1. A computer-implemented method comprising: clustering hierarchical database records into a first set of clusters having corresponding first cluster identifications (IDs), wherein each hierarchical database record corresponds to an entity representation, each hierarchical database record comprising a plurality of fields, each field configured to contain a field value, and each field value assigned a field value weight corresponding to a specificity of the field value in relation to all field values in a corresponding field of the hierarchical database records, the clustering based at least in part on determining similarity among corresponding field values of the hierarchical database records; determining parent-child hierarchical relationships among the hierarchical database records; associating related hierarchical database records by applying a hierarchal directional linking process, the hierarchal directional linking process comprising selecting and applying at least an upward process based on the determined parent-child hierarchical relationship wherein the upward process comprises: determining, from the parent-child hierarchical relationships, similarity among a plurality of child records having initial separate parent records; in response to determining a threshold similarity among the plurality of child records, inferring that the initial separate parent records correspond to the same entity; and linking, responsive to the inferring, the initial separate parent records as inferred common parent records; and outputting database record information, based at least in part on associating the related hierarchical database records.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: clustering hierarchical database records into a first set of clusters having corresponding first cluster identifications (IDs), wherein each hierarchical database record corresponds to an entity representation, each hierarchical database record comprising a plurality of fields, each field configured to contain a field value, and each field value assigned a field value weight corresponding to a specificity of the field value in relation to all field values in a corresponding field of the hierarchical database records, the clustering based at least in part on determining similarity among corresponding field values of the hierarchical database records; determining parent-child hierarchical relationships among the hierarchical database records; associating related hierarchical database records by applying a hierarchal directional linking process, the hierarchal directional linking process comprising selecting and applying at least an upward process based on the determined parent-child hierarchical relationship wherein the upward process comprises: determining, from the parent-child hierarchical relationships, similarity among a plurality of child records having initial separate parent records; in response to determining a threshold similarity among the plurality of child records, inferring that the initial separate parent records correspond to the same entity; and linking, responsive to the inferring, the initial separate parent records as inferred common parent records; and outputting database record information, based at least in part on associating the related hierarchical database records. 7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the associating related hierarchical database records further comprises: determining highest compelling linkages among the hierarchical database records, the determining comprising: identifying mutually preferred pairs of records from the hierarchical database records, each mutually preferred pair of records consisting of a first record and a second record, the first record consisting of a preferred record associated with the second record and the second record consisting of a preferred record associated with the first record, wherein the mutually preferred pairs of records each has a match score that meets pre-specified match criteria; assigning, for each record from the hierarchical database records, at least one associated preferred record, wherein a match value assigned to a given record together with its associated preferred record is at least as great as a match value assigned to the record together with any other record in the database records; and forming and storing a plurality of entity representations in the database, each entity representation of the plurality of entity representations comprising at least one linked pair of mutually preferred records.