Personal data is the set of fields that identify a customer as a real person. In Maestra, this includes:
- First name
- Last name
- Middle name
- Date of birth
- Gender
These fields live on the customer profile and behave differently from other attributes when you merge or update customers.
How personal data behaves when customers are merged
When two customers are merged, personal data is not combined field by field. Instead, the entire set of personal data is taken from the priority customer. The other customer’s personal data is dropped.
This keeps the profile internally consistent — you won’t end up with one customer’s first name paired with another customer’s date of birth.
How edits to personal data are applied
When new personal data comes in for an existing customer, one of two things happens depending on whether the new values conflict with what’s already on the profile.
Scenario 1: The data is completed (no conflict)
If the incoming data doesn’t contradict any existing values, it’s simply added to the profile.
Example. A customer profile has a first name filled in, but no last name and no date of birth. An update arrives with a last name and a date of birth. Both new fields are written to the profile, alongside the existing first name.
Scenario 2: The data conflicts
If the incoming data contradicts existing values, Maestra assumes the update refers to a different person. All previously stored personal data is wiped, and only the new values from the update are kept.
Example. A customer profile has a full name (first, last, middle) and date of birth #1. An update arrives with date of birth #2. Because the dates conflict, Maestra clears the existing name fields and the old date of birth, leaving only the new date of birth on the profile.
Conflicting updates erase prior personal data — they don’t merge with it. If you send only one conflicting field, you’ll lose the other personal data fields you previously had on the customer.
Recommendation: send the full set of known data
To avoid accidental data loss in conflict scenarios, send the entire set of known personal data on every update — not just the field that changed.
If your integration only has a new date of birth to send, include the customer’s current first name, last name, and middle name in the same update. That way, if the new date of birth triggers a conflict, the rest of the profile is repopulated from the same payload instead of being cleared.
Why it works this way
Personal data is treated as one connected identity record rather than independent fields. A conflict on any one field is a signal that the update may be about a different person, so Maestra protects the profile by not silently mixing identities. Aligning your updates with this model — always sending the full known set — keeps customer profiles accurate and complete. 
