Matching two data sets on two different fields

[lamiah13]

Hi all - I am trying to determine the best tool and workflow logic to use to identify 'matches' across 2 data sets.

I'd like to match on a unique identifier and a date (exact and +/- days). Any ideas or thoughts on the best way to map out this logic? I've been exploring using fuzzy match or the join tool.

[DataNath]

Don’t have my laptop to hand at the moment but you could generate extra rows for each record to reflect +/- however many days, match on the unique ID and those and then use a unique tool afterwards to remove the duplicates?

[IraWatt]

Hey @lamiah13,

Don't know how many +/- days you want but this is how I would do this:

The join on the unique identifier is straight forward (shown above). For the +/- a few days I would use the generate rows tool, It will let you generate the days +/- for each row going from this:

To this: 

That way you can join on this new date column and endure everything is passed through if it is within (in this case a 7 day window).

Please ask if any questions :)

HTH,

Ira