What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Struan Mackay asked for the reference architecture to take to the data governance group. Hannah Lowe supplied it, and Struan accepted her offer to join a governance session, naming CRM and mailbox data as first sources.
Ask: Struan needed to show governance what BG-Demo deploys in the Snowflake account and how connectors authenticate. Hannah explained everything runs inside the account and offered Enterprise security review support.
Customer view: The diagram satisfied his information security colleague, and he wants Hannah in the governance session. "Nothing is decided yet", but he is scoping actively.
Next: Hannah to say what she needs from Struan beforehand and to confirm connector detail once the first sources are agreed.
The thread
Updated 9 Oct 26Messages
- Struan Mackay 14 Apr 2026 13:33Hi Hannah, Thanks for the time last week. I've been scoping where this would sit for us. Our Snowflake account is in a UK region, and the Society's data governance group will want to be sure nothing leaves it. Before I take it to them I'd like to see your reference architecture, so I can show them exactly what runs where. A few things I need to be clear on: - what BG-Demo deploys inside our account, and what stays outside it - how the connectors authenticate to the source systems - whether we would need a separate database or schema, or whether you work within one we already have We are looking at this for intermediary distribution and member services, so I'd expect the first sources to be the CRM and the mailbox data. Nothing is decided yet. I just need to know I'm describing it correctly. Regards, Struan
- Hannah Lowe 17 Apr 2026 08:18Hi Struan, Thanks for this. The reference architecture is attached, and I've copied Tom so he has it too. To take your questions in order. The short answer is that everything BG-Demo runs sits inside your Snowflake account, and that includes the UK region you've described. The longer answer is that we create our own database and schemas within your account, under roles you control, so the data is never copied out to a BG-Demo environment. The diagram marks that boundary, so your governance group can see it at a glance. On the connectors, to be precise, each one authenticates to its source system with credentials your team issues and can revoke. Which method applies depends on the system, and I'd rather not guess at that before we know your exact sources. I'll put the connector-by-connector detail in writing once you confirm the first two or three you'd want to start with. One other point: for Enterprise we support the security review directly, so your governance group will not be left to work through a questionnaire alone. If it helps, I can join a session with them. Thanks, Hannah
- Struan Mackay 20 Apr 2026 11:22Hi Hannah, That's helpful, and the diagram is clear. I've walked a colleague in our information security team through it and the boundary is what they wanted to see. The first sources we'd want to look at are the CRM and the mailbox data, as I said. A third would probably be the helpdesk, but I'd want to check with member services before committing to that. I'd take you up on joining a session with the governance group. They tend to ask questions the architecture alone doesn't answer, and I'd rather they heard it from you than from me second hand. Could you let me know what you would need from us beforehand, so I can get it ready? Thanks, Struan