...
The order here in which you do so is insignificant, but in this guide we'll start by checking the "People" Card to see if the user in question already exists.
Checking Whether a User Record Already Exists for a Registration (OAC or PERC)
The first thing to do this is to copy the email address of the user and paste it into the search box on the people card. This will search over all the users in the system to see if any have that email address. This is a good start to checking if the user already exists, but isn't always perfect (e.g., some users might have multiple email addresses and may have registered using a different email address than the one that we had on file previously). After checking for that email address in the people card, repeat the same steps for the Potential Grantee's Full Name (First Name + Last Name) and then just their Last Name.
...
If you DID find a user via one of those searches that DOES match the user in question, then you'll eventually want to follow the steps laid out in the "Linking a Registered User to an Existing User" sections (one for OAC and one for PERC) below. Again, you still want to check on the organization record before doing so.
Checking Whether an Organization Already Exists for an OAC Registration
OAC: To check to see if an (OAC) organization already exists in the system, the steps are largely similar. First, copy the Organization name from the Registration form as shown in the screenshot, below (Note: Since PERC Registration Forms do NOT contain organizational info, this exact step is not applicable to PERC, hence why OAC is referred to separately here). Then, paste the Organization name into the search box in the "Organizations" card. If (as in the screenshot below) no results are returned when searching for the organization name, you should still check one other data point before concluding that no such organization already exists.
...