Heat Maps can be used to Isolate Fraud Activity

Interactive Analytics is designed so that analysts can "shift their lens" from one visualization of data to another. Why is this important? They can explore data at the speed of the human mind and each visualization tells a different story. As the analyst navigates, he/she uncovers new insights that lead them down a path of discovery.

Here's an example:

Assume you are analyzing banking alerts based on a set of rules that have gone off. These rules are in place to detect suspicious activity such as large wire transfers. By the way, this could apply to retail transactions, loading of funds onto pre-paid cards, kiosk transactions or any other type of transactions.

When the analyst looks at these alerts in the form of a table which lists all of the alerts, it's hard to determine the highest risk for the bank. But when the analyst summarizes all of the transactions in the form of a heat map that shows alert types by banking business line, she can see where most of the alerts are focused. They may notice that most alerts are related to wire transfers or large checking account deposits. From that point, the analyst can begin to explore the accounts associated with these alerts including historical alerts and other activity. She may want to look into loan officers, other accounts, geographic location and any number of other attributes.

The point is, that Interactive Analytics leads the analyst down a path of discovery that can be used to identify fraud.

If you want to see examples of this including videos of how Interactive Analytics works, I suggest you go to www.centrifugesystems.com. You also have the option to try Interactive Analytics for yourself with your own data. Just click on TRY IT ONLINE.

The next entry will talk about Relationship Graphs as a form of visualization. It is very useful in identifying hidden relationships in your data.

If you have questions, feel free to contact me at 571-830-1390.

Tony Agresta
aagresta@centrifugesystems.com