Global Data Check

Global Data Check API

Global Data Check matches the details you hold about a person against the Global Data Universe and returns a field-by-field breakdown of how well they line up with a candidate record. Only match outcomes come back, never the candidate's own details, so it suits confirmation flows where you already hold the data.

Name, date of birth, address, up to four phone numbers and up to four email addresses, each returned as a match outcome against the Global Data Universe
A median response of 180 milliseconds, suited to real-time checks at signup and to scoring a whole customer base overnight

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For developers

After the technical detail?

For the technical detail, go to the API documentation. It holds the request and response schema, the integration guides and the error codes for this endpoint.

Request and response schema
Guides: how the check works, use cases, gotchas

View developer documentation

Accounts start in the sandbox. Production keys are issued once the account is approved.

Encrypted in transit and at rest Handled under the Australian Privacy Principles

What the check gives you

Confirming the details you hold about a person belong together

A signup, a credit application or a customer file usually holds a name and a few contact details, and the question is whether they belong to a real person and to the same one. Global Data Check takes whichever details you hold, with only the last name required, and matches them against the Global Data Universe, an in-house dataset of person and contact records aggregated from many sources. The response says which details matched, which matched partially and which did not, and returns none of the candidate's own data.

Whether the name matches, and how

First and middle names are graded as an exact match, an alias match such as Bob for Robert, a partial match on an initial, a phonetic fuzzy match, or no match. The last name is graded exact, fuzzy or no match.

Whether the date of birth matches

The date of birth is graded as an exact match, a match with day and month reversed, a match on year only, no match, or no date on file for the candidate.

Whether the address matches

The address is graded as a full match, a match on the street only, a match on the locality only, or no match, with the street, suburb, state and postcode each reported alongside.

Whether each phone and email belongs to them

Each phone number and email address you supply is evaluated on its own against everything the candidate has on file and returned as match or no match.

How a check runs

One call, answered in the same response

Your system sends the details it holds. Candidates are found on the last name and any strong identifier, scored against every field supplied, and the best one comes back in the same response.

A phone, email, full date of birth or full address that matches exactly ranks a candidate above any candidate matched on name alone. Ties are broken by an exact last name, then by a weighted score.

Reading the result

What each answer means for the subject in front of you

Each candidate row carries an outcome for every field you supplied. Fields you did not supply are left out of the row rather than returned as empty.

Match

The field agrees exactly

The value you supplied equals the candidate's after normalisation. For an address, every supplied component matched.

Partial

The field agrees in part

An alias, an initial, a phonetic match, a reversed day and month, a year-only date, or an address that matched on the street or the locality. Your routing rules decide whether it is enough.

No match

The field disagrees

The value you supplied does not correspond to the candidate's. For a phone or email, it matched none of the numbers or addresses on file.

No record

Nothing to compare

The candidate has no middle name or no date of birth on file, so there is nothing on record to compare against the value you supplied for that field.

What it costs

A monthly subscription, drawn down as you run checks

Your subscription is credited to your account each month and each check consumes credits from it. If you go past the included amount, further checks are charged at a per-check rate. The rate depends on the volume you commit to, so the sales team is the fastest way to find where your business lands.

Pay as you go available
No lock-in contract

How billing works

Subscribe monthly, spend it as credits

The monthly subscription arrives as credits on your account.
Each check draws down credits as it runs.
Checks beyond the included credits are billed per check.
Higher monthly volume moves you to a lower rate.

Talk to sales about volume

Related checks

Others in identity data

Property Detail returns the residents and contact details at an address. Address Validate produces the GNAF ID this check accepts. Person History covers the same universe from a different angle.

All Global Data Check endpoints

Questions

Questions we get asked about Global Data Check

Do we need a developer to implement this?

Yes. Global Data Check is a REST endpoint that takes a JSON request and returns a JSON array of candidate rows, so a developer connects it to your signup, onboarding or batch process. A sandbox with a deterministic test dataset is provided at no usage cost, so the integration can be built and tested before production keys are issued.

What does our system need to send?

Only the last name is required. Optionally a first name, middle name and date of birth; an address as a GNAF ID, a single line, or any combination of street, suburb, state and postcode; up to four phone numbers in 0NSN or +61 form; and up to four email addresses. Flags control whether up to five candidates are returned instead of one, whether invalid fields are dropped rather than rejected, whether deceased records are included, and which match types are accepted for each name field.

What comes back?

An array of candidate rows, one row per matched person. By default it holds the single best candidate, or is empty if none was found. Each row carries an outcome for every field you supplied and nothing else: no name, date of birth, address, phone or email belonging to the candidate is returned.

How is the best candidate chosen?

A candidate with an exact match on a phone, email, full date of birth or full address ranks above any candidate without one. Among those, an exact last name beats a fuzzy one. Remaining ties are broken by a weighted score, with first name worth 20, last name 12, date of birth 10, address 8, phone 4, email 2 and middle name 1, and partial outcomes scoring less. The order is deterministic, so the same request always returns the same ranking.

How fast is it?

The documented median response time is 180 milliseconds and the 75th percentile is 550 milliseconds. A request with a phone, email, date of birth or full address resolves on the fast path; a common last name with nothing else to narrow it makes up the slower tail.

Where does the data come from?

The Global Data Universe, an in-house dataset of person and contact records aggregated from many sources. The reference documentation does not publish a refresh cycle.

Is any personal data returned?

No. Every field in the response is a match outcome. The candidate's own details are never sent back, which is what makes the check suitable for confirmation flows where you already hold the data you are checking.

Are the details we send stored by Global Data?

Personally identifiable information sent in a request is not stored or retained unless it is needed to process that request. Query data is stripped of PII before it is kept for audit. Data in transit and at rest is encrypted, and retention follows the Australian Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles. Global Data is not a credit bureau and does not create an access footprint on any record.

Getting started

The first step to access is a conversation

New accounts begin with sandbox access, and production API keys are issued once the account has been commercially approved.

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Call 03 9948 4089, 9am–5pm AEST Monday to Friday

Encrypted in transit and at rest

Handled under the Australian Privacy Principles

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