How to Perform Fuzzy Matching Between Two Different Reports in Alteryx?

[Buddhi_DB]

Hello Alteryx Community,

I have two reports with text data that I need to match using fuzzy logic. Specifically, I need to match the items from one report (Based report) with descriptions in another report (Target Report). Here are the details of each report:

I want to match each item in Based report with the relevant descriptions in Target Report using fuzzy matching and bring all the matching descriptions from Target Report for each item in Based report.

1 Example Matches:

"Motor Vehicle" in Based report should match with

* Motor vehicles - class NA (for transporting light goods, gross vehicle mass up to 3.5 tonnes)
* Motor vehicles - class NC (for transporting heavy goods, gross vehicle mass over 12 tonnes) and used for short-term hire of 1 month or less only - applies from 2010/11 and subsequent income years

2 Example Matches:

"Office Equipment & Furniture" in Based report should match with

*Shelving (fixed)_Office equipment and furniture (OFUR)
*Desks_Office equipment and furniture (OFUR)
*Chairs 1_Office equipment and furniture (OFUR)

How can I effectively perform fuzzy matching between these two reports in Alteryx and get the required matches as described? Any guidance or alternative approaches would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[griffinwelsh · Accepted solution]

Take a look at the attached solution. I think the best way to handle your data set is to drop all special characters and use a contains function. You are going to struggle with the fuzzy match tool if you are trying to match only 2 words in a 20+ word string. It can be done, but it will be run slower and take a lot of tinkering.

[Buddhi_DB]

@griffinwelsh  Thank you very much