Direct Database Use Guidelines as of July 2024

Supported 

Not Supported  

Read queries for data interrogation purposes  

Backup management. Automatic backups are included as part of the service  

Exporting data for analytics purposes (e.g. data lake, PowerBI)  

Customer instigated database restoration, e.g. in case of a failed customer update script – recovery may be chargeable  

Writing to databases, including (but not limited to) update scripts and data imports. Caveats apply for badly formed queries that affect service availability, performance, break core system logic, or consume excess resources  

Customising standard product database objects that may get overwritten as part of an update  

ODBC connections  

Modification of core system fields, or fields requiring business logic   

Integrations with products requiring direct database integration (Education Horizons  to be notified for approval and user account rights assignment)  

Database performance monitoring and tuning (e.g. SQL Profiler)  

Creating custom views (naming conventions will apply)  

Forensic log reviews  

School automation activities, including onboarding/offboarding 

Customer initiated database replication  

Creating new objects: views, stored procedures, functions, triggers. Naming conventions must be followed or custom objects may be deleted 

Database maintenance, e.g. maintenance plan creation, rebuilding indexes 

Backup file egress (subject to agreement and may be subject to fees) 

Database creation  

Database user management  

SQL Server configuration  

Alert creation  

SQL Server Reporting Services  

Server Registration  

Browse SSMS Object Hierarchy, SQL Query Analyzer access only