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This guide shows you how to verify a single customer’s identity against UK data sources. You build a Hosted journey from the Data Verification module, invite one customer by email or text message, and then review the result in Investigation. You don’t write any code or call the API. By the end of this guide, you can see how many UK data sources matched your customer’s details, and which combinations of their name, date of birth, and address matched. You can also see the decision that the GBG Go platform reached.
The Invite a customer action is only available for published Hosted journeys. If your journey collects information before it starts, then the action is unavailable. See When the invite action is unavailable.

Before you begin

Ensure you have the following:
  • A GBG Go platform account with a customer admin role. This role lets you review the result in Investigation. If you don’t have this role, then contact your GBG account manager.
  • The Data Verification module, and the UK variant you want to use, enabled in your contract.
  • A licence and credentials for the User Invite module set up for your organisation.
  • A UK address and identity details that you can enter as your customer.
  • An email address or mobile number that you can receive the invite on, so that you can complete the journey as your customer.

How data verification works

Data verification doesn’t check a document or a photograph. It cross-references the details your customer enters, such as their name, date of birth, address, and national ID number, against trusted consumer, government, and credit bureau databases. Each source that holds a matching record adds confidence. The module counts how many independent sources confirm each combination of identity elements. A name and address confirmed by four sources is stronger evidence than the same details confirmed by one. This makes the module suitable for KYC, AML, and general identity verification.

Step 1: Create a Hosted journey

  1. Click on the Create a new journey list.
  2. Select API + hosted (latest). This opens the Journey builder, allowing you to design Hosted journey workflows.
  3. Click the edit icon on the journey name at the top of the editor.
  4. Enter a meaningful name, for example, ā€œUK Data Verification - New Customers.ā€
  5. Click outside the name field to save it.

Step 2: Select a UK variant

You select a variant as part of adding the module. The Data Verification module has a variant for each UK data source, and one that checks them all at once.
  1. Go to Browse and add modules in the right sidebar.
  2. Use the search bar to find Data Verification.
  3. Click the module. This opens the module configuration panel, which lists the available variants.
  4. Select one of the following variants:
  5. Click Add to journey to insert the module into the flow.
This guide uses UK: Single match all sources. It covers the widest set of sources, so it gives you the most complete result to review in Investigation. The variant requires your customer’s full name, date of birth, and current address. Gender, mobile phone, National Insurance number, mother’s maiden name, and landline phone are optional, but each one gives the sources more to match against.
Modules and variants marked with an orange warning icon require activation by the GBG team. If the variant you need is marked, then contact your account manager to enable it for your organisation.
To compare the variants in detail, see Data Verification.

Step 3: Add the module to your journey

  1. Click the module inside the Journey builder to open its configuration panel.
  2. Click Close to apply your configuration.
The configuration panel is where you tailor the module to your own use case. It gives you the following options: For the purpose of this guide, you don’t need to change any settings. The variant checks every available UK source by default.

(Optional) Step 4: Review the outcomes

The module arrives pre-configured with default outcomes, so you can skip this step and go to Step 5. To review the outcomes:
  1. Click the module inside the Journey builder to open its configuration panel.
  2. Click Configure outcomes. The outcomes and their rules appear.
  3. Review the following outcomes:
  4. Click Close to apply your configuration.
Each outcome is built from rules that test the module’s capabilities. The capabilities count how many data sources confirmed each combination of details, so you decide how many sources make a match.
Raise the source count in the Match rule if you want stronger evidence before you accept a customer. Requiring two or more sources to confirm the identity is a higher bar than requiring one, and it suits higher-risk use cases.
To see every capability the module returns, and the default rules for your chosen variant, see Data Verification. To learn more about outcomes, see How to configure module outcomes in Go.

(Optional) Step 5: Review the module settings

The defaults run the check without any configuration, so you can skip this step and go to Step 6.
  1. Click the module inside the Journey builder to open its configuration panel.
  2. Click Settings. The settings for your chosen variant appear.
  3. Review the following settings:
  4. Click Save all settings to apply your configuration.
Select Fuzzy Match when your customers are likely to enter their details slightly differently from the way a data source holds them, for example, a shortened first name or a hyphenated surname. Leave it cleared when you want exact matches only.
To learn more about module settings, see How to configure module settings in Go.

Step 6: Publish the journey

Click Publish to Preview in the Journey builder. GBG Go displays a confirmation message. Next, click Dashboard to see:
  • Environment (Preview)
  • Version number
  • Resource ID
  • Last published
  • Actions list
Your journey is now available for testing in the preview environment.

Step 7: Invite your customer

  1. Click the Actions list.
  2. Click Invite a customer. A dialog box appears.
    Invite a customer dialog box

    Invite a customer dialog box

  3. Select the options for your use case, and then enter an email address, a mobile number, or both. The dialog box contains the following options: The GBG Go platform presets the region and environment based on the journey that you selected. Select Preview while you test the journey. Change the region only if your organisation runs journeys in more than one region, because the region controls where your customer’s data is processed and stored.
  4. Click Invite. A message appears at the top right of the screen confirming that the invite started.
An invite is valid for one customer. By default it expires after seven days, and your customer can return to the journey if they close it before they finish. To change either default, see Link settings.

Step 8: Complete the journey as your customer

Your customer receives a verification link by email or text message.
  1. Open the link from the invite.
  2. Enter the customer details that the journey collects, including the full name, date of birth, and current address.
  3. Submit the details.
Watch this demo to see the journey as your customer experiences it. The GBG Go platform looks for those details across the UK data sources that your variant covers. It then reaches a decision based on how many sources matched.
Enter the address in full, including the building number and postcode. A partial address reduces the number of sources that can match, which weakens the result even when the customer is genuine.

Step 9: Review the verification result

Results are available in Investigation once your customer completes the journey.
  1. Click Investigation on the left navigation menu. The Investigation dashboard opens.
  2. Select the environment that you sent the invite to. If you are testing, then click the Preview Environment tab.
  3. Select the region that you sent the invite to, using the region list in the top-right corner.
  4. Find your customer’s session in the list. If the list is long, then click Add Filter to search by name or email address.
  5. Click the session ID. The session details page opens on the Processing tab.
  6. Find the Data Verification module in the list. The outcome appears on the right of the module name, for example, No Match.
  7. Click the arrow on the module row to expand it. The module shows each rule it evaluated, and whether that rule returned true or false.
  8. Click More details to drill into the module on its own page, and review the source counts.
The module reports its result as a set of counts. Each one tells you how many independent sources confirmed a particular combination of details: A count of 0 means no source confirmed that combination. Rules are written against these counts, so a rule such as Name + Address Matches < 1 is true when no source confirmed the name and address together. The module returns further capabilities alongside these counts. To see them all, see Data Verification.
Session details for Data Verification showing a rule for name and address matches returning True, with a No Match outcome

A session that returned a No Match outcome

You have now verified a customer against UK data sources and reviewed the result.
Read the source counts before you act on the outcome. A Partial Match confirmed by several sources is stronger evidence than the same outcome confirmed by one, and the counts are the only place that difference is visible.

Next steps