Direct Data Access (DDA) gives you a near-real-time read replica of your Blackboard LMS database — support staff can troubleshoot issues, academic staff can pull adoption/usage data, and leadership can query real data for ROI decisions, all without touching production. It's included with SaaS Advantage, and may be available as an add-on for some SaaS Plus customers.
Access to the DDA database is secured to IP-restricted addresses: both the data and the connection are encrypted, and the read-replica database only accepts connections from allow-listed IPs. You'll also need a DB client or tool that supports connecting over PostgreSQL with SSL.
This is a backend integration feature rather than an in-product admin setting, so whitelisting a new IP isn't something you configure yourself in the Administrator Panel — it's set up as part of provisioning/managing your DDA access.
For more information: Direct Data Access