotten about this, but Marketo Support is still researching this issue. Going into week 6 now. 🙂

[derelict_wombat]

@Michael_Florin Sounds good!  Thanks for sending the update! 

[Michael_Florin · Accepted solution]

Alright, we have an answer:

Our engineering team conducted further investigation and discovered that with PMCF fields, the situation is complicated by the Program Status. It’s not simply a matter of Survivor vs. Loser when dealing with PMCF fields.

Each program status within a channel is assigned a numerical value—some are "higher" and some are "lower."

In the case of the surviving record, it previously had a program status of Success, but its current status is a lower value of Member. When merging two records with PMCF fields, the system retains the values from the record with the higher status, even if that record is the losing one in the merge.

For example:
Record #1 (Winner): Status - Member, PMCF fields have values.
Record #2 (Loser): Status - Success, PMCF fields do not have values.

Since the losing record has a higher program status than the winning record, the null values from the losing record are carried over in the merge.

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So, yeah, interesting. I'm not inclined to test that now, as we have already moved on with our project.

[derelict_wombat]

Yikes. Makes sense but does add some nuances to merging to take into account.  Thanks for the details.