Using Inquiry Prefill

What is Inquiry Prefill?

An Inquiry has a number of fields that can be populated with inputs from either the end user or via extractions from a verification in the inquiry flow. These fields all start as blank and are either filled in or not by the end of the inquiry. Many inquiries don’t even use all their fields nor update all of them to the linked account. The optional inquiry prefill feature allows the creator of an individual inquiry to set initial values for some or all of the inquiry fields. They are limited to whichever inquiry fields are configured on the inquiry template.

The prefilled fields will appear to the end user in the relevant fields of the inquiry screens populated with the initial values. The end user can either edit them or leave the fields with the prefilled values. If they edit one of the prefilled field, the edited value is set for that inquiry field. But even if the end user edits the values provided by the prefill, the initial prefill values are saved for reference for certain verification checks later in the inquiry flow.

Prefill visibility

Any inquiry fields that are prefilled will only be visible to the end user if that field is attached to a screen component that they see. In our example above, John Smith is set for first name and last name and then populated into those fields when shown to the end user. But if their first verification in the flow is GovID where they are never prompted to type in their info, they never see those fields on screen. GovID will extract First / Last name from the ID and update those inquiry fields, with the end user never seeing the initial prefill values.

You might have a path that includes a screen with those fields, but if the end user follows a path that avoids them then they will again never see them. And some templates don’t even include certain fields because they are not relevant, like SSN.

How to create Prefills

If you’re creating an inquiry from the dashboard, the Create Inquiry widget will include a second optional tab that includes every inquiry field from the template. You can prefill any of those fields.

If you’re creating the inquiry via API, you may specify the prefill values in the data section as in the following example curl:

curl --request POST \
 --url https://api.withpersona.com/api/v1/inquiries \
 --header 'Persona-Version: 2023-01-05' \
 --header 'accept: application/json' \
 --header 'content-type: application/json' \
 --data '{"data": {"attributes": {"fields": {"name-middle": "John","name-last": "Smith"}}}}'

You can run api calls right from our API Reference here.

Exploring Prefill Use Cases

The Inquiry Prefill feature supports a number of use cases that might be relevant to you.

• Logic Routing - Depending on your Inquiry Template or related Workflow, you can prefill Meta data about the end user or business entity that will be used by the branching logic of a flow to change how that run is handled. An example field might be risk factor, that can raise or lower friction or scrutiny within the flow.
• KYB - On a KYC Inquiry that is part of a KYB workflow you can first prefill which business the end user is related to and their relation to the business, helping you to stay organized.
• End User experience - You may prefill the expected end user PII, saving the end user from having to fill out those fields during the inquiry.
• Anti-Fraud - You may prefill the expected end user PII, and lean on the Inquiry Comparison check in the GovID verification verify if the end user providing conflicting PII.

If you plan to use a new field, like risk factor, you’ll need to configure it for the Inquiry Template before you can prefill it. And if you want that new field to update to the account, the account will need to be configured to have that same field too.

Lastly, if you are using prefill to include a field value to be updated to the account AND you don’t want the end user to edit it during the inquiry, you need to ensure the inquiry template doesn’t include a screen component using that field. Else if they see that component, they will be able to edit the value.