Some Background
We provide a software system to organisation to manage their grant making processes. Our online system removes laborious paper centric practices and moves this all online.
When a client signs up with us, we need to import a history (3 years) of their grants so that when someone makes an application through the system, their history is available which can often be a big part of the decision making process.
In order for an organisation to be eligible for a grant, they must be registered in one of two Online Government Databases. Our system has an API to both databases which checks the name of the Organisation and their unique Registration number when they apply online.
Our Problem
In order for an applicant to progress, they must enter their name into our system identically to how it has been registered in the online government databases. This has presented some difficulties as many organisations use a shortened name than what is legally registered.
The Biggest Problem
The biggest problem we are having relates back to the history as mentioned earlier. Our clients history of organisation names have almost exclusively been using shortened names. So, when an applicant registers through our system with their full legal name, it will not match up with their history at present because the names will be different.
e.g. Client History: Auckland Intl Affairs Inc
Legal Name: Auckland International Affairs Incorporated
The Solution We Need
We have exported the online databases to Excel which comprises approx 67,000 unique entries. We also have our clients history in a seperate file which comprises approx 9,500 unique entries.
We require and efficient and effective way to compare the two lists.
Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
