Acceptance Rate Optimization
Acceptance Rate Optimization is about maximizing authorization success — diagnosing declines, routing smarter, and retrying intelligently. This page lists the 50 data points Athia uses for this use case, with the definition, type, expected source, availability and data class of each.
Field names below are the payments-standard names for each data point, so use this page to line your own schema up against them. Amounts on this page are decimal, matching the core dictionary — see Athia Data Dictionary.
The field names on this page are payments-standard names — they describe each data point at the level of the standard it comes from. Athia Data Dictionary carries the names Athia uses and a crosswalk between the two. You do not have to match either exactly — the mapping from your own columns is agreed with your Athia team on ingest. One delivered field often covers several data points here, decline codes especially.
Sub-use cases
- Decline diagnostics — explains why authorizations fail, joining the raw auth trail (response code, AVS/CVV results, ARN/RRN, auth code) to issuer, BIN and MCC context and to canonical decline reasons.
- Decline code intelligence — normalizes issuer, network and gateway decline codes plus the decline message into a canonical root cause, decline type and retry-eligibility signal.
- Smart retries — decides whether and when to retry, using attempt sequence, parent/original transaction links, time between attempts, Merchant Advice Code, decline type and retry eligibility.
- Cascading/failover — follows an attempt across processors and acquirers, using retry/cascade lineage, cascade step and previous acquirer.
- BIN/acquirer routing — chooses processor and acquirer by BIN, brand, card product, funding source, regulated-debit status, issuer country, amount, currency, merchant and MCC.
- 3DS routing & exemptions — evaluates authentication and SCA exemption strategy from 3DS version, message category, device channel, ECI, exemption requested, liability shift, AVS result and amount.
- STIP & outage detection — spots issuer stand-in processing and outage fallbacks from the auth response source, acquirer, authorization timing and ACS latency.
- Peer benchmarks — compares performance against similar merchants using MCC and MCC rollup, brand, card product, BIN, issuer and issuer country.
- Network tokens & Account Updater — reads credential capture method and card range from POS entry mode and BIN.
Data points
Transaction core
| Field | Category | Definition | Type | Example | Source | Availability | Data class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
transaction_id | Transaction core | Unique identifier of the authorization attempt within Athia. | uuid | 9f1c…a2 | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
parent_txn_id | Transaction core | Links a retry/cascade attempt back to the originating transaction. | uuid | 9f1c…a1 | PSP / processor report | Partial | None |
merchant_id | Transaction core | Merchant identifier (MID) the attempt was submitted under. | string | MID_88213 | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
mcc | Transaction core | Merchant Category Code classifying the merchant's business. | code | 5411 | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
amount | Transaction core | Authorized amount, with currency. | money | 49.99 USD | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
currency | Transaction core | Transaction currency. | code | USD | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
auth_timestamp | Transaction core | Instant the auth request was made. | timestamp | 2026-05-21T14:03:11Z | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
processor_id | Transaction core | Gateway/processor that handled the attempt. | string | stripe | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
acquirer_id | Transaction core | Acquiring bank/institution used for the attempt. | string | acq_chase | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
auth_code | Transaction core | Issuer-returned approval code on success. | string | A1B2C3 | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
arn | Transaction core | Acquirer Reference Number tracing the transaction through clearing. | string | 7491…0231 | Acquirer / network file | Full | None |
rrn | Transaction core | Retrieval Reference Number for the transaction. | string | 615012345678 | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
stan | Transaction core | System Trace Audit Number for the message. | integer | 045128 | PSP / processor report | Partial | None |
response_code | Transaction core | Issuer/acquirer authorization response code. | code | 05 (Do not honor) | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
avs_result | Transaction core | Address Verification Service match result. | code | Y | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
cvv_result | Transaction core | Card security code verification result. | code | M | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
pos_entry_mode | Transaction core | How card data was captured (keyed, token, etc.). | code | 812 | PSP / processor report | Partial | None |
Card & issuer
| Field | Category | Definition | Type | Example | Source | Availability | Data class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BIN | Card & issuer | Bank Identification Number (first 6–8 digits of PAN). | string | 424242 | PSP / processor report | Full | PCI |
card_brand | Card & issuer | Card network (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, etc.). | enum | Visa | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
card_product | Card & issuer | Product tier/program of the card. | enum | World Elite | Third-party enrichment | Full | None |
card_type | Card & issuer | Funding category. | enum | credit | Third-party enrichment | Full | None |
funding_source | Card & issuer | Underlying funding (credit/debit/prepaid/commercial). | enum | debit | Third-party enrichment | Full | None |
issuer_name | Card & issuer | Issuing bank name. | string | Chase | Third-party enrichment | Full | None |
issuer_country | Card & issuer | Country of the issuer. | code | US | Third-party enrichment | Full | None |
regulated_debit_flag | Card & issuer | Whether the debit card is Reg II (Durbin) regulated. | boolean | true | Third-party enrichment | Full | None |
3DS & auth
| Field | Category | Definition | Type | Example | Source | Availability | Data class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
threeds_version | 3DS & auth | EMV 3DS protocol version used. | enum | 2.2.0 | PSP / processor report | Limited | None |
message_category | 3DS & auth | 3DS message category (payment vs non-payment). | enum | 01-PA | PSP / processor report | Limited | None |
device_channel | 3DS & auth | Channel of the authentication (browser/app/3RI). | enum | 02-BRW | Client instrumentation | Limited | None |
eci | 3DS & auth | Electronic Commerce Indicator (auth/liability state). | code | 05 | PSP / processor report | Partial | None |
cavv | 3DS & auth | Cardholder Authentication Verification Value (proof of 3DS). | string | jJ81…AABB | Not available | Not available | Sensitive |
exemption_requested | 3DS & auth | SCA exemption requested (TRA, LVP, MIT, etc.). | enum | TRA | PSP / processor report | Limited | None |
liability_shift_flag | 3DS & auth | Whether liability shifted to the issuer on this auth. | boolean | true | PSP / processor report | Partial | None |
acs_latency_ms | 3DS & auth | Access Control Server response latency. | integer | 820 | Not available | Not available | None |
Retry & cascade
| Field | Category | Definition | Type | Example | Source | Availability | Data class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
retry_attempt_number | Retry & cascade | Sequence number of the retry for a given credential. | integer | 2 | PSP / processor report | Partial | None |
original_txn_id | Retry & cascade | The first attempt this retry descends from. | uuid | 9f1c…a1 | PSP / processor report | Partial | None |
mac | Retry & cascade | Mastercard Merchant Advice Code guiding retry behavior. | code | 03 (Do not retry) | PSP / processor report | Limited | None |
time_between_attempts | Retry & cascade | Elapsed time since the prior attempt. | integer | 86400 (s) | Athia derived | Partial | None |
cascade_step | Retry & cascade | Position in the failover chain. | integer | 1 | Not available | Not available | None |
previous_acquirer_id | Retry & cascade | Acquirer used on the prior cascade step. | string | acq_wf | Not available | Not available | None |
Enrichment
| Field | Category | Definition | Type | Example | Source | Availability | Data class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
bin_issuer_lookup | Enrichment | Issuer/country/brand resolved from the BIN database. | string | Chase / US / Visa | Third-party enrichment | Full | None |
mcc_rollup | Enrichment | Higher-level grouping of MCCs for analysis. | enum | Grocery | Athia derived | Full | None |
decline_root_cause | Enrichment | Canonical root cause mapped from raw codes. | enum | insufficient_funds | Athia derived | Full | None |
Decline & response
| Field | Category | Definition | Type | Example | Source | Availability | Data class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
issuer_response_code | Decline & response | Raw issuer authorization reason in ISO 8583 DE-39 (the issuer's stated reason, e.g. 51 = insufficient funds) — the layer beneath the approve/decline result. | code | 51 | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
network_decline_code | Decline & response | Raw scheme/network decline code (e.g. Adyen refusalCodeRaw for Visa/Mastercard) — the network's code, distinct from the gateway's normalized string. | code | 51 | PSP / processor report | Partial | None |
gateway_decline_code | Decline & response | PSP/gateway normalized decline code (Stripe decline_code, Adyen refusalReasonRaw category, Braintree processor response). | code | insufficient_funds | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
decline_message | Decline & response | Human-readable decline / error message returned with the authorization response. | string | Insufficient funds/over credit limit | PSP / processor report | Full | None |
acquirer_response_code | Decline & response | Acquirer-level response/error code, which can differ from the issuer's DE-39 reason. | code | 00 | PSP / processor report | Partial | None |
decline_type | Decline & response | Canonical classification of the decline — soft / hard / technical — that drives retry eligibility. | enum | soft | Athia derived | Full | None |
retry_eligible | Decline & response | Whether the decline is retry-eligible per Merchant Advice Code, decline type and scheme retry rules. | boolean | true | Athia derived | Partial | None |
auth_response_source | Decline & response | Whether the response came from the issuer, network Stand-In Processing (STIP), or an outage fallback. | enum | issuer | PSP / processor report | Limited | None |
Availability
Availability describes how reliably Athia can obtain a field, not how useful it is. Most fields for this use case sit on the authorization record in the PSP or processor report; the rest depend on 3DS and cascade detail that not every setup exposes.
| Value | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Full | Athia gets this reliably from standard sources. |
| Partial | Available from some providers or some of the time. |
| Limited | Available only in specific setups or on request. |
| Not available | Athia cannot obtain this today. |
Data class
PCI exposure is minimized: only the BIN — plus last four where a use case needs it — is carried, never a full PAN and never a CVV value. Fields marked PII should be delivered hashed, tokenized or generalized rather than in the clear. Fields marked Sensitive, here cavv, are never required by Athia.
Field-level definitions for the core entities are in Athia Data Dictionary.
Updated 1 day ago