Monitors trigger alerts if there is an unexpected decrease in transaction numbers. This allows you to investigate the issue and prevent loss of revenue. Monitors are enabled automatically on merchant accounts.
How monitors work
Monitors use historical data and statistical models to predict the number of expected transactions for your business. If the actual number of transactions is less than the expected number of transactions, the monitor triggers an alert. By default, the alert is triggered if the actual number of transactions is 90% less than the expected number of transactions. For example, if the monitor expects 100 transactions, but only finds 10 or fewer transactions, it will trigger an alert. You can change this threshold yourself.
The monitor determines the optimal frequency to run. It will run somewhere between every minute and every twelve hours, and alerts are based on transaction numbers since the monitor last ran. If the transaction numbers fall below the threshold, you see an alert in the Monitors widget in your customer area. You can also turn on receiving the alerts by email.
An alert from the monitor can mean that you need to change some settings on your account, or that there is an integration error you need to investigate. Monitors sometimes detect normal decreases in transaction numbers, for example if stores are shut for public holidays.
Who can use monitors
To use the monitors, your transactions must have a stable pattern. The monitors are based on machine learning models. These models need to be trained on transaction data from your business to determine expected transaction numbers.
For the monitors to determine expected transaction numbers, there must be at least thirty days of data and a minimum of 400 transactions.
Some businesses do not have stable enough transaction numbers for the monitors to predict. If your data doesn't meet these criteria, you will see a message saying this monitor is inactive for each monitor shown.
Types of monitor
There are different monitors for physical stores and businesses accepting online payments. One or both monitors will work for you depending on what kind of shopperInteraction happens on your merchant account.
Transactions per merchant account monitors the transaction numbers for your merchant account. You see this monitor if you are accepting online payments.
Transactions per merchant account detects a drop in transaction numbers for a given kind of transaction sorted by shopperInteraction. This monitor works for shopperInteraction Ecommerce, ContAuth and Moto. You see separate alerts for each kind of shopperInteraction.
Get alerts by email
You can subscribe to get notified by email when an alert is triggered. You always get notifications from the monitors in your Notification center.
To enable or disable email notifications:
- In your live Customer Area, go to Notification center > Settings.
- Enable the Email toggle for the notifications you want to receive by email.
If a monitor is not available for you, it is marked as disabled.
Change the alerts threshold
To change the alert settings:
- Select Monitoring, then Monitors.
- Change the number in the Alarm threshold box.
- Select Save configuration.
The higher the number you type in the box, the less sensitive the monitor will be. For example, if you type 90 in the box, transaction numbers have to fall by 90% to trigger an alert. If you type 10 in the box, transaction numbers have to fall by only 10% to trigger an alert.
Turn monitors off
If you don't want the monitors to run, you can turn them off.
To turn monitors off:
- Select Monitoring, then Monitors.
- Select Disable for the monitor you want to turn off.