MANAGEMENT AND DETERMINATION OF USER IDENTITY USING IDENTITY GRAPHS
A user identity management platform is provided that manages user identity for an enterprise, such as a retail enterprise. In particular, a specific identity graph structure is provided that allows for flexible management and selection of user account information depending on the context in which that user account information is to be used. Confidence scores may be maintained for nodes and edges and probabilistic techniques associated with account activity may be used to improve confidence of association among nodes within a cluster representing a unique user.
1 . A method of managing a user identity at an identity management platform associated with an enterprise, the method comprising:
receiving an indication of a user profile node within the identity management platform, the user profile node being associated with a user account established with an enterprise;
in response to the indication of a user profile node:
determining whether the user profile node is associated with an existing user cluster, the user cluster including one or more user profile nodes affiliated with the same user;
in response to determining that the user profile node is not affiliated with any existing user cluster, creating a new user cluster, wherein creating the new user cluster includes:
creating a user cluster node within the identity management platform and assigning a unique identifier to the user cluster node; and
establishing a cluster edge connection between the user cluster node and the user profile node.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an indication of a second user profile node within the identity management platform, the indication of the second user profile node and the indication of the first user profile node comprising transaction records associated with different payment cards associated with the same user;
based on a determination of at least one common attribute between the second user profile node and the user profile node, establishing an identity edge connection between the second user profile node and the user profile node;
based on establishing the identity edge connection, creating a second cluster edge connection between the user cluster node and the second user profile node.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one common attribute includes one or more of a similar name or a shared address or portion of an address.
4 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising updating a cluster update time maintained within the user cluster node.
5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
receiving an update to an attribute of the second user profile node; and
updating the cluster update time maintained within the user cluster node.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the identity management platform further includes a second user cluster including a second user cluster node and a second user profile node linked to the second user cluster node via a cluster edge connection.
7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving information associated with the second user profile node indicating that the second user cluster node is associated with a same user as the user profile node; and
in response to determining that the second user cluster node is associated with a same user as the user cluster node:
establishing an identity edge connection between the second user cluster node;
deleting the cluster edge connection between the second user cluster node and the second user profile node;
establishing a cluster edge connection between the second user cluster node and the user profile node; and
deleting the second user cluster node.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein, prior to determining that the second user cluster has a plurality of user profile nodes including the second user profile node, the method further comprising:
establishing a cluster edge connection between each of the plurality of user profile nodes and the user cluster node.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein creating the user cluster node includes creating the unique identifier, the unique identifier being based on a combination of a timestamp at which the unique identifier is generated, an identifier of a node on which the unique identifier is generated, and a local counter value on the node.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the user profile node is associated with an existing user cluster includes determining whether an identity edge connection exists between the user profile node and another user profile node associated with the existing user cluster.
11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, at the identity management platform, a request for a user identity, the request having a desired identity confidence;
in response to the request, determining a user cluster from among a plurality of user clusters managed by the identity management platform corresponding to the user identity;
based on the desired identity confidence, providing an identification of one or more user accounts identified by user profile nodes within the determined user cluster that satisfy the desired identity confidence.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the user profile nodes within the determined user cluster that satisfy the desired identity confidence corresponds to fewer than all of the user profile nodes included within the determined user cluster.
13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the identity management platform maintains an identity graph including a plurality of user clusters, each user cluster being associated with an individual user and including a user cluster node and one or more user profile nodes, each user profile node being associated with a different user profile of the user.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the user profiles of the user include one or more of a credit card account, a loyalty account, an online account, or a store-issued credit account.
15 . An identity management platform implemented on at least one computing system, the identity management platform maintaining an identity graph for each of a plurality of users, the identity management platform being implemented on at least one computing system and comprising:
a memory maintaining an identity graph within a database;
a processor communicatively connected to the memory and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, the instructions causing the identity management platform to manage the identity graph by performing, when executed, a process including:
receiving an indication of a user profile node within the identity management platform, the user profile node being associated with a user account established with an enterprise;
in response to the indication of a user profile node:
determining whether the user profile node is associated with an existing user cluster, the user cluster including one or more user profile nodes affiliated with the same user;
in response to determining that the user profile node is not affiliated with any existing user cluster, creating a new user cluster, wherein creating the new user cluster includes:
creating a user cluster node within the identity management platform and assigning a unique identifier to the user cluster node; and
establishing a cluster edge connection between the user cluster node and the user profile node.
16 . The identity management platform of claim 15 , wherein the identity graph includes a plurality of user clusters, each user cluster being associated with an individual user and including a user cluster node and one or more user profile nodes, each user profile node being associated with a different user profile of the user.
17 . The identity management platform of claim 16 , wherein each user cluster node is associated to the corresponding one or more user profiles nodes within the user cluster of the plurality of user clusters via a cluster edge connection.
18 . The identity management platform of claim 17 , wherein at least one of the plurality of user clusters includes a plurality of user profile nodes, and wherein two or more of the plurality of user profile nodes are connected to each other via a profile edge connection.
19 . The identity management platform of claim 15 , wherein the indication of a user profile node is received from one or more of:
user transaction data associated with point of sale devices;
user account data associated with a retail payment card account;
user account data associated with an online account; or
user account data associated with a loyalty account program.
20 . The identity management platform of claim 15 , wherein each user cluster corresponds to a user record of an individual user.
21 . An identity management platform implemented on at least one computing system, the identity management platform being implemented within a retail enterprise and maintaining an identity graph for each of a plurality of customers of the retail enterprise, the identity management platform comprising:
an identity graph maintained within a data storage system including at least one memory, wherein the identity graph includes a plurality of clusters, each cluster being associated with an individual customer and including a customer cluster node and one or more customer profile nodes, each customer profile node being associated with a different customer profile of the customer;
a processor communicatively connected to the data storage system and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, the instructions causing the identity management platform to manage the identity graph by performing, when executed, a process including:
receiving an indication of a customer profile node within the identity management platform, the customer profile node being associated with a customer account established with the retail enterprise;
in response to the indication of a customer profile node:
determining whether the customer profile node is associated with an existing cluster within the plurality of clusters;
in response to determining that the customer profile node is not affiliated with any existing cluster within the plurality of clusters, creating a new cluster, wherein creating the new cluster includes:
creating a customer cluster node within the identity management platform and assigning a unique identifier to the customer cluster node; and
establishing a cluster edge connection between the customer cluster node and the customer profile node;
receiving, at the identity management platform, a request for a customer identity, the request having a desired identity confidence;
in response to the request, determining a cluster from among a plurality of customer clusters managed by the identity management platform corresponding to the customer;
based on the desired identity confidence, providing an identification of one or more customer accounts identified by customer profile nodes within the determined cluster that satisfy the desired identity confidence,
wherein the customer profile nodes within the determined cluster that satisfy the desired identity confidence corresponds to fewer than all of the customer profile nodes included within the determined cluster.