Looking Ahead: Changes to the Find Client and Create New Record Experiences

To make it easier to find existing client records and harder to create unwanted duplicates, ICA is working on system enhancements for the Find Client form. In place of the current client search experience, a revised Find Client form will both return a wider range of potential matches and offer more precise sorting. Here are some of the ways the form’s behavior is being altered:

• First name and last name comparisons will be made using "Like (begins with)" and "Sounds like" logic. This will enable users to more easily find records where a client’s name has been misspelled or where a nickname is used, like “Dave” instead of “David”.

• Accented characters will be considered when searching.

• Scores will be assigned to each exact or partial match of personally identifying information, with search results that have the highest combined scores being listed first.

• Exact and partial matches will be highlighted in different colors to make them stand out.

Searching using the personal information filters (A) will return a wider range of potential matches, while the two unique ID fields (B) can be used to immediately jump to a known record.

A further update will prevent the “Create new client record” option from appearing until a user has attempted to search for an existing record. This approach aligns with ICA’s recommended process for managing client records and helps prevent multiple records from accidentally being created for the same individual.