Dynamic Routing
Dynamic routing in Pulse automatically adjusts routing priorities based on real success rate performance. Instead of relying solely on static rule-based routing, dynamic routing monitors how payment partners perform over time and updates routing preferences when performance trends change.
Pulse supports two dynamic routing strategies:
- Threshold-based management takes a conservative approach, switching only when performance drops below a configured tolerance.
- Success rate maximization takes an aggressive approach, continuously evaluating all partner options and selecting the best performer.
Both strategies use smart guardrails to ensure that routing changes are confident, safe, and auditable.
| Strategy | Trigger Condition | Adjustment Behavior | Risk Level | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Threshold-based management | Success rate drops below configured tolerance compared to benchmark | Switches away only when threshold is breached; returns to preferred partner after exile duration | Lower | Stability-first routing with protection against performance drops |
| Success rate maximization | Continuous evaluation, no threshold gate | Evaluates all partners continuously and selects the best performer with fair competition | Higher | Aggressive success rate optimization with controlled exploration |
Dynamic routing builds on top of your base rule-based routing configuration. It observes transaction outcomes over adaptive time windows, scores payment partner performance using a weighted blend of recent and historical data, and recommends routing changes when the evidence supports a switch. Smart guardrails enforce minimum data requirements and safety checks before any change takes effect, and every routing change is recorded in an audit trail.
Threshold-Based Management
Threshold-based management is a conservative strategy well suited for merchants who have a preferred payment partner and want automatic protection against performance degradation without frequent switching. It intervenes only when necessary and returns to the preferred partner when conditions improve.
How It Works
A preferred payment partner handles traffic by default. Pulse continuously monitors that partner's success rate within a configurable time window. If the success rate drops below a configured tolerance compared to a benchmark, Pulse switches traffic to the next-best partner. The monitoring window adapts based on transaction volume so the system gathers enough data before acting. Because the threshold must be breached before any change occurs, this strategy avoids unnecessary switching during normal fluctuations.
Weighted Scoring
Pulse scores each payment partner using a weighted blend of recent (short-term) and historical (long-term) performance. Recent transactions carry a recency bias so the score reflects current conditions, while the historical component prevents overreaction to brief anomalies. When a threshold breach triggers evaluation, the partner with the highest weighted score is selected as the replacement. This balanced approach ensures routing decisions are grounded in both trend and context.
Return to Preferred
When a preferred partner is switched out, it enters a cooling-off period defined by the configured exile duration. After this duration elapses, Pulse re-evaluates the preferred partner's performance. If the preferred partner's success rate has recovered, traffic is restored to it automatically. This return-to-preferred mechanism ensures that temporary degradation does not permanently displace a merchant's preferred routing path.
Configuration
Merchants configure the following parameters for threshold-based management:
- Preferred partner (
preferred_psp) -- the default payment partner that receives traffic under normal conditions. - Drop tolerance (
srt_drop_tolerance) -- the success rate threshold below which a switch is triggered. - Exile duration (
preferred_exile_duration) -- how long the preferred partner is bypassed before Pulse checks for recovery. - Minimum count (
min_count) -- the minimum number of transactions required before the system evaluates performance, ensuring statistical significance. - Minimum time span (
min_time_span) -- the minimum monitoring window duration.
Success Rate Maximization
Success rate maximization is an aggressive strategy well suited for merchants who are willing to accept more frequent partner switching in exchange for continuously optimized success rates. It continuously evaluates all partner options and selects the best performer.
How It Works
Unlike threshold-based management, success rate maximization does not designate a single preferred partner. Instead, Pulse continuously evaluates all available payment partners and routes each transaction to the partner with the highest real-time weighted score. There is no threshold gate -- the system always selects the current best performer. This dynamic selection approach responds rapidly to changing partner performance and is designed to maximize overall success rates across all traffic.
Fair Competition
To maintain statistically meaningful performance data, Pulse ensures every payment partner receives a minimum share of traffic. Without this safeguard, a partner that temporarily underperforms could be starved of transactions and never have the opportunity to demonstrate recovery. By allocating a baseline volume to each partner, the system produces reliable score comparisons and prevents a single dominant partner from monopolizing traffic indefinitely.
Weighted Scoring
Success rate maximization uses the same weighted scoring model as threshold-based management, blending recent and historical performance. A rolling evaluation window defines the time frame for score calculation. Recent transactions carry greater weight so the score tracks current conditions. Transaction volume is normalized to ensure partners with different traffic levels are compared fairly. Because there is no threshold requirement, the highest-scoring partner is always selected regardless of the margin.
Configuration
Merchants configure the following parameters for success rate maximization:
- Switching type (
switching_type) -- set tomaximise_srt_fair_volumeto enable this strategy. - Minimum count (
min_count) -- the minimum number of transactions per partner required before scores are considered valid. - Minimum time span (
min_time_span) -- the minimum scoring window duration.
Smart Guardrails
Smart guardrails are the safety layer that governs both dynamic routing strategies. They ensure routing changes are backed by sufficient evidence and do not introduce unintended risk.
Adaptive Time Windows
The monitoring and scoring window adjusts automatically based on transaction volume. During high-traffic periods, Pulse uses shorter windows (as low as 15 minutes) to detect and respond to performance shifts quickly. During low-traffic periods, the window extends (up to 180 minutes) to accumulate enough transactions for a statistically meaningful evaluation. The current window state is persisted per payment option so each payment mode and partner combination is evaluated at an appropriate cadence for its volume.
Safety Checks
Multiple built-in protections prevent premature or erroneous routing changes:
- Minimum transaction count -- no routing decision changes until the configured minimum number of final-outcome transactions is reached within the current window.
- Minimum time span -- enforces a floor on how quickly consecutive changes can occur.
- Pending transaction exclusion -- transactions that have not reached a final status are excluded from score calculations to avoid skewed data.
- Duplicate change protection -- a hash of each routing change payload prevents the same change from being processed more than once.
- Supported payment modes -- dynamic routing is restricted to supported modes (such as Cards, UPI, and Netbanking) to avoid applying performance-based logic where it is not applicable.
Configuration
Merchants and operations teams can configure the following guardrail parameters:
- Minimum time span (
min_time_span) -- the adaptive window floor and ceiling (15 to 180 minutes). - Minimum count (
min_count) -- the minimum transaction count required before a routing change is evaluated. - Pending exclusion window -- the duration within which pending transactions are excluded from scoring.
- Provider exclusions -- specific payment partners that should be excluded from dynamic routing evaluation.
Audit Trails
Every routing decision is logged with full transparency. The audit record captures which payment partner was selected, why the change was triggered, and what the weighted scores were at decision time. This change history is available for review and ensures complete accountability. Audit trails support both operational troubleshooting and compliance by providing a clear record of every automated routing adjustment.
Both strategies can be combined with Fallback & Recovery to handle individual payment failures, while dynamic routing handles broader performance trends at the routing-configuration level.