BYOBI - Snowflake Toolkit
This article is a Bring Your Own Business Intelligence (BYOBI) / Snowflake toolkit.
Table of Contents
Overview
BYOBI is the modern replacement for the legacy direct SQL access offering, designed to provide you with more robust data accessibility and advanced reporting capabilities.
Bring Your Own Business Intelligence (BYOBI)
The BYOBI tool gives your organization read-only access to your Clarity Human Services data. You can query it directly using SQL or Python, or connect the business intelligence (BI) tool of your choice — such as Tableau or Power BI.
Why BYOBI?
BYOBI replaces the legacy direct SQL access offering. Previously, connecting external BI tools required a cumbersome workaround: exporting data from Clarity and re-importing it into another data warehouse, or connecting to a separate, replicated database (the Customer SQL Model). The legacy offering only supported Looker.
What's Different?
BYOBI provides standard database connection options so you can query your Clarity data directly — no complex exports or replicated databases needed. This means you can use your preferred commercial BI tools to analyze your data and get faster, more accurate insights.
This new feature gives customers more control over their data analysis.
- Increased Flexibility: Customers can now use their preferred BI tools like Tableau and Power BI to create custom reports, rather than being limited to Looker.
- Improved Efficiency: The need for complex data exports or managing a separate database is eliminated. This saves time and reduces the risk of errors.
- Better Data Accuracy: Direct access ensures customers are always working with the most current and accurate data.
- Simplified Experience: Customers can easily integrate their data with their BI tools, avoiding technical complexities and manual workarounds.
Release
This feature will initially be available to current Customer SQL model customers. Before release, these customers will be prompted to identify 1 user to be set up as their Snowflake System Admin via direct customer communication [the deadline for providing the System Admin contact will be 2 weeks after initial contact].
BYOBI - Snowflake is scheduled to be released on July 30, 2026, to Current SQL customers, when the Auth0 feature will be available for these instances and necessary for Snowflake usage.
BYOBI vs. Legacy Direct SQL Access
| Feature | Legacy Direct SQL | BYOBI (Snowflake) |
|
Read-only raw data access |
Yes |
Yes |
|
VPN required |
Yes |
No |
|
Authentication |
No |
Yes, using Auth0. |
|
Python Support |
No |
Yes |
|
SQL Dialect |
MariaDB SQL |
Snowflake SQL |
|
Connect BI tools without VPN |
No |
Yes |
|
Self-service user management |
No |
Yes, the identified system admin for BYOBI will be able to create new users without submitting a support ticket. |
|
Custom roles & access controls |
No |
Yes, the identified system admin can define their own roles directly in Snowflake. |
|
Custom SQL views on raw tables |
No |
Yes, use custom views in conjunction with roles for more granular access controls. |
|
Snowflake usage visibility |
No |
Yes, via a new Looker model. |
|
Data latency |
Sub-second, as this is a direct replica of the production data. |
< 3 minutes |
|
Need to request certain fields to be added to direct SQL access |
Yes |
No |
|
Historical Data |
No, only shows current data. |
Yes, BYOBI retains the history of changes of a record from when the instance was set up. When translating the query, the user should filter for the current data. |
Action Items for Switching from Direct SQL to BYOBI
Before BYOBI Release
- Provide one system administrator who will administer the Snowflake BYOBI account. This person will have access to all data in the instance, so they should also be a system administrator in Clarity.
- Gather a list of users who have access to direct SQL data models now.
- Inventory any existing queries and processes that are being used in the direct SQL access (using MariaDB SQL), including exports to upload data to a BI tool.
- Research how to translate MariaDB SQL to Snowflake SQL syntax/dialect and create a validation plan.
During/Shortly After Release
- Confirm that the identified system administrator has access to Snowflake via Auth0.
- Set up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) on mobile or desktop per guidance regarding Auth0.
- Confirm that the Snowflake environment has your data.
- Create user accounts for all other users who have access to direct SQL data models.
- Translate existing queries from the identified inventory and validate results against MariaDB and Snowflake.
Post Release
- Connect any business intelligence tools directly to Snowflake. See the Connecting Your BI Tool to Clarity Data article.
- Consider:
- Explore access controls needed across your community and map out whether existing SQL access users still need full access.
- Map out custom roles to specific data sets or columns for the various access needs in your community.
- Create custom views and roles using Snowflake UI and provision them to users.
- Create a BI tool-specific user account.
- Continually monitor usage using the Snowflake Usage Model in Looker.
FAQ and other considerations
Is there a difference between how you query data in the legacy direct SQL vs. BYOBI?
Direct SQL access uses MariaDB SQL and BYOBI uses Snowflake SQL dialects. Snowflake SQL is generally more modern/standard. See the above comparison of Direct SQL vs. Snowflake.
Does BYOBI include historical data?
BYOBI retains historical data (changes to an existing record) from when the instance was set up. Any queries should filter for current data (unless specifically looking for changes over time).
Data Sharing/Security/Access and Having more than one system admin for BYOBI
Customers should be advised to consider their existing data sharing, consent, and user access policies when adding new users and custom roles in BYOBI. As with direct SQL access, the sysadmin of BYOBI can access all data in a given instance.
A community can identify more than one system admin for BYOBI. However, we ask that only one initially be identified for the rollout (the identified system admin can create their own users).
How to create custom roles
Create new views; refer to the Customer SQL Data Model article some important tables in the direct SQL access. Create a custom role with access to those views, and provision that role to the user. This could be done for customers who should only access certain agencies or counties in a given instance, or to restrict certain CREATE or other features to non-system-admin users (e.g., Data Analysts vs. a System Administrator with more access).
Can you use the Snowflake API with BYOBI?
Yes, please see Snowflake documentation on the API. The BYOBI account can be used for programmatic access to query their data. Auth0 and Key-Pair authentication are used for APIs.
Why am I being asked to register an MFA device when I log in?
Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) is now required for all users authenticating to Clarity, Snowflake, and approved third-party applications. On first sign-in after migration, users will be prompted to enroll, even if you’ve already set up MFA with a phone number when logging into Clarity.
Published: 05/29/2026