How do I merge subjects?
The merge function can be used to combine subjects into one record. This may be required after importing a subject twice but under a different name, for example, Maths and Mathematics. The effect of this means that the subjects won't match when using tools such as Series Comparison as they will be treated as separate subjects.
In Admin > Edit Subjects, click on the subjects that you wish to merge and check the QAN field in centre panel. You can only merge subjects that use the same QAN. Use the Change Mapped Qualification button in the top right to make any corrections.
Once you've done this, you should see the available subjects that can be merged in the Similar Subjects box at the bottom of the screen. Click the Merge button and choose These Subjects Only. This cannot be undone, and so you should only use this function if you are confident that you are merging the correct subjects.
If you have several subjects to merge, we strongly advise you to ask your IT department to make a back up first, then click Merge > All Matching Subjects. Please use this function carefully as it cannot be undone. This will show a pop-up with a tree of subjects that can be merged together - again, it will only prompt you to merge subjects that use the same QAN. You should make sure that there are no spurious suggestions, such as English matching a French subject. If this is the case, you will need to check your mappings before carrying out the merge.
If the Similar Subjects box is not populating, even after making sure that the QANs match, please refer to the separate knowledge base article 'unable to merge subjects'.
There may be some circumstances where you may not need to merge subjects, even though 4Matrix is suggesting that you can. For example, you may wish to keep the grades for a Foundation and Higher version of a subject separately. Another common example is Art, as some Art qualifications cover up to 8 variants under 1 QAN, such as Fine Art, 3D Design, Photography etc. These should be kept separate for subject discounting purposes.