Research question
What operational evidence shows that duplicate customer records require dedicated review capacity?
What authoritative sources establish
NIST's Privacy Framework treats data processing as an activity that organizations must identify and govern. FTC guidance likewise advises businesses to know what personal information they hold and retain only what they need. Duplicate records complicate both aims by obscuring ownership and multiplying stored data.
Operational analysis
Sample records by source system and track suspected duplicates, confirmed merges, false positives, unresolved ownership, and reviewer time. Separate exact matches from ambiguous people or businesses that share names, addresses, or domains.
Staffing boundary
Support staff can run approved matching rules and prepare merge candidates. Data owners should decide ambiguous merges, deletion, authoritative fields, and access to sensitive records.
Conclusion
Sample records by source system and track suspected duplicates, confirmed merges, false positives, unresolved ownership, and reviewer time. Separate exact matches from ambiguous people or businesses that share names, addresses, or domains. This evidence supports a capacity decision only when the queue recurs and a named owner reviews exceptions.