> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.goguardian.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Understand Visitor Screening > How GoGuardian Visitor screens adults against sex offender registries and watchlists, the form settings that control it, and what each alert and status means. GoGuardian Visitor screens adults when they check in or out, checking them against sex offender registries and your school's watchlists. Screening runs in the background while the visitor finishes the form, and a check-in or check-out waits at the end only when there's something for staff to review. Each form has its own screening settings, and they work together to decide what's checked on every visit, including return visits. For how front desk staff review a possible match, see [Review Screening Alerts](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/review-screening-alerts.md). For what security staff receive after a confirmed match, see [Respond to a Visitor Alert](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/respond-to-a-visitor-alert.md). You need the Site Admin role at the site to change a form's screening settings. **District-Wide** forms can be changed only by users with Super User access to Org Management. ## Understand What Screening Checks Screening runs in the **Confirm Visitor Identity** step, so it covers adults: visitors, vendors, volunteers, and guardians picking up students. The **Visitor** and **Parent/Guardian Pickup** templates start with this step. Students confirm their identity with a different step, and Visitor doesn't screen them. The step has 2 security checks, both on by default. Visitor runs the ones turned on in the form each time a visitor completes the step. See [Choose Screening Settings for a Form](#choose-screening-settings-for-a-form). * **Sex Offender Registries:** Visitor searches sex offender registries for the visitor's first name, last name, and date of birth. Registry data comes from a third party, and GoGuardian does not independently verify it. * **Watchlists:** Visitor checks your site's watchlists for the visitor's identity. For the matching rules, see [Watchlists](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/watchlists.md). ### Tell Security Checks Apart from Form Reviews Forms can also hold a check-in or check-out for a staff review that isn't a security check. These reviews give front desk staff a chance to look at an answer or a pickup and decide, following your school's procedures, whether it should go ahead. They're routine, and they never alert a notification list. * **Flagged Answer:** raised when a visitor or student chooses an answer you marked with **Flag?** in an **Ask Question (Choice)** step. For example, a form might ask whether they feel sick, so staff can decide whether they should come in today. * **Confirm Students:** raised by the **Select Students** step, so staff confirm every pickup before it completes. Security checks are different. A confirmed sex offender registry or watchlist match denies the check-in and alerts the matching notification lists right away, so the staff who respond to incidents hear about it. Staff review all of these on the **Front Desk**. ## Follow a Check-In Through Screening Screening works the same way on a kiosk and at the **Front Desk**, and for pickups it applies to the check-out. 1. The visitor confirms their identity, either by scanning a government ID or by entering their details. 2. Visitor starts the checks right away. The visitor keeps going through the form and doesn't see that screening is running. 3. If there's a possible match, the alert appears on the **Front Desk** for staff at that check-in point right away. The visitor keeps filling out the form while staff review it. 4. Staff confirm the visitor's identity against their government ID, then compare them with the possible match. 5. When the visitor finishes the form, the check-in completes if nothing is waiting for review. If staff haven't decided yet, the kiosk asks the visitor to wait until they do. 6. If staff choose **Not a Match**, the check-in completes. If they choose **Confirm Match**, Visitor denies the check-in and alerts the matching notification lists. On a kiosk, the visitor is asked to see the front desk. ## Choose Screening Settings for a Form Screening settings belong to each form, so different forms at the same site can screen differently. To find them, go to **Forms**, open the form, and open its **Confirm Visitor Identity** step. The checks are under **Security Checks**. | Setting | Default | What it does | | - | - | - | | **Sex Offender Registries** | On | Checks the visitor against sex offender registries. | | **Watchlists** | On | Checks the visitor against your site's watchlists on every visit. | | **Save cleared sex offender checks** | On | Skips the registry check for returning visitors who cleared it in the last 60 days. Applies only when **Sex Offender Registries** is on. See [Save Cleared Checks](#save-cleared-checks). | A form with both security checks off doesn't screen anyone. Flagged answers are set separately, on each answer in an **Ask Question (Choice)** step. For every step and its options, see [Form Steps Reference](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/form-steps-reference.md). For a confirmed match to alert anyone, the site needs a default notification list, and each watchlist needs at least 1 notification list with members. See [Notification Lists](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/notification-lists.md). ## Plan for Returning Visitors Two features keep returning visitors from being stopped for the same review on every visit: saved checks, which you set on the form, and permanent dismissals, which staff choose while reviewing a match. Both depend on Visitor recognizing a returning visitor. Visitor treats a check-in as the same visitor only when the first name, middle name, last name, and date of birth all match an earlier visit exactly. If a detail differs, such as a middle name entered on 1 visit and left out on the next, Visitor treats them as a new visitor. ### Save Cleared Checks With **Save cleared sex offender checks** on, Visitor skips the registry check when the same visitor completed a check-in with the same form at the same site in the last 60 days, and the registry check ran on that visit. A visit where staff chose **Not a Match** counts as cleared. * **The 60 days start from the last completed visit where the check ran.** Visits where the check was skipped don't extend the window, so a regular volunteer is still checked at least every 60 days. * **Saving changes to a form starts over.** Any saved change to the form, in any step, means returning visitors are checked again on their next visit with it. * **Watchlists still run.** Saved checks apply only to the sex offender registry. Leaving it on means regular volunteers, vendors, and guardians aren't held for review again for a possible match staff already cleared. Turn it off if your school requires a registry check on every visit. ### Dismiss a Match Permanently When staff choose **Not a Match** on a **Possible Offender Match** alert, they can also select **Permanently dismiss these matches for this visitor**. Visitor then stops raising those registry records for that visitor at your site, on every form, with no time limit. A registry record Visitor hasn't seen before still raises a possible match. Permanent dismissals apply only to sex offender registry matches. Visitor raises watchlist matches on every visit. A dismissal can't be undone in Visitor, and the check-in's **Activity Log** details show who dismissed the matches and when. ### See How the Settings Work Together | Return visit | Sex offender registry | Watchlists | | - | - | - | | Same form, within 60 days, **Save cleared sex offender checks** on | Skipped | Checked | | More than 60 days later, a different form, or the form was edited | Checked. Permanently dismissed records aren't raised. | Checked | | **Save cleared sex offender checks** off | Checked every visit. Permanently dismissed records aren't raised. | Checked | ## Review Alert Types Each alert holds the check-in or check-out at the end of the form until staff at the check-in point decide. Only a confirmed sex offender registry or watchlist match alerts a notification list. | Alert | Raised when | Staff choose | Notified on confirm | | - | - | - | - | | **Possible Offender Match** | The registry check finds a possible match | **Confirm Match** or **Not a Match**, with the option to dismiss permanently | Your site's default notification list | | **Possible Watchlist Match** | The visitor matches a watchlist entry | **Confirm Match** or **Not a Match** | The watchlist's notification lists | | **Flagged Answer** | A visitor or student chooses a flagged answer | **Accept Answer** or **Deny Check-In** (**Deny Check-Out** for check-outs) | No one | | **Confirm Students** | The visitor selects students to pick up | **Confirm Students** or **Deny Check-In** (**Deny Check-Out** for check-outs) | No one | | **Screening Error** | A check couldn't run | **Retry Screening** or **Skip Screening** | No one | A **Screening Error** isn't a match. **Skip Screening** lets the check-in complete without the checks that had an error, and the **Activity Log** shows who skipped them. Follow your school's procedures before skipping screening. For who receives alerts and how, see [Notification Lists](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/notification-lists.md) and [Respond to a Visitor Alert](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/respond-to-a-visitor-alert.md). ## Review Screening Statuses Every check-in through **Confirm Visitor Identity** shows a screening status on the **Front Desk** and in the **Activity Log**. | Status | What it means | | - | - | | **Screening** | The checks are still running. | | **Screening Passed** | Every check that's turned on ran and found nothing to review, or staff cleared what it found. | | **Needs Review** | An alert is waiting for staff. | | **Needs Confirmation** | Only **Confirm Students** is waiting for staff. | | **Screening Error** | A check couldn't run. Staff retry or skip it. | | **Screening Skipped** | Staff skipped a check after an error, or a saved check skipped the registry. The check-in's **Activity Log** details show which: "Skipped by" a staff member, or "Screened on a visit in the last 60 days." | | **Offender Match**, **Watchlist Match**, **Flagged Answer**, **Students Not Confirmed** | Staff confirmed the match or denied the check-in or check-out. | ## Understand How Visitor Protects Screening Data * **Visitors don't see screening.** The kiosk shows only that a staff member is reviewing the check-in, or that the visitor should see the front desk. * **Access is limited.** Only Site Admins and staff assigned to the check-in point see its alerts and screening details. Notification list members receive alerts for confirmed matches. See [Users and Permissions](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/users-and-permissions.md). * **The most sensitive data is encrypted twice.** Like all Visitor data, it's encrypted where it's stored. Visitor photos, government ID images, and sex offender registry results also get their own layer of encryption before they're stored. * **No one under 16 is checked in.** **Confirm Visitor Identity** doesn't accept anyone under 16. The kiosk shows "You must be 16 or older," and Visitor deletes anything already captured for them, such as a scanned ID. * **Registry data is third-party.** GoGuardian does not independently verify it, which is why staff confirm every possible match before Visitor takes action. ## Avoid Common Surprises | What you see | Why | | - | - | | A returning visitor shows **Screening Skipped** | A saved check skipped the registry. Watchlists still ran if they're turned on. | | A returning visitor was checked again within 60 days | The form was edited and saved since their last visit, they used a different form or site, their last check-in didn't complete, or their name or date of birth didn't match their last visit exactly, such as a middle name left out. | | The same visitor raises a possible match on every visit | Visitor raises watchlist matches on every visit. For a registry match, staff can select **Permanently dismiss these matches for this visitor**, or you can turn on **Save cleared sex offender checks**. | | A confirmed match alerted no one | The site has no default notification list, the watchlist has no notification list, or the list has no members. See [Notification Lists](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/notification-lists.md). | | A student wasn't screened | Screening covers adults in **Confirm Visitor Identity** only. | ## Resources * [Review Screening Alerts](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/review-screening-alerts.md) * [Watchlists](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/watchlists.md) * [Notification Lists](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/notification-lists.md) * [Respond to a Visitor Alert](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/respond-to-a-visitor-alert.md) * [Form Steps Reference](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/form-steps-reference.md) * [Users and Permissions](https://docs.goguardian.com/products/visitor/users-and-permissions.md) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.