Glossary

Key terms used throughout this documentation and in API responses.

Platform Terms

Term	Definition
Organization	The company using the platform. Has its own API credentials, environment access, and service configuration.
Tenant	Your organization’s isolation boundary in the platform (`tenant_id`). Client-specific rules and credentials are scoped to the tenant.
User	An individual accessing the platform on behalf of an organization.
API Key	Authentication credential issued per organization, per environment. Used to obtain JWT tokens. Format: `eval-api-key-<unique-hash>`.
Request	A single API submission to any endpoint.
Order	A background check request for one candidate. Identified by `order_id`. May contain multiple searches.
Search	One criminal lookup within an order (e.g. one county). Identified by `order_number` + `search_id`. Each search is one `POST /evaluate` call.
Result	The completed output from a service, returned in the API response.

Evaluation Decisions

Reportability labels (REPORTABLE / NOT_REPORTABLE / MANUAL_REVIEW) appear at every level of the decision hierarchy: charge_decision on each offense, plus aggregated case_decision, court_decision, and record_decision on parent nodes. Routing queues (Automation / Auditor / Insufficient Data) are separate from decision labels and appear as routing.queue on offenses, plus aggregated case_queue, court_queue, and search_queue.

Term	Definition
Reportable (`REPORTABLE`)	Charge can be included in a background check report under applicable rules.
Not Reportable (`NOT_REPORTABLE`)	Charge filtered out by compliance rules — cannot be reported (e.g. beyond lookback, sealed, expunged).
Manual Review (`MANUAL_REVIEW`)	A human must make the reporting decision (missing data or unresolved rule).
Queue → Decision mapping	At aggregated levels, `_decision` is derived from `_queue`: `Automation` → `NOT_REPORTABLE`, `Auditor` → `REPORTABLE`, `Insufficient Data` → `MANUAL_REVIEW`.

Routing Queues

Term	Definition
Automation	No human review needed.
Auditor	Human review recommended (optional).
Insufficient Data	Human review required.
Queue Rollup	Parent queues use precedence `Insufficient Data` > `Auditor` > `Automation`.

Criminal Record Terms

Definitions only — required / optional flags and validation rules are in the Evaluate API specification.

Term	Definition
Jurisdiction	Where the case was filed — federal, state, or local (county). Surfaced as `jurisdiction_state` and related location fields. State rule packs cover all 50 US states, DC, and territories AS, GU, MP, PR, VI.
candidate_info	Person being screened; compared to the record subject for identity match. Sent as a top-level field on `record` (not inside `record_json`).
submission_type	Flag that marks a JSON resubmission path (`"resubmit"`).
order_id	Parent order ID in your system. Same across all searches on that order. Required on `record` for every `/evaluate`.
order_number	Sub-order / search line ID, typically `orderID.subOrderID` (e.g. `"41115779.1"`). Required on `record`.
search_id	Your unique ID for this evaluate call. Echoed in the response. Use a distinct value per search.
court_search_id	Your ID for one court search / court grouping. Echoed on `court_decisions[]`.
offense_id	Your ID for one charge within a case. Echoed on `offenses[]`.
cases	Array of `{ court_search_id, offense_id, is_excluded }` used to map your IDs and control which charges appear in the client decision.
is_excluded	When `true` on a `cases[]` row: the charge is evaluated and still feeds case/court/search rollups, but is stripped from the client decision JSON. See is_excluded detail.
Offense	A single criminal charge within a case.
Case	A court case containing one or more offenses.
Disposition	Outcome of a charge (e.g. Guilty, Dismissed).
Charge	Charge description text (e.g. “THEFT OF PROPERTY”).
Type Class	Severity: `"FELONY"`, `"MISDEMEANOR"`, or `"INFRACTION"`.

is_excluded detail

When true: evaluate internally, strip from the client decision JSON (and related validation issues for that offense). The charge still feeds case / court / search rollups. Example: one REPORTABLE offense marked excluded is hidden from the charges list, but the case/search can still roll up as reportable / Auditor.

Compliance Terms

Term	Definition
Client- / tenant-specific rules	Extra reportability rules configured for your organization at Account Setup (from your rules documentation). Applied with federal, state, and local rules.
7-Year Lookback	Common limit for many non-conviction records older than 7 years; states may be stricter.
Lookback Period	Maximum age of a record that can be reported. Varies by jurisdiction and offense type.
Sealed / Expunged	Records legally sealed or expunged and not reportable.

Identity Matching

Term	Definition
Match Score	Overall weighted score (0–1) for candidate vs record subject.
is_match	`true` when the match score meets the threshold. Identity-match API uses snake_case (`is_match`); camelCase is not accepted.

API Terms

Term	Definition
Search ID	Unique identifier for a single background check search.
Correlation ID	Unique UUID for each request (`data.correlation_id` / `meta.correlation_id`). Include when contacting support.

Core Concepts

Guides

Examples

Support

Platform Terms

Evaluation Decisions

Routing Queues

Criminal Record Terms

is_excluded detail

Compliance Terms

Identity Matching

API Terms

​Platform Terms

​Evaluation Decisions

​Routing Queues

​Criminal Record Terms

​is_excluded detail

​Compliance Terms

​Identity Matching

​API Terms

Platform Terms

Evaluation Decisions

Routing Queues

Criminal Record Terms

is_excluded detail

Compliance Terms

Identity Matching

API Terms