CAIS (Credit Account Information Sharing) is a UK credit processing solution covering a number of use cases for both consumer and commercial credit reporting. Multiple file formats are able to be read and written, allowing you to:
The CAIS Solutions contain pre-built objects including Reference datasets, Reusable Workflows and Functions used to process your CAIS files.
Go to the System > Solution deployments (requires the correct user permissions to access) and select the relevant table: Available Solutions or Deployed Solutions.
If your Solution is deployed: there's no action to take. You might see the option to Upgrade to a newer version, which will automatically update all the objects with the latest improvements. Another option is to Redeploy which will revert any changes to the original deployment.
If the Solution is not yet deployed: you should see an option to Deploy. This will take a moment, showing all of the objects that are about to be created.
Uploaded files are evaluated against pre-built checks and rules to identify non-conforming data. The results of the assessment can be populated into an interactive snapshot (built in a workflow) and showcased in a dashboard that highlights key statistics and allows users to drill down into specific records with data issues.
You can build a CAIS portfolio Dashboard to help summarize the results of the analysis. For example, it can include:
Explore the Results by Rule output, which will allow you to review the results and even drill down to see the individual records that failed each rule - by creating an Interactive Snapshot.
Solution objects include a Consumer CAIS Validation Space with common (re-usable) Workflows and Functions to support the validation of CAIS data quality rules against your monthly data and capture the results in Snapshots, Datasets, Views and Charts, all presented in a Dashboard within Aperture Data Studio.
The Solution includes many rules that check for inconsistencies, with the definitions outlined by Experian Bureau. There are additional supporting Functions for dates, regular expressions and basic formatting.
Consumer CAIS (Credit Account Information Sharing) is a dataset submitted to UK Experian Credit Bureau containing records of consumers' credit commitments whether defaulted, settled or active and, where appropriate, a month on month indication of the payment performance.
Experian CAIS gathers data from and collects over 500 million credit accounts a month making CAIS one of the largest sources of UK consumer credit commitments.
Accurate and timely submission enables Financial Institutions to:
Once deployed, the Solution creates one Space:
Build a Portfolio Space. You can go to System > Spaces > Create a new Space and name it based on the CAIS Portfolio name / number.
Go to Workflows > Select "Include from another Space" to include all the prebuilt workflows from the Solution package.
Now, click on "Create Workflow" to contain the Workflows namely:
In your Portfolio space, go to Datasets > Add Dataset > either Upload a file or choose an External System (if already setup).
A new version of your Monthly CAIS file(s) can be uploaded with names for example: Monthly CAIS File - Body, Monthly CAIS File - Header, Monthly CAIS File - Trailer
Once this files is uploaded successfully, going forward you can refresh the dataset by selecting Actions > Upload new data or refresh data
Repeat the process to load the latest data into the Datasets: Master File - Body, Master File - Header, Master File - Trailer
Finally, run the Validate Consumer CAIS Workflow to validate the data and populate the results, which can then be presented in a Dashboard.
To create a Dashboard, go to Dashboards > Add Dashboard > Name for example Consumer CAIS Portfolio. You can now drag and drop the widgets including Snapshots / Datasets, Views and Charts into this Dashboard.
You can configure your Dashboards to update automatically whenever there's new data:
Create a new Automation with three events of the type Dataset loaded and a time set to 30 minutes, as an example.
To the first event, add a filter that equals Monthly CAIS 2007 File - Body. To the second event, set the filter to equal Master File - Body. The third event should cover the remaining CAIS file part (body, header or trailer).
Set the action to Run the Workflow Validate Consumer CAIS.
If you have a process (outside of Data Studio) that updates your CAIS file, it might be possible for you to extend this process to copy the file to a folder in your Experian STS account or SFTP folder.
This folder can be set up as an External system dropzone, so that any new files will get loaded automatically into Data Studio.
CAIS files, including the Master File, are fixed width and have both a Header and a Trailer record.
The Master File gives the status of every Account you have supplied from inception until the previous month making it possible to perform month-on-month checks. This is provided by Experian Bureau in the same format as the Monthly Files.
The CAIS 2017 file layout specification is a file containing one header record, multiple customer account records and one trailer record. All of which must be 530 bytes in length.
CAIS files, including the Master File, are fixed width and have both a Header and a Trailer record.
The Master File gives the status of every Account you have supplied from inception until the previous month making it possible to perform month-on-month checks. This is provided by Experian Bureau in the same format as the Monthly Files.
The CAIS 2017 file layout specification is a file containing one header record, multiple customer account records and one trailer record. All of which must be 530 bytes in length.
Either the Space does not exist, the Solution hasn't been deployed, or it exists but you do not have access. Speak to your administrator to get you (or your user group) access.
Your user role has certain permissions assigned to it, which might restrict what you're allowed to access. Speak to your administrator.
The parser is likely 'Fixed Width', which is the standard for a .dat file. There is a custom parser named UK Credit File Parser, which is an add-on parser specifically for CAIS files.
If you cannot see this file in the parser dropdown then you will need to request it and install it.
This is likely to do with your internet connection and possibly any antivirus scanning software you have running on your machine/network.
Compressing the file (*.zip) or setting up an External SFTP system to load large files is recommended, see 'Experian STS / SFTP' for details.
Contact your account manager or contact support.
Make sure the file is formatted correctly and matches the Template datasets provided in the Validation Space.
Go to the Jobs page to see if the Workflow is still running. If it's failed, check the reason for the error.
Yes, if you have the required user permissions. Contact your account manager/administrator about any modifications.
We provide a number of free help and learning resources:
Need further assistance? Get expert advice from our experienced product consultancy team or contact support.
Commercial CAIS (Credit Account Information Sharing) is UK Experian's shared database of business' credit commitments. It shows whether accounts are active, settled or defaulted and, where relevant, offers a month-on-month indication of the payment performance.
Members must provide a CAIS file every month. Experian validate each file before it is loaded into the Commercial CAIS database, to ensure that reporting is fair and accurate as required by the GDPR. It is essential that each month's CAIS file is timely, accurate and contains updates for all previously reported accounts as well as any new accounts added to the portfolio since the previous month's file. The data provided must accurately report the position of each account at the effective date, as you would advise it to your customers. Members must address, on an ongoing basis, any data quality issues highlighted by Experian and respond promptly to queries, including those raised by data subjects.
The Portfolio Space contains the Workflows:
A new version of your CAIS file(s) can be loaded into the existing Datasets: UPDATE Monthly CAIS 2007 File - Body, Monthly CAIS 2007 File - Header, Monthly CAIS 2007 File - Trailer by selecting Actions > Upload new data from one of these Datasets and selecting the file.
You should see the messages: "New data matches the target Dataset perfectly for Body", "… for Header", "… for Trailer". If the data does not match switch to the Validation Space and review the TEMPLATE Datasets for the correct schema (column layout).
Repeat the process to load the latest data into the Datasets: UPDATE Master File - Body, Master File - Header, Master File - Trailer
Finally, run the Validate Commercial CAIS Workflow to validate the data and populate the Dashboard.
You can configure your Dashboards to update automatically whenever there's new data:
Create a new Automation with two Events of the type Dataset loaded and a time 30 minutes. Add a filter to the first loaded event equals UPDATE Monthly CAIS 2007 File - Body and a filter to the second loaded event equals Master File - Body. Set the Action to Run the Workflow Validate Commercial CAIS.
If you have a process (outside of Data Studio) that updates your CAIS file, it might be possible for you to extend this process to copy the file to a folder in your Experian STS account or SFTP folder.
This folder can be set up as an External system dropzone, so that any new files will get loaded automatically into Data Studio.
Note the FAQ for Consumer CAIS are relevant to Commercial CAIS.
Files should be comprised of your complete production (live) data so that it can be verified that they are correctly formatted and are of suitable quality. This should include at least some of each of the following:
