Question 1

What problem does gridmap solve?

Accepted Answer

Reports depend on mapping tables and reference data that usually live in scattered Excel files, hardcoded SQL and people’s heads. gridmap keeps them in one place with access control, a change history and an API, so they stay correct and you can see who changed what.

Question 2

How is gridmap different from managing data in Excel?

Accepted Answer

A spreadsheet has no audit trail, no row-level access control and no API. gridmap has typed columns, a change log for every row, permissions down to the row, and a lookup API your pipelines can call.

Question 3

What happens when a new source value appears that isn't mapped yet?

Accepted Answer

The next sync picks it up and marks it unmapped, or AI suggests a mapping straight away if auto-mapping is on. It shows up on your dashboard and in notifications instead of silently breaking a report.

Question 4

Who in my organization should use gridmap?

Accepted Answer

Controllers and data managers who own the numbers, and the data engineers who use the reference data downstream. Access control lets each group manage only what they should.

Question 5

How does row-level security work, and why does it matter for reference data?

Accepted Answer

Each user sees only the rows they are allowed to, inside the same registry: the controller in Falun sees Falun’s rows and nobody else’s. There are no filtered copies to drift out of sync. You link a control registry that says who may see which values, and gridmap filters every read and write by it. The control registry can be synced from your data warehouse on a schedule.

Question 6

Can we track changes for compliance and audit purposes?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every create, update and delete of a value or row is logged with the old value, the new value, the user and the time. Deleted rows can be restored until an admin removes them for good, and the activity log can be searched, filtered and exported to CSV.

Question 7

Does gridmap replace our data warehouse?

Accepted Answer

No, it works alongside it. gridmap reads source values from Snowflake, SQL Server, BigQuery, PostgreSQL or Microsoft Fabric to detect changes, and serves the approved mappings back to your pipelines, BI tools and ETL jobs over a REST API.

Question 8

Can we run gridmap from Claude Code or our pipelines?

Accepted Answer

Yes. gridmap is an MCP server for Claude Code and other AI tools, and has a REST API for pipelines and scripts. With a manage key they can create gridmaps and registries, sync them, map values, run AI mapping, set schedules and grant access. The key has the same permissions as the person who created it, and every change it makes shows up in the activity log, marked MCP or API.

Question 9

Can our data stay in our own database?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on the Enterprise plan. gridmap keeps your values, registry rows, history and audit trail in your own PostgreSQL database, keeps no copy of them itself, and stores only configuration: users, the structure of your gridmaps and registries, and access rules. Your admin adds the database under Targets, gridmap moves the data over and checks it, and you can move it back at any time.

Question 10

How do we get started?

Accepted Answer

Contact us and we set up your organization with a free license that never expires. It includes one gridmap for two users: enough to connect a database or import a spreadsheet and map your first values. Registries and AI mapping come with the paid plans.