Pentaho’s Platform Extensions are widely recognized for their value in embedded analytics, providing a robust framework for integrating Pentaho into larger solutions. However, their impact extends far beyond embedding. These powerful extensions help enterprises simplify reporting, enforce access control, and manage multi-tenant environments with greater efficiency. 

What Are Platform Extensions? 

Pentaho’s Data Integration Enterprise Edition Platform Extensions provide advanced security, multi-tenancy, and data access control capabilities, helping enterprises reduce administrative overhead while strengthening governance. Whether you’re simplifying role-based reporting or streamlining departmental data access, these extensions offer a clear path forward for Enterprise Edition customers. Together, these six core components automate access, enforce data security, and simplify user management: 

1. Automated Access Control (EXT-ContentAccess) – Enforces role-based access control across complex folder hierarchies, ensuring that users only see relevant content. 
2. Dynamic Data Connectivity (EXT-DynamicDataSources) – Dynamically directs users to the appropriate database based on their context at runtime, ensuring secure, role-aware data access. 
3. Row-Level Security (EXT-DynamicDataFiltering) – Applies dynamic SQL logic at runtime, restricting data access based on session variables and predefined rules, to ensure users see only relevant data, without duplicating reports or manually editing SQL. 
4. Smart Folder Management (EXT-HomeFolders) – Automatically creates home directories for applicable user roles, reducing manual setup and preventing unnecessary folders for read-only users. 
5.  Session-Based Security (EXT-SessionStartup) – Initializes the user session with essential security parameters, ensuring seamless integration with the other extensions and supporting single sign-on (SSO). 
6.  Flexible Authentication (EXT-SSO) – Provides enterprise-grade single sign-on (SSO) alongside standard authentication solutions (LDAP, SAML, CAS) while also accommodating custom authentication solutions. 
7.  How Different Customers Are Leveraging Platform Extensions 

 For Embedded Analytics & Software Vendors 

Organizations embedding Pentaho Business Analytics into their applications rely on these enterprise extensions to:
✅ Provide a seamless user experience inside their software
✅ Automate role-based access and multi-tenant security
✅ Customize the look and feel to match the host application
✅ Reduce development effort by handling security and access dynamically 

For Enterprises & Internal IT Teams 

Enterprise customers can benefit from these extensions by:
✅ Integrating SSO to unify authentication across platforms
✅ Ensuring secure multi-tenant access without duplicating reports
✅ Automating role-based access and content filtering
✅ Dynamically enforcing security without manual SQL logic 

Real-World Use Cases: How Platform Extensions Simplify Security and Access 

• Departmental Data Access: Adjusts queries dynamically to reflect user roles and departments, so only authorized users see relevant data – without manual query modifications. 

• Dynamic Role-Based Reporting: Enforces real-time access control and data filtering based on user attributes without duplicating reports or embedding static SQL logic. 

• Simplified Content Access: Streamlines role-based folder and content management, reducing administrative workload while maintaining strict security. 

In all these examples, the extensions automatically enforce policies and control, so administrators can rest easily, knowing that governance and access controls are being applied every time. This level of automation and corresponding confidence sets a strong foundation for organizations considering how to enable more people with AI-enabled analytic solutions and builds the trust that’s so important to both data decisions and AI efforts. 

Tying It All Together 

Pentaho’s flexible architecture allows these extensions to seamlessly integrate into both embedded applications and enterprise environments. Whether you need to embed dashboards, dynamically filter data, or automate multi-tenant security, these extensions provide a scalable, secure solution.