agent misread the account hierarchy and merged the wrong subsidiaries: logic error
Prevents hierarchy misreads in merges: verify parent-child relationships before merging subsidiaries. Use when merges cross hierarchy boundaries wrongly. Not for flat duplicates.
TL;DR
The agent treated subsidiaries as duplicates because it ignored the account hierarchy. Before merging companies, check the parent-child relationships: subsidiaries of different parents are not duplicates even with similar names. Hierarchy first, similarity second.
Error
Logic error: merged "Acme EMEA" (child of Acme Corp) with "Acme EMEA" (child of Acme Holdings) - different parents.Steps
- For each candidate pair, fetch the ultimate parent of both records. Expected: the hierarchy context.
- If the parents differ, reject the pair or route to human review; do not auto-merge. Expected: hierarchy violations blocked.
- Only merge subsidiaries when they share the same parent and the evidence bar is met. Expected: safe merges.
- Log the hierarchy check with every merge decision. Expected: auditable reasoning.
- Build hierarchy awareness into the blocking keys (include parent id in the key). Expected: cross-parent pairs never even become candidates.
When to use
- Merges cross subsidiary boundaries wrongly.
- An agent ignores account hierarchies.
- Complex corporate structures.
When not to use
- Flat duplicate companies (standard evidence bar).
- Contact-level duplicates.
Tool compatibility
- Salesforce account hierarchies; HubSpot parent-child associations.
- Agent merge logic.
Variant phrasings
merged wrong subsidiaries
Check parents before merging.
hierarchy ignored in dedupe
Include parent in blocking keys.
Why it happens
Similarity scoring sees names, not structure. Subsidiaries legitimately share names across different parents, and flat matching cannot tell them apart.
Edge cases
- Circular or broken hierarchies need repair before dedupe; do not merge through them.
- Recently acquired companies may not yet be linked; verify independently.
- Ultimate-parent computation needs the full chain; partial hierarchies mislead.
Provenance
Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_cnrAqDlWns6s5HUFu3MdPw