Encounter

A unified, consistent representation of a traveler encounter across all border control channels — enabling reliable tracking of traveler movements, interactions, and system touchpoints over time.

All channel-generated interactions (Enrollment, Smart Corridor, eGates, Kiosks, external systems) are recorded using shared semantics and correlated to travelers whenever possible.

Principles

• Encounters are sessions, not atomic events. An Encounter represents an operational interaction with a defined purpose. The atomic steps inside it are EncounterEvent records.
• Events provide internal traceability; Encounters provide operational meaning. History is read at the Encounter level; the Event level explains how the Encounter unfolded.
• Identity is known at the time of the Encounter. Every Encounter is linked to a Traveler at creation. Identity is established by the channel beforehand — by enrollment for first-time travelers, by identification at the border post for subsequent interactions, or by other channel-level identity provisioning.
• TIS stores facts, not decisions. Encounters describe what happened, where, and in which context — they do not embed application-level decision logic. Downstream systems react.
• All channels speak the same Encounter language. eGate, Corridor, Kiosk, Border Post, and external systems all produce Encounter records with the same shape and the same enums.

Relationship to Traveler, Document, and Journey

Relation	Cardinality	Notes
Traveler → Journey	1:N	Journey does not link directly to Encounter
Traveler → Document	1:N	A Document is registered to a Traveler
Traveler → Encounter	1:N	Encounter does not link directly to Journey
Encounter → Document	0:1	An Encounter references the primary Document used during the interaction via documentId; present whenever a document is used, absent for document-less interactions
Encounter → EncounterEvent	1:N	Atomic steps belonging to the Encounter

Journeys and Encounters are independent dimensions of the Traveler — one is the planned movement context, the other is the recorded interaction history. Correlation between them is derived (timestamp, location), not modeled by a direct foreign key.

Attributes

Field	Type	Optionality	Format / Length	Source	Notes
id	UUID / string	Mandatory	36 chars	System	Internal identifier
purpose	enum	Mandatory	see below	Canonical	Business reason for the interaction
channel	enum	Mandatory	see below	Canonical	Interaction channel
sourceSystem	string	Mandatory	1..50	System	Origin system; together with externalReference forms the uniqueness constraint
externalReference	string	Mandatory	1..100	External	Source system's business reference for the interaction; with sourceSystem forms the uniqueness constraint
startedAt	datetime	Mandatory	ISO 8601 UTC	System	Timestamp when the Encounter started
endedAt	datetime	Optional (Mandatory when outcome != PENDING)	ISO 8601 UTC	System	Timestamp when the Encounter ended with a definitive outcome
location	string	Optional	1..100	Deployment	Site / zone / lane
outcome	enum	Mandatory	PENDING, ALLOWED, DENIED, SUSPENDED	System	Lifecycle state
travelerId	UUID / string	Mandatory	36 chars	System	Linked Traveler — always populated; identity is known when the Encounter is created
documentId	UUID / string	Conditional	36 chars	System	Mandatory when a document is presented / used; optional for document-less interactions. Primary travel document (passport > national ID; visa complementary)
events	array<EncounterEvent>	Optional	0..N	Canonical	Nested events — see below

Enum: purpose

BORDER_CHECK_ENTRY, BORDER_CHECK_EXIT, ENROLLMENT, TRAVEL_AUTH, PRE_TRAVEL_AUTH, FIELD_CHECK, SECONDARY_INSPECTION

Enum: channel

EGATE, KIOSK, APPLICATION, BORDER_POST, CORRIDOR, EXTERNAL_SYSTEM

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EncounterEvent

A single step within an Encounter. Each event is a universal envelope — eventType, capturedModality, timestamp, result, comment, metadata — plus a typed payload selected by eventType: a capture object for a CAPTURE, or an assessment object for an ASSESSMENT. This breaks the interaction into auditable, fine-grained steps while keeping a single, consistent shape across channels.

Attributes

Field	Type	Optionality	Format	Source	Notes
id	UUID / string	Mandatory	36 chars	System	Event identifier
encounterId	UUID / string	Mandatory	36 chars	System	Parent Encounter
eventType	enum	Mandatory	CAPTURE, ASSESSMENT	Canonical	Step category — selects the typed payload
capturedModality	enum	Mandatory	see below	Canonical	Which modality was captured (subject of the step)
timestamp	datetime	Mandatory	ISO 8601 UTC	System	Event time; sole ordering key
result	enum	Mandatory	SUCCEEDED, FAILED, SKIPPED	Canonical	Execution result of the step
comment	string	Optional	1..500	System	Free-text context for result; most useful when FAILED / SKIPPED
capture	object	Conditional	{ artifactRef }	Canonical	Present when eventType = CAPTURE
capture.artifactRef	string	Conditional	URI / ID	System	Reference to the raw captured artifact; required for CAPTURE when result = SUCCEEDED. The Encounter references, never stores, the artifact
assessment	object	Conditional	{ assessmentType, score, threshold, passed, algorithmVersion }	Canonical	Present when eventType = ASSESSMENT
assessment.assessmentType	enum	Conditional	see below	Canonical	Required when eventType = ASSESSMENT
assessment.score	number	Conditional	0..1, 4 decimals	Canonical	For ASSESSMENT when result ∈ {SUCCEEDED, FAILED}
assessment.threshold	number	Conditional	0..1, 4 decimals	Canonical	Policy threshold applied; same rule as score
assessment.passed	boolean	Conditional	—	Canonical	Derived (score ≥ threshold), materialised; same rule as score
assessment.algorithmVersion	string	Conditional	1..50	System	Engine / model version; for ASSESSMENT
metadata	object	Optional	typed by (capturedModality, assessmentType)	Canonical	Step-specific payload (sub-scores, candidates, parsed data, device info)

Enum: eventType

CAPTURE, ASSESSMENT

Enum: capturedModality

DOCUMENT, FACE, IRIS, PALM, FINGERPRINT_SLAP, FINGERPRINT_CONTACTLESS

Enum: result

SUCCEEDED, FAILED, SKIPPED

Enum: assessment.assessmentType

QUALITY, LIVENESS, AUTHENTICITY, VERIFICATION, IDENTIFICATION, VALIDITY

Sample event flow

A typical sequence within a single Encounter — capture, then one or more assessments per modality. Shown flat for readability: assessmentType / score / threshold / passed belong to the typed assessment object, and artifactRef belongs to the typed capture object.

timestamp	capturedModality	eventType	assessmentType	result	score	threshold	passed	comment	metadata (snippet)
08:42:06	FACE	CAPTURE	—	SUCCEEDED	—	—	—	—	{ deviceId: "egate-mad-t4-03" }
08:42:08	FACE	ASSESSMENT	QUALITY	SUCCEEDED	0.23	0.60	false	quality below threshold	{ subScores: { sharpness: 0.31, pose: 0.22 } }
08:42:08	FACE	ASSESSMENT	LIVENESS	SKIPPED	—	—	—	skipped due to quality failure	—
08:43:15	PALM	CAPTURE	—	SUCCEEDED	—	—	—	—	{ deviceId: "egate-mad-t4-03" }
08:43:18	PALM	ASSESSMENT	QUALITY	SUCCEEDED	0.88	0.60	true	—	{ subScores: { … } }
08:43:22	PALM	ASSESSMENT	VERIFICATION	SUCCEEDED	0.97	0.85	true	—	{ referenceArtifactId: "doc-photo-uuid", mode: "PROBE_VS_REFERENCE" }

CAPTURE rows also carry capture.artifactRef (URI/ID of the raw captured artifact), omitted above for width — e.g. the 08:42:06 FACE capture → capture: { artifactRef: "s3://…/face-uuid" }.

See also

• Data Model overview — full entity set, standards alignment, domain separation
• Traveler — the entity Encounters are linked to
• Document — Documents used during an Encounter
• Journey — Journeys and Encounters are independent dimensions of the Traveler