Multiple Participants
In rare cases, a Contact may have more than one Participant record. This situation occurs when Users use the New button on the Participants page to create a new Participant record and assign the new Participant to a Contact record that already has one. It may also occur when someone edits a Participant record, changes the assigned Contact, and selects a new Contact that already has a Participant record.
To avoid this situation, train your Users to search for the individual on the Contacts page, launch the Add/Edit Family Tool for that individual, and click Save. This creates a Participant record for that individual if one doesn't already exist.
Merge Duplicate Participant Records
A nightly data quality routine searches for this scenario. When it finds one, it duplicates the Contact record, creates the additional Participant record associated with the new record, and adds a "Duplicate of" relationship to tie both records together. You can then use the Combine Contacts tool to merge the duplicates.
Once completed, all Groups, Events, Responses, and Milestones transfer to the remaining Participant record. If the Participant is in two identical Groups with the same Group Role, these records combine so only the oldest remains.