> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.synctera.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Ongoing Monitoring
> Ongoing monitoring keeps customers enrolled in continuous screening against sanctions and enforcement watchlists, PEP sources, and adverse media after their initial verification.
## Overview
Beyond the initial Customer Identification Program (CIP) checks covered in the [KYC/KYB guide](/v2/docs/kyc-kyb-verification), financial service providers are required to conduct **ongoing monitoring** of their customers. Synctera's monitoring offering continuously screens enrolled customers against a global list of sanctions and enforcement watchlists, Politically Exposed Person (PEP) sources, and adverse media.
**A monitoring subscription** enrolls a customer with one of Synctera's monitoring vendors. When new information surfaces (a watchlist hit, a Secretary of State filing, a bankruptcy, etc.), a **monitoring alert** is created and a case is opened in the Synctera Case Manager for a compliance officer to review.
Key characteristics:
* **Continuous** — screening runs on an ongoing basis after the customer is verified, not just at onboarding.
* **Vendor-backed** — each subscription represents enrollment with a monitoring vendor (e.g. Socure, Middesk).
* **Alert-driven** — incoming signals create monitoring alerts, each of which opens a review case.
* **On by default** — all customers are automatically enrolled unless the feature is disabled.
Monitoring enrollment for personal customers is currently available only in the Synctera **Production** environment. By default, all customers are enrolled in ongoing monitoring — contact your Synctera sales representative to disable this. This guide showcases a **manual** implementation of ongoing monitoring.
## Prerequisites
This guide assumes you have:
* Created a [personal customer](/v2/docs/create-a-personal-customer)
* Recorded a [disclosure](/v2/docs/record-disclosure-acceptance)
* [Verified the customer](/v2/docs/kyc-kyb-verification)
You should also be familiar with:
* [Need to Know — Environments](/v2/reference/need-to-know#environments)
* [Need to Know — Authentication](/v2/reference/need-to-know#authentication)
## The monitoring objects
### Monitoring subscription
A subscription represents a customer's enrollment with a monitoring vendor. It contains a unique identifier, the customer identifier, and any additional metadata.
```json theme={"system"}
{
"id": "497f6eca-6276-4993-bfeb-53cbbbba6f08",
"person_id": "7ef75751-e372-4c12-9b02-b9e4b1faaac9",
"creation_time": "2021-06-14T14:15:22Z",
"last_updated_time": "2021-12-14T07:15:34Z",
"metadata": {}
}
```
See the [API reference](/v2/reference/createsubscription) for the full schema.
### Monitoring alert
An alert is created when a signal is received for a customer. It contains a unique identifier, the customer identifier, the alert `type`, a `status`, a list of `urls` with more information, and a vendor-specific representation of the alert.
```json theme={"system"}
{
"id": "497f6eca-6276-4993-bfeb-53cbbbba6f08",
"person_id": "7ef75751-e372-4c12-9b02-b9e4b1faaac9",
"type": "WATCHLIST",
"status": "ACTIVE",
"vendor_info": {
"vendor": "SOCURE",
"content_type": "application/json",
"json": {}
},
"urls": [
"https://example.com/alert-document-1",
"https://example.com/alert-document-2"
],
"creation_time": "2021-06-14T14:15:22Z",
"last_updated_time": "2021-12-14T07:15:34Z",
"metadata": {}
}
```
Every incoming customer monitoring alert triggers a case in the Synctera Case Manager so the customer's profile can be manually reviewed by a compliance officer. See the [API reference](/v2/reference/getalert) for the full schema.
## Enrolling a customer in monitoring
Create a record for the customer with [POST /v2/persons](/v2/reference/createperson):
```shell theme={"system"}
curl \
-X POST \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $apikey" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
https://api.synctera.com/v2/persons \
--data-binary '
{
"first_name": "Christopher",
"middle_name": "James",
"last_name": "Albertson",
"dob": "1985-06-14",
"email": "chris@example.com",
"phone_number": "+16045551212",
"ssn": "456-78-9999",
"legal_address": {
"address_line_1": "123 Main St.",
"city": "Beverly Hills",
"state": "CA",
"postal_code": "90210",
"country_code": "US"
},
"is_customer": true,
"status": "ACTIVE"
}'
```
See the [Create a Personal Customer](/v2/docs/create-a-personal-customer) guide for details.
Display a disclosure informing the customer that you are collecting personal data to be shared with a third party for identity verification, then record it with [POST /v2/disclosures](/v2/reference/createdisclosure):
```shell theme={"system"}
curl \
-X POST \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $apikey" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
https://api.synctera.com/v2/disclosures \
--data-binary '
{
"person_id": "7ef75751-e372-4c12-9b02-b9e4b1faaac9",
"type": "KYC_DATA_COLLECTION",
"version": "1.0",
"event_type": "ACKNOWLEDGED",
"disclosure_date": "2022-03-17T17:04:34Z"
}'
```
See the [Record Disclosure Acceptance](/v2/docs/record-disclosure-acceptance) guide for details.
With the customer created and consent captured, run verification with [POST /v2/verifications/verify](/v2/reference/verify):
```shell theme={"system"}
curl \
-X POST \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $apikey" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
https://api.synctera.com/v2/verifications/verify \
--data-binary '
{
"person_id": "7ef75751-e372-4c12-9b02-b9e4b1faaac9",
"customer_ip_address": "184.233.47.237",
"customer_consent": true
}'
```
Consent must come directly from the customer.
Once the customer is verified, create a monitoring subscription with [POST /v2/monitoring/subscriptions](/v2/reference/createsubscription):
```shell theme={"system"}
curl \
-X POST \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $apikey" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
https://api.synctera.com/v2/monitoring/subscriptions \
--data-binary '
{
"person_id": "7ef75751-e372-4c12-9b02-b9e4b1faaac9"
}'
```
## Best practices
Monitoring alerts require timely human review. Every alert opens a case in the Synctera Case Manager — ensure a compliance officer triages these promptly to stay within regulatory timelines.
* **Verify before enrolling** — a subscription is meaningful only for a verified customer; complete KYC first.
* **Rely on default enrollment** — customers are enrolled automatically; only implement manual enrollment if you have disabled the default.
* **Handle alerts programmatically** — subscribe to alert notifications and route them into your review workflow rather than polling.
* **Preserve alert `urls`** — capture the supporting documents referenced by each alert for your audit trail.
## Related guides
Onboard the customer you want to monitor.
Verify a customer before enrolling them in monitoring.
Capture the KYC data collection disclosure.
Respond to alerts and high-risk ratings with additional information.
## API reference
* [Create a monitoring subscription](/v2/reference/createsubscription)
* [Get a monitoring alert](/v2/reference/getalert)
* [Run a verification](/v2/reference/verify)