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How to Read Your PDF Report

A section-by-section field guide

Whether you've run a Single Screening or are reviewing a Monitoring entry, the sanctions.io Portal lets you export a PDF Report, a clean, shareable snapshot of your results. This guide walks through each section, noting any differences between the two report types along the way.

Applies to: Single Screening and Monitoring

In this Article:

→ Report Header
→ What the Summary Panel Shows
→ Entry Parameters
→ Watchlists Screened
→ Match Details
→ Audit Trail (Monitoring only)


Report Header

Every PDF Report opens with a header that identifies exactly what was screened, when, and by whom, giving the reader immediate context before they get into the results themselves.

  • Title: Displays "Screening Report" or "Monitoring Report," depending on which solution generated it. This is the fastest way to tell the two report types apart at a glance, especially if you're reviewing several PDFs side by side.
  • Intro line: states the search query or monitoring entry name, entity type, number of watchlists screened, who ran it, and when.
    • Screening report: states when the screening was generated.
    • Monitoring report: also notes how long the entry has been continuously monitored.
  • Generated date/time: Shown in UTC, so timestamps are consistent regardless of the reviewer's timezone.

What the Summary Panel Shows

The summary panel provides an at-a-glance view of the overall result. The stats shown depend on the report type:

Screening Report:

  • Potential Matches: Total matches found.
  • Watchlists Screened: Total number of lists checked.
  • Jurisdictions & Bodies: How many jurisdictions/multilateral bodies those lists span.
  • Top Match Score: The highest confidence score among the results.

Monitoring Report:

  • True Positives: Matches already confirmed as real hits.
  • New Matches: Matches awaiting review.
  • Cleared: Matches previously marked as false positives.
  • Watchlists Screened, Jurisdictions & Bodies, Top Match Score: same as above.

The Monitoring report shows these extra statuses because it reflects an entity under ongoing review, where matches accumulate a review history over time. A Screening report is a single point-in-time check, so there's no status history to summarize yet.

Entry Parameters

Below the summary, a parameters box shows how the search or monitoring entry was configured.

Screening parameters include: search query, entity type, minimum match score, page and page size (reflecting result pagination), generated date/time, and a masked API token.

Monitoring entry parameters include: search query, entity type, identifier, country, date of birth, minimum match score, generated date/time, and a masked API token.

This lets a reviewer see exactly what was searched for and under what threshold, which helps justify a result during an audit.

Watchlists Screened

A list of every watchlist checked as part of this report, grouped by the number of jurisdictions and multilateral bodies they span. Any list where a match was found is highlighted, so you can quickly see which sources triggered a result.

Match Details

Each potential match appears as its own detailed card, giving reviewers everything they need to assess a hit without cross-referencing the original watchlist.

Each match includes:

  • Identity details: Full name, known aliases, date of birth, nationality, place of birth, gender, country of residence, and any identification numbers associated with the record.
  • Match metadata:
    • Data source, entity type, entity number, match confidence score, and the sanctions.io internal identifier
    • Source List: Name of the originating list as it appears in our documentation (e.g., US / OFAC - Specially Designated Nationals (SDN))
  • Source dates: When the underlying watchlist record was first imported and last updated in our database
  • Open source list: A link that takes you to the original source's website
  • Status label: Shown next to the match score; this reflects the match's current review state.
    • Monitoring report: Shows a review status → Pending Review (a new, unreviewed match), Confirmed Match (a true positive), or Cleared (marked as a false positive).
    • Screening report: Shows a match-quality label instead, such as High match, since a screening is a single check with no ongoing review state.

Potential matches should always be reviewed by a human. They do not constitute a compliance determination or an allegation of wrongdoing. Always investigate and confirm a match before taking action.

Audit Trail (Monitoring only)

Monitoring reports include a timestamped audit trail for each match, logging every status change over time. Each entry shows:

  • Timestamp:  When the status change occurred.
  • Status: The state the match was set to (e.g., Created, Real Positive, False Positive).
  • Reason: Any comments made by the reviewer on why the status was set.
  • Audited by: Who or what made the change. New matches typically start as Created / New Result Found / System; once a reviewer takes action, a second entry appears showing their name (e.g., a match marked as a true positive by "Mary Smith" logs a Real Positive entry, and one cleared as a false positive logs a False Positive entry).

This provides a clear, reviewable history of how each match was assessed, which helps demonstrate due diligence during an audit. Screening reports don't include this section, since a screening is a single point-in-time check with no status to track over time.

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