# Data Explanations
source: https://developer.mastercard.com/small-business-credit-analytics/documentation/tutorials-and-guides/data-explanations/index.md

This page is a glossary for request-parameter values and response metric-value conventions used across the Small Business Credit Analytics (SBCA) API, so you don't have to infer them separately from each endpoint's documentation.

## Request Parameter Glossary {#request-parameter-glossary}

|      Parameter      |                                           Valid Values                                           |                                                                                                                                                                              Notes                                                                                                                                                                               |
|---------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `id_type`           | `MERCHANT_ID`, `TAX_ID`                                                                          | Used with `id_value` and `country_code` to match a merchant by identifier instead of name and address. TaxID matching is available only in selected countries --- contact your Mastercard representative to confirm coverage.                                                                                                                                    |
| `metrics_type`      | `retail_sales_analytics` (default), `retail_sales_benchmarks`                                    | Selects whether the Metrics endpoint returns [Retail Sales Analytics](https://developer.mastercard.com/small-business-credit-analytics/documentation/use-cases/retail-sales-analytics/index.md) or [Retail Sales Benchmarks](https://developer.mastercard.com/small-business-credit-analytics/documentation/use-cases/retail-sales-benchmarks/index.md) metrics. |
| `metrics_frequency` | `weekly` or `monthly` for `retail_sales_analytics`; `monthly` only for `retail_sales_benchmarks` | Aggregation period of the returned metrics. Requesting `weekly` with `metrics_type=retail_sales_benchmarks` returns a validation error.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |

## Metric Value Semantics (0, null, -1) {#metric-value-semantics-0-null--1}

Both metrics responses use the same three sentinel values to indicate low or missing transaction volume, but what each value means differs slightly between Retail Sales Analytics and Retail Sales Benchmarks, since RSA describes a single merchant location while RSB compares that location to a peer set.

### Retail Sales Analytics {#retail-sales-analytics}

| Value  |                                                                                                            Meaning                                                                                                            |
|--------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `0`    | No transactions were observed to calculate the respective metric in that period (for example, zero spend at the merchant location).                                                                                           |
| `null` | The minimum number of transactions needed to calculate the metric was not met in that period, or --- for year-over-year (YoY) metrics --- there were no data points in the previous year.                                     |
| `-1`   | YoY metrics only: there were no data points in the current year. For example, if there were 50 transactions in the previous year but none in the current year, YoY growth would be calculated as `(0-50)/50`, returning `-1`. |

### Retail Sales Benchmarks {#retail-sales-benchmarks}

| Value  |                                                   Meaning                                                   |
|--------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `0`    | No transactions were observed for the respective metric at the merchant location.                           |
| `null` | The minimum number of transactions needed to calculate the metric was not met for the merchant location.    |
| `-1`   | There were transactions at the merchant location, but insufficient transactions in the competitor peer set. |

## Next Steps {#next-steps}

* [Retail Sales Analytics](https://developer.mastercard.com/small-business-credit-analytics/documentation/use-cases/retail-sales-analytics/index.md) --- full metric list and use case
* [Retail Sales Benchmarks](https://developer.mastercard.com/small-business-credit-analytics/documentation/use-cases/retail-sales-benchmarks/index.md) --- full metric list and use case
* [API Reference](https://developer.mastercard.com/small-business-credit-analytics/documentation/api-reference/index.md) --- full parameter and schema details
* [Support](https://developer.mastercard.com/small-business-credit-analytics/documentation/support/index.md) --- FAQ and contact options