# Anti-Money Laundering (AML) alert scoring

> Anti-Money Laundering (AML) alert scoring - Step-by-step walkthrough to build a model that uses
> historical data, including customer and transactional information, to identify which alerts resulted
> in a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR).

This Markdown file sits beside the HTML page at the same path (with a `.md` suffix). It summarizes the topic and lists links for tools and LLM context.

Companion generated at `2026-05-06T18:17:09.950137+00:00` (UTC).

## Primary page

- [Anti-Money Laundering (AML) alert scoring](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/money-launder-tutorial.html): Full documentation for this topic (HTML).

## Sections on this page

- [Assets for download](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/money-launder-tutorial.html#assets-for-download): In-page section heading.
- [Building a model](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/money-launder-tutorial.html#building-a-model): In-page section heading.
- [Model evaluation and interpretation](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/money-launder-tutorial.html#model-evaluation-and-interpretation): In-page section heading.
- [Blueprint](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/money-launder-tutorial.html#blueprint): In-page section heading.
- [Feature Impact](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/money-launder-tutorial.html#feature-impact): In-page section heading.
- [Feature Effects](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/money-launder-tutorial.html#feature-effects): In-page section heading.
- [Individual Prediction Explanations](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/money-launder-tutorial.html#individual-prediction-explanations): In-page section heading.
- [Word Cloud](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/money-launder-tutorial.html#word-cloud): In-page section heading.
- [Evaluate accuracy](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/money-launder-tutorial.html#evaluate-accuracy): In-page section heading.
- [Lift Chart](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/money-launder-tutorial.html#lift-chart): In-page section heading.
- [ROC Curve](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/money-launder-tutorial.html#roc-curve): In-page section heading.
- [Next steps](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/money-launder-tutorial.html#next-steps): In-page section heading.

## Related documentation

- [Get started](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/index.html): Linked from this page.
- [How-tos](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/index.html): Linked from this page.
- [Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Alert Scoring](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/biz-accelerators/money-launder.html): Linked from this page.
- [Introduction to data analysis in DataRobot](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/intro-to-eda.html): Linked from this page.
- [Start modeling setup](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/create-experiments/create-predictive/ml-basic-experiment.html#start-modeling-setup): Linked from this page.
- [Compare models](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/manage-experiments/compare-models.html): Linked from this page.
- [blueprint](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/api/reference/public-api/blueprints.html): Linked from this page.
- [Explanations > Feature Impact](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/experiment-insights/feature-impact.html): Linked from this page.
- [Feature Effects](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/experiment-insights/feature-effects.html): Linked from this page.
- [Explanations > Individual Prediction Explanations](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/experiment-insights/shap-predex.html): Linked from this page.
- [Explanations > Word Cloud](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/experiment-insights/word-cloud.html): Linked from this page.
- [Performance > Lift Chart](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/experiment-insights/lift-chart.html): Linked from this page.
- [ROC Curve](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/experiment-insights/roc-curve.html): Linked from this page.

## Documentation content

This walkthrough provides step-by-step instructions for building a model that uses historical data, including customer and transactional information, to identify which alerts resulted in a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR).
The model can then be used to assign a suspicious activity score to future alerts and improve the efficiency of an AML compliance program using rank ordering by score.

> [!TIP] Jupyter notebook version
> While this walkthrough follows the DataRobot UI, an [equivalent Jupyter notebook is available](https://github.com/datarobot-community/ai-accelerators/blob/main/use_cases_and_horizontal_approaches/anti-money-laundering/Anti-Money%20Laundering%20(AML%29%20Alert%20Scoring.ipynb).

For a deeper dive into the use case, see the [Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Alert Scoring](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/biz-accelerators/money-launder.html) guide and review it alongside working through this walkthrough.

## Assets for download

To follow this walkthrough, download the dataset that will be used to train and evaluate the model below.
The dataset contains a sample of alerts from a financial institution.

[Download dataset](https://datarobot-doc-assets.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/DR_Demo_AML_Alert_train.csv)

> [!NOTE] Important
> Follow the steps detailed in the [Introduction to data analysis in DataRobot](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/intro-to-eda.html) walkthrough to upload the dataset and prepare it for modeling.

## Building a model

Now that the data has been uploaded and analyzed, it is time to build a model.

1. ClickData actions > Start modeling.
2. In theSet up new experimentwindow, specifySARin theTarget featurefield.
3. Leave the remaining fields at their defaults and clickNext. NoteFor more details on the additional settings, seeStart modeling setup.
4. Leave all partitioning changes fields at their defaults and clickStart modeling.
5. DataRobot begins building the models.
6. After a few moments, the Model Leaderboard appears and indicates the training progress. Model build timeModel build time can vary depending on the size of the dataset. When it completes, theWorkerspane displaysNo jobs currently running.

For details on how to assess the various models after they are built, see [Compare models](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/manage-experiments/compare-models.html).

## Model evaluation and interpretation

Now that a set of models are ready for analysis, select the top model and explore its details.
DataRobot flags the most accurate model as Prepared for deployment in the Model Leaderboard.

Click the model to view more detailed information about it.
Use the tabs in the Details pane to explore various insights, as highlighted below.

DataRobot provides a variety of tools that can be used to assess why a particular alert was flagged as suspicious.
Review the following sections to understand how to use the most relevant ones for this use case.

#### Blueprint

From the model details page, click Details > Blueprint to reveal the model [blueprint](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/api/reference/public-api/blueprints.html) —the pipeline of preprocessing steps, modeling algorithms, and post-processing steps used to create the model.

#### Feature Impact

Click [Explanations > Feature Impact](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/experiment-insights/feature-impact.html) and then Compute to see the association between each feature in the dataset and the target.

> [!NOTE] Note
> Computing Feature Impact may take several minutes.

DataRobot identifies the top three most impactful features (which enable the machine to differentiate SAR from non-SAR alerts) as `total merchant credit in the last 90 days`, `number refund requests by the customer in the last 90 days`, and `total refund amount in the last 90 days`.

#### Feature Effects

To understand the direction of impact and the SAR risk at different levels of the input feature, DataRobot provides partial dependence graphs on the [Feature Effects](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/experiment-insights/feature-effects.html) tab.
Click Explanations > Feature Effects and then Compute to depict how the likelihood of being a SAR changes when the input feature takes different values.

> [!NOTE] Note
> Computing Feature Effects may take several minutes.

In this example, the total merchant credit amount in the last 90 days (on the x-axis) is the most impactful feature, but the SAR risk (on the y-axis) is not linearly increasing when the amount increases.
The chart shows that the SAR risk remains relatively low when the amount is below $1000, surges significantly when the amount is above $1000, and then slows when the amount approaches $1500.

#### Individual Prediction Explanations

To view a breakdown of how each feature in the dataset contributes to the overall prediction outcome, click [Explanations > Individual Prediction Explanations](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/experiment-insights/shap-predex.html).
This tab shows the explanations for each alert scored and prioritized by the machine learning model.

The image above demonstrates a sample of five random predictions from the model.
You can click Predictions to sample below the chart to adjust the total number of predictions to be used to generate the chart.

Click on a specific prediction in the predictions list to see which features contributed to the prediction.
In the example below, the prediction with `ID=1789` has a very high likelihood of being a suspicious activity (prediction=91.3%) based on the total merchant credit amount in the last 90 days.

#### Word Cloud

Click [Explanations > Word Cloud](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/experiment-insights/word-cloud.html) to explore how text fields affect predictions.
The Word Cloud uses a color spectrum to indicate the word's impact on the prediction.
In this example, red words indicate the alert is more likely to be associated with a SAR.
Larger words indicate words that occur more frequently in the dataset.

Click a word in the cloud to see the details about that particular word.

## Evaluate accuracy

In addition to providing insights into the model's performance, DataRobot provides tools to evaluate the model's accuracy.
This section describes several of the most relevant tools to this use case.

### Lift Chart

Click [Performance > Lift Chart](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/experiment-insights/lift-chart.html) to view how effective the model is at separating the SAR and non-SAR alerts.
After an alert in the out-of-sample partition gets scored by the model, it is assigned a risk score that measures the likelihood of the alert being a SAR risk or becoming a SAR.
In the Lift Chart, alerts are sorted based on the SAR risk, broken down into 10 deciles, and displayed from lowest to the highest.

For each decile, DataRobot computes the average predicted SAR risk (as indicated by the blue plus signs) as well as the average actual SAR event (as indicated by the orange circle).
It then connects the respective dots into two distinct line graphs for the predicted and actual SAR risk.
The chart shows that the model has slight under-predictions for the alerts that are more likely to be a SAR, but overall, the model performs well.

### ROC Curve

Now that you know the model is performing well, you can select an explicit threshold to make a binary decision based on the continuous SAR risk predicted by DataRobot.
Click Performance > ROC Curve to access a variety of information to help make some of the important decisions in selecting the optimal threshold:

For additional information on the ROC Curve, see [ROC Curve](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/workbench/nxt-workbench/experiments/experiment-insights/roc-curve.html).

## Next steps

Now that you have completed the basic process of building a model to analyze and make predictions on SAR alerts, you can move onto more detailed steps regarding this use case in the [Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Alert Scoring](https://docs.datarobot.com/en/docs/get-started/how-to/biz-accelerators/money-launder.html) guide.