- Did Minerva find a Sanctions, PEP, or News/adverse-media indicator?
- How closely does the potential match resemble the submitted subject?
- Which identity details and sources support or contradict the match?
- How can an integration retrieve the same evidence later from profile and search history?
The Screening Response Mental Model
Keep risk, identity match strength, and source evidence separate:
For a synchronous search, every
results[i] object is one ranked potential
match. For the historical match API, the equivalent object is matches[i].
The same interpretation applies at either path.
Detect Sanctions, PEP, And News
The direct risk indicators are:
A
true value means Minerva found a qualifying finding for that candidate in
that feed. A false value means no qualifying hit was found for that candidate
given the requested feeds, submitted identifiers, available source coverage,
and configured thresholds. It is not a universal guarantee that the subject has
no risk outside the scope of that screen.
The checklist Hierarchy
hits_info identity attribute generally includes:
An optional
hits_info attribute can have match_score: 0.0 when that
attribute was not supplied in the original search. For example, if the request
did not include a DOB or occupation, zero for that comparison should not
automatically be treated as conflicting evidence.
Detailed Sanctions Example
The following abbreviated example is illustrative. It shows the relationship between the overall candidate, the feed flag, the triggering source, and source-reported identity values.checklist.screen.Sanctionsconfirms that the Sanctions feed flagged.scoresays the overall candidate is a strong criteria match.checklist.hits.Sanctionsnames the list that triggered the risk finding.- The matching
hits_infoitem shows the original name, date, nationality, and location reported by that list. ID,source_details, sourced-fieldsources[], and notes provide corroborating or contradictory evidence for disposition.
Overall Score And Field-Level Closeness
The overall candidate match score isresults[i].score. It is normalized from
0.0 to 1.0, with values closer to 1.0 indicating stronger agreement with
the submitted search criteria.
The score is:
- a criteria match score, not a risk-severity score
- not a statistical probability that the candidate is the same person
- not a measure of how sanctioned, politically exposed, or adverse the subject is
- not necessarily a simple average of the visible field scores
score: 0.92 means that the candidate matched the submitted
identity criteria strongly. It does not mean “92% sanctioned” or “92% risky.”
In a name-only request, a score of 1.0 normally means the candidate name
matched the submitted name fully. In a name-and-DOB request, a 1.0 normally
means both scored criteria matched fully. When optional evidence is unavailable,
workspace matching settings can apply missing-evidence treatment rather than
counting absence as a direct contradiction.
The field-level summary is results[i].match_score_info.<field>. Common keys
include:
nameandaliasesdateaddress,city,state, andcountrygenderoccupationandorganizationemailandphonepersonalIdandregistrationIdnotes
score, criteria_match_level, and
verified. The verified flag indicates that the field met Minerva’s
verification requirements for source reputation and closeness; it should not be
treated as a final identity disposition on its own.
Closeness Labels
The closeness label can appear at several levels:
Several agreeing
exact or close identifiers generally deserve the most
attention. A close name alone can still be a false positive when DOB, location,
nationality, or identifiers conflict. Conversely, transliteration, initials,
reversed names, punctuation, spelling variations, and partial dates can produce
a legitimate match without every field being exact.
Consensus Values And Source Data Points
Minerva uses entity resolution to consolidate source records that are likely to refer to the same subject. Many profile fields therefore include both a representative consensus value and the source observations that contributed to it. For example:results[i].nationality.valueis the representative nationality selected for the resolved candidate.results[i].nationality.sources[]contains the individual source observations for nationality.
The consensus is not simply the value reported by the greatest number of
sources. Entity resolution considers the available evidence, source reputation,
and whether values were directly reported or inferred. When sources disagree,
review the complete
sources[] array. The number of sources reporting a value
is not itself a confidence score.
Identity And Context Field Mapping
Use the following fields to corroborate identity and understand the candidate:time_begin.value is structured as year, month, and day. Month and day
can be absent when a source only provides a year or year-month. Source-specific
date observations are in time_begin.sources[].
Identifiers in ID are particularly common when sanctions-list publishers
provide passport, national-ID, or registration-number details. Do not assume
every source will provide a public identifier.
Source Details, URLs, And Explanations
results[i].sources[] is the concise list of contributing source names.
results[i].source_details[] is the richer evidence trail.
Each source_details[] item can contain:
A URL object can include
url, title, source_name, snippet, language,
date_time_published, http_status_code, and classification flags.
An inference can include feed, reason, field, context, and url. This
is especially useful when PEP or another classification was inferred from role
or narrative evidence rather than supplied as a direct list label.
Some structured sources do not provide a record-specific public URL. In that
case, use description, hits_info, sourced-field lineage, identifiers, and
notes to understand the evidence trail.
Risk-Specific Review Guidance
Sanctions
- Confirm
checklist.screen.Sanctionsistrue. - Review
checklist.hits.Sanctionsfor the triggering list names. - Filter
checklist.hits_info[]tofeed == "Sanctions". - Compare the source-reported name, date, nationality, locations, and identifiers with the submitted subject.
- Review
source_details[].urls,ID, field-levelsources[], andnotes[].
PEP
- Confirm
checklist.screen.PEPistrue. - Review
checklist.hits.PEPand the correspondinghits_infoentries. - Compare name and identity attributes.
- Review
occupation,organization,links[], andnotes[]for role or relationship evidence. - Review
source_details[].inferences[]for the classification reason and supporting context.
pep_level is a tier from 1 to 4, with 1 representing the
highest-risk tier. It is separate from the identity match score. A PEP flag is a
screening signal for review, not an automatic legal conclusion.
An abbreviated PEP result can look like this:
pep_level describes PEP tiering, while score describes identity-match
strength. The occupation lineage and inferences[] explain why the source
supported the PEP classification.
News / Adverse Media
- Confirm
checklist.screen.Newsistrue. - Review
checklist.hits.Newsfor contributing publishers or sources. - Filter
checklist.hits_info[]tofeed == "News". - Review
media.risk_urls[]for the qualifying adverse-media articles. - Review each article’s title, URL, snippet, publication date, sentiment flags, and risk-category flags.
- Use
media.neutral_urls[]as contextual material, not as adverse-media findings.
media.risk_urls[] when it qualifies on both
negative sentiment and a supported financial-crime or other relevant risk
classification. A negative article that does not qualify on risk can remain in
media.neutral_urls[]; negative sentiment alone does not make it an adverse
media finding.
A News flag still requires an identity check. Confirm that the article concerns
the submitted subject rather than a namesake or incidental mention.
An abbreviated News result can look like this:
Recommended Analyst Review Order
- Confirm which requested feeds flagged in
checklist.screen. - Review the overall
scoreand field-level closeness. Confirm that configured thresholds match the organization’s risk appetite. - Compare strong identifiers such as DOB or incorporation date, location, nationality, passport, registration number, or personal ID.
- Review the exact sources in
checklist.hitsand the source-reported values inchecklist.hits_info[]. - Open source links and read the source description, article context, notes, or inference explanation.
- Apply the organization’s policy to classify the candidate as true positive, false positive, unresolved, suppressed, or another supported disposition.
Automatic Disposition Annotations (New)
Workspaces with Automatic Disposition enabled for the Direct API channel receive Minerva’s disposition analysis inline on screened potential matches - candidates with at least one flagged feed inchecklist.screen:
Both annotation objects share the same shape (
prediction, confidence,
rationale, analysis_status, evidence_refs, score_summary,
risk_flags, signature_version, source, and a bounded error).
Clean matches and workspaces without the feature never carry these fields, and
dispositions are computed before the response or batch row completes, which
adds a few seconds per screened entity.
See the Automatic Disposition
Guide for the full field
reference, reading order, hint and full-auto examples, and the per-request
X-Minerva-Automatic-Disposition: skip opt-out header.
Profiles, Search History, And Potential Matches
When an integration uses Minerva profiles for onboarding and ongoing monitoring, the identifier chain is:1. List Or Locate Profiles
The screening flag names are:
screeningSanctionsMatchscreeningPepMatchscreeningAdverseMediaMatch
flag_names values return profiles carrying any listed flag.
The response list is result.profiles[]. Use result.profiles[i].id as the
Minerva profile_id in search APIs. Do not substitute the integration’s
externalId for this internal profile ID.
Useful profile summary fields include id, externalId, status, flags[],
lastScreenedTime, and monitored.
2. List Searches Associated With A Profile
feed=Sanctions, feed=PEP, or feed=News to limit the history to
searches that included that feed.
The response list is requests[]. For each item:
3. Identify Searches With Potential Matches
Search history is request metadata. To find the searches that actually produced potential matches, query the match collection directly:matches[]. Every item is a stored potential match, and
its request_id links to the corresponding item in requests[]. The distinct
request_id values therefore identify the profile searches that produced
potential matches.
- Omit
review_status=unresolvedto include already reviewed matches. - Add
hit=Sanctions,hit=PEP, orhit=Newsfor a feed-specific view. - Use the response
paginationobject when the profile has more matches than the requested page size.
4. Retrieve Matches For One Historical Search
Use therequests[i].id value as request_id:
matches[i] rather than the direct-search
results[i]. The field mapping is otherwise the same. For example:
- Direct synchronous search:
results[i].score - Historical match list:
matches[i].score - Direct synchronous search:
results[i].checklist.screen.Sanctions - Historical match list:
matches[i].checklist.screen.Sanctions
/v1/search batch flow, it can also
poll GET /v1/search/{jobid}. Once response is complete, each completed
batch item contains its own results[] potential-match array. For persistent
profiles and audit history, the profile_id → request_id → /v2/search/matches
path is normally the most direct.
See Search History for pagination, date-range
filters, and the historical request response shape.
Integration Checklist
- Store the original request,
jobid,searchIdorrequest_id, and profile ID with the case record. - Treat
checklist.screenas the risk flag andscoreas identity-match strength. - Retain
hits_info,source_details, sourced-field lineage, identifiers, notes, and URLs so analysts can explain the decision. - Do not treat missing optional inputs or unavailable source fields as automatic contradictions.
- Require policy-appropriate human review before final disposition.
- Paginate profile history and match lists; do not assume the first page is the complete audit record.
- Test threshold changes against known true positives, false positives, transliterations, partial dates, common names, and conflicting identifiers.