In most cases, you'll want to merge member records inside of Novi. However, if both of the records you are trying to merge have associated deposits or sales receipts, the merge must be started in QuickBooks and finished in Novi.
Keeping Your Accounting Records Protected
QuickBooks Online requires this workflow in order to add an extra layer of protection. Once a payment has been deposited, they consider it bad practice to start making changes. Merging customers is considered making changes since it is essentially changing the customer name applied to that payment.
Merges can still occur for records that have associated deposits or sales receipts, but they must be done inside of QuickBooks Online by a staff member with the correct permissions.
AE Tip™: If you received the "two customer records that both have deposits associated with them cannot be merged" message, then this is the correct workflow to follow.
How To Merge Two Customer Records:
1. Find the Customers To Be Merged in QuickBooks
On the left navigation panel, choose Sales, then customers.
Make sure that the customers to be merged have no parent accounts as QuickBooks Online does not allow merging of sub-members.
Records may need edited so that they match and can be updated after the merge.
Go to each of the members profiles to be merged in QuickBooks Online and click the Edit button above the information box.
Uncheck the Is a sub-member box if it is checked (this could also say sub-customer).
Save and close.
2. Choose the "Losing" Record
Select the customer whose record won't be used anymore.
Please Note: The QuickBooks merge isn't as nuanced as Novi's merge. If customer information exists on the losing record, it will be removed and replaced with the new information. Make sure any important information that should be kept is copied over to the record that is going to be kept or "win."
3. Merging the records Records
Click the dropdown arrow next to Edit above the customer's information box and select Merge contacts.
Select the customer record that should be merged ("from") and what the winning record should be ('"into").
Click Merge contacts
Note: Remember to go back and fix the parent account on the customer if you unchecked the "Sub-member" box at the beginning.
4. QuickBooks Merges: Finish the Merge in Novi AMS
Remember, Novi stores more information about members than QuickBooks Online does, so it's important to finish the merge in Novi.
But don't worry - the Daily Digest reminder lists records that should be merged in Novi. (We recommend all admins receive the Daily Digest!)
The "QuickBooks Merges" alert will also appear on the backend of Novi.
NOTE: Customers deleted in QuickBooks Online may not show in the "QuickBooks Merges" section of Novi until several days later. If records that are deleted in QuickBooks don’t show up in the Novi Deleted Customers section, contact Novi staff to run full sync.
