Custom Hierarchies

Custom hierarchies enable you to view summary data for merchant groups, and report on merchant groups across different agents or chains. You can:

• Establish your own group of merchants outside of the BIN, Agent, Chain, Merchant, Store, Terminal (BACMST) hierarchies.
• Link merchant identification numbers (MIDs) to establish a historical relationship for an individual merchant who has had multiple MIDs over time.

Additionally, you can establish hierarchies by:

• Searching for merchants within a particular zip code or state.
• Searching for merchants within an existing agent or chain.

Creating a merchant relationship through the custom hierarchy function enables you to link Merchant Identification Numbers (MIDs) to establish a historical relationship for an individual merchant who had multiple MIDs over time.

For example, if an MID changed in June, you may still need to view data for the merchant under its previous MID in August. By relating both MIDs together, you can still access historical data for that merchant using their current MID.

The following statements apply to merchant relationships:

• If more than one hierarchy exists (a new hierarchy and one or more previous hierarchies), the Daily Summary page displays only the current hierarchy and associated transaction data. Viewing a Daily Summary for a date in which the previous MID was valid would require changing the view to the previous MID and changing the summary date.
• if you perform an authorization or capture inquiry, the merchant’s current MID and associated data display first, followed by the merchant’s previous hierarchical data (if the date range spans a time frame when multiple MIDs were valid).
• If you perform an authorization or capture inquiry on a hierarchy other than the merchant’s current hierarchy, you must specify the correct date in which the previous hierarchy was in effect.