Duplicate Persons are the problem every system tries to avoid. Inform Direct merges records for individuals to help iron out inconsistencies.
It is always best practice to use the full forenames of an individual. This is recommended by Companies House and stated on each form/process.
Duplicates tend to appear as a result of inconsistently entered information, it is best explained by a simple example:
A director of a company may be called Andrew Parker.
However if he is generally called "ANDY". He may find that his share certificates have been issued in the name of Andy Parker. This simple action will mean he has become a duplicate person since in one system he is known as both Andy Parker and Andrew Parker.
Duplicate people cause problems because systems will not know to associate the different versions of the same name. e.g.
Bob and Robert
Kit and Christopher etc
So, if a note arrives saying Andy Parker has changed his correspondence address. Who would know that this also applies to Andrew Parker?
Inform Direct gives you the opportunity both on set up and concerning all future appointments to avoid creating duplicate persons.
The power of the Inform Direct system lies in the ability to map all parties associated with a company and identify which are in fact the same person. For example, someone might be a director a secretary and a shareholder. Inform Direct will suggest any records that it thinks should be treated as one person while still preserving their separate characteristics - which in this example would be that of director and secretary and shareholder.
Once duplicate records have been merged, any subsequent change in details will only have to be made once rather than two or three times.