How Do Cases, Entities, and Alerts Work?
Before you start reviewing work in Case Management, it helps to understand how the data is structured. This guide explains the hierarchy of cases, entities, checks, and alerts — and how they relate to each other.What you’ll learn
- What a case represents and the three case types
- What entities are and how they relate to cases
- How checks work and when they generate alerts
- The difference between alerts and checks
- How the hierarchy fits together visually
The hierarchy at a glance
What is a case?
A case is an investigation. It represents a compliance review of a customer (individual or company) and everything connected to them. Every case has a type, a status, an assigned analyst, and a due date.Case types
Case statuses
A case moves through these statuses during its lifecycle:A case cannot be closed while it has open alerts. All alerts must be resolved, marked as false positive, or dismissed before the case can move to Closed.
What is an entity?
An entity is a person or company linked to a case. Every case has at least one entity (the primary subject). Company cases typically have many entities — the company itself plus its directors, UBOs, and shareholders.Entity roles
Each entity has a verification status that summarizes where it stands: Pending, In Progress, Verified, Failed, or Expired.
What is a check?
A check is a verification task that runs against an entity. Checks are automatically created based on the entity’s role and the due diligence level (standard CDD or enhanced EDD). Some checks run automatically via API; others require manual action or document uploads.Check statuses
What is an alert?
An alert is a compliance issue that requires human review. Alerts are generated when checks find problems — a sanctions match, a PEP flag, a name mismatch, a document issue. Alerts are the primary work items for compliance analysts.Alert types and categories
The difference between checks and alerts
Think of checks as the tests and alerts as the failed results. A check always runs. An alert is only created when a check finds something that needs attention.- A PEP screening check runs against WorldCheck. If it finds a match, it creates a PEP Match alert.
- An identity check extracts data from a document. If the name does not match, it creates a Name Mismatch alert.
- A company registry check looks up the company. If the company is dissolved, it creates a Dissolved Company alert.
What’s next?
Review Alerts
Learn how to work through your alert queue.
Resolve a Case
Walk through the full case lifecycle from New to Closed.
Manage Entities
Navigate the entity hierarchy and manage verification status.
Run Checks
Understand check requirements and how to manage them.