Accessing Your Data Using Business Intelligence (BI) Connectors

⚠️ Deprecation Notice: The BI Connector feature has officially entered deprecated status and is scheduled for End of Life (EOL) on September 1, 2026.

Customers with Existing Views: Unqork remains fully committed to supporting current configurations through the EOL date. Customer Advocacy Managers will contact you directly to discuss alternative solutions and coordinate migration plans.

Alternative Solutions: Unqork is no longer accepting new requests for BI Connector views. For alternative methods of extracting data, consult the guides on Data Extraction in Unqork, Bulk Data Operations: Export, and Snowflake Datashare.

Unqork applications capture a large amount of data as end-users interact with them. From submission data to user activity to metadata, this volume of data can be overwhelming. When arranged in a digestible format, it becomes actionable for business decisions. Organizations looking to aggregate this data can connect their MySQL databases to a BI (Business Intelligence) tool.

For example, the MySQL database connector for BI is software that translates SQL queries to MySQL queries, providing actionable BI from the connected data. Unqork can configure a database connection to a Production environment. These connections create SQL-like views that work with popular BI tools and any other tool that handles ODBC (Open Database Connectivity).

How to Set Up MySQL Connections for BI

Unqork sets up the MySQL connector for you, so you only need to provide information to Unqork.

Setup

To enable MySQL connectors for your organization, submit a request at support.unqork.com. Unqork will follow up with a brief configuration form to collect your desired database views and  allowlist specifications. A separate form is required for each environment where the connector is requested.

Note: If you anticipate NULL values or empty arrays, notify Unqork.

After you provide the form, Unqork sets up your connection and any views you request. Send Unqork a password of your choosing using SendSafely. You can rotate these credentials on a preferred cadence. If you decide to change the password later, submit a support ticket at support.unqork.com. When that is complete, you can connect your chosen BI tool to MySQL.

Note: You need at least one View available before connecting your BI tool.

The last step is to validate your Views to confirm you have everything you need.

Learn more: For information on connecting MySQL to a compatible BI tool, see the Microsoft Power Query MySQL connector documentation.

Testing

Unqork configures the connectors for each environment. Connection testing can occur before a production deployment. To test data, ensure that lower environments have comprehensive and quality data.

Note: Unqork requires an allowlist for lower environments to perform testing in them. All changes must be promoted sequentially through lower environments.

When testing, consider the following:

• It is your responsibility to determine if connections were established.

• Connectors are a SQL-like layer on top of your data. They are not a database. If you need to perform complex manipulations, extract the data to your data warehouse and manipulate it inside your ecosystem.

• Don't set up connectors until configuration is stable.

• If an application update results in a change to the data model, the BI tool View might break. Notify your Unqork representative if you make major configuration changes after your initial launch.

• All fields that you want to extract must have values in the submission data.

• VPN for data transfer is not supported.

• When BI Views update, validate the potential impact on connected downstream BI tools. Update downstream BI tools at the same time Unqork updates BI Views.

Note: If you need to make any updates to your Views after launch, submit a support ticket at support.unqork.com and complete and attach the BI Connector View Creation or Update Request Form. Contact your Unqork representative if you need access to the form.