We’ve upgraded our previous Fivetran Log connector with expanded functionality — and a brand new name: Meet the Fivetran Platform Connector. 

The Fivetran Platform Connector remains a free Fivetran feature but now includes robust, connector-level metadata on data changes, in addition to the detailed logging and usage information already available for monitoring connectors or spending.

The Fivetran Platform Connector is the primary way we communicate technical information with our customers and is designed to solve auditing and monitoring use cases like overseeing users and access, drawing data lineage, troubleshooting data pipelines and tracking usage. 

Every time you set up a destination, a Platform Connector is automatically created and begins syncing metadata and logs. 

Metadata sharing via the Fivetran Platform Connector

The biggest update to the Platform Connector is the addition of detailed metadata, giving Fivetran customers enhanced clarity over all data moved through Fivetran to unlock compliance auditing, instill confidence during data use and streamline root cause analysis.

Metadata provides critical context to data, including where it came from, where it landed, who accessed it and when. Now you can track metadata on all data moved with Fivetran, including complete source to destination data lineage. 

Note: Fivetran metadata was previously available through the Metadata API. We have since deprecated the Metadata API and moved metadata sharing to the Platform Connector. 

The context provided by metadata creates more clarity around moved data, which unlocks more effective and efficient usage. For example, data users can leverage data alongside a lineage graph to understand where their datasets came from and who manages the source, instilling confidence that they’re working with the right data (production vs. dummy data) and clarifying who to direct questions to along the way.

Note: Fivetran also integrates directly with all the top data cataloging platforms, including Alation, Collibra, Atlan, data.world, Monte Carlo and more. Users on the Enterprise or Business Critical plan can also leverage external logging services. 

Streamline auditing and compliance 

Compliance auditing requires a record of changes made to your data over time, along with the source of the changes, to ensure the organization’s data is safe, secure, usable and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. 

In addition to providing context about your data, the Fivetran Platform Connector enables customers to comply with these integral audits. Fivetran provides a record of access and detailed logs about actions or changes made to the system via the Fivetran Platform Connector to your destination or data catalog.

Use the Fivetran Platform connector to track metadata on all data moved with Fivetran, including complete source to destination data lineage and schema change history. For example, you can mark and classify data for SOX compliance so you know exactly where the data came from. Utilize this record to show the source of your data, users who have access to it, what actions have been taken and by whom (tables or columns added) and its final destination.

Note: Certain metadata, including schema change history and column-level lineage are only available on our Enterprise and Business Critical plans. Audit trails coming soon!

Oversee user access and activity  

The Fivetran Platform Connector provides information on users and their actions in the Fivetran Platform to ensure you’re always aware and in control of who’s accessing your data and the actions they’re taking. 

Providing the wrong users with the wrong permissions opens significant risk to the company and its data. For example, if a user is accidentally granted administrator permissions or access to a highly sensitive source, they could inadvertently or even intentionally expose sensitive information (by rerouting a connection to the wrong destination) or modify an account’s security settings (turning off SAML or modifying authentication procedures). 

User access metadata includes: 

• a log of all users 
• when they were added
• what they have access to 
• if their permissions were changed 
• what they have accessed 

Leverage this provided metadata to fully track user access and actions to ensure appropriate data handling. 

Troubleshoot and monitor connections

To support monitoring, the Fivetran Platform Connector provides detailed logs about syncs, transformation runs and errors or warnings that occur during these processes. 

Use the Fivetran Platform Connector to access more granular information than is available in the UI to support more in-depth or advanced use cases. Go deeper on issues like errors or warnings to perform root cause analysis, drill into the events occurring in and around the sync (down to table-level in some cases), monitor anomalies or changes in these steps to make performance optimizations and track changes in records over the sync or over time. 

For example, schema changes can cause unexpected connector behaviors, like increases in sync duration which may cause a delay, impact downstream processes or cause data to be missing – having access to this information helps you identify why the anomalies occurred. 

Optimize and track billing and usage

Lastly, the Fivetran Platform Connector provides information about the account’s usage and billing. Leverage this data with your business intelligence tool for enhanced spend monitoring, enabling you to visualize and cut usage data by source, destination, table, time period or another dimension that makes sense to your business. 

You could even use this data to set up alerts around usage to track against your set budget, allocate usage cost to specific internal teams or investigate MAR spikes. 

Note: Browse our sample queries for inspiration on how to put your log data to work!

Accelerate metadata analysis with Quickstart data models

Take your monitoring capabilities to the next level faster than ever with our free Quickstart data models for the Fivetran Platform Connector.

Quickstart data models are dbt Core™-compatible data models for our most popular connectors. The big advantage? You can transform your data without building out your own dbt project. 

With a few button clicks, Fivetran creates the dbt project and orchestrates the transformations for you. You can then view, edit and delete each transformation from your Transformations dashboard. All without affecting your Fivetran consumption.

Our Quickstart data models for the Fivetran Platform Connector produce staging models which clean, test and prepare your log data for analysis. 

These models help you better understand how you’re using your Fivetran spend and how your connectors are performing by enriching your log data with valuable, analysis-ready context. 

Data synced from the Fivetran Platform Connector displays:

• Consumption data at the table, connector, destination and account levels
• A comprehensive history of free and paid MAR
• History of vital daily events for each connector
• Audit logs of records inserted, deletes and updates in each table during connector syncs 
• Log of user-triggered actions across your Fivetran instance

If you’re already a Fivetran customer, add the free Fivetran Platform Connector from your Fivetran dashboard to start logging today! 

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