# Tonic Structural User Guide

The Tonic Structural platform creates safe, realistic datasets to use in staging environments or for local development. The Structural web application, which includes the [Structural Agent](https://docs.tonic.ai/app/structural-agent/agent-about) AI chat, and the [Structural API](https://docs.tonic.ai/app/api/api-documentation) can be used by engineers, data analysts, or security experts.

Structural connects to source databases that contain sensitive data such as personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI). To protect that data, Structural transforms the sensitive values and then writes the transformed data to a destination location.

![Data flow from the source database through Tonic Structural to the destination database](https://3378426797-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-LSQCLFQ4bslJ-HYc8c3%2Fuploads%2FY6GHvOETiRptLMt0q7It%2Ftonic-overview-diagram.png?alt=media\&token=c650ef01-18fd-4e47-8f43-cbc31a7d552b)

New to Structural? Review the [Tonic Structural workflow overview](https://docs.tonic.ai/app/readme-1/tonic-workflows). For information on how to create a Structural account and start a Structural free trial, go to [quick-start-guide](https://docs.tonic.ai/app/quick-start-guide "mention").

Want to know what's in the latest Structural releases? Go to the [Tonic Structural release notes](https://www.tonic.ai/product-release-notes/structural).

The Structural application heading includes a feature updates icon, which displays a summary of the newest features, and includes a link to the Structural release notes.

<figure><img src="https://3378426797-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-LSQCLFQ4bslJ-HYc8c3%2Fuploads%2FVq4m0gKfXwFg6RLN4eln%2FFeatureAnnouncementsIcon.png?alt=media&#x26;token=4fc23ab0-b13d-4bcd-90a2-3df6aa85cb95" alt=""><figcaption><p>Feature updates icon</p></figcaption></figure>

## Connect to your data

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Workspaces</strong></td><td>A workspace contains the data connections and data generation configuration.</td><td></td><td><a href="workspace/managing-workspaces">managing-workspaces</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Data connectors</strong></td><td>Each data connector allows Structural to read from and write to a specific type of data source.</td><td></td><td><a href="setting-up-your-database/database-connectors">database-connectors</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

## Configure and generate transformed data

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Privacy Hub</strong></td><td>View and update the current protection status based on the sensitivity scan and workspace configuration.</td><td></td><td><a href="generation/privacy-hub">privacy-hub</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Database View</strong></td><td>Configure transformation options for tables and columns.</td><td></td><td><a href="generation/database-view">database-view</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Generators</strong></td><td>A generator is assigned to a column and performs a data transformation.</td><td></td><td><a href="generation/generators">generators</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Subsetting</strong></td><td>Configure a subset of source data to include in the transformed destination data.</td><td></td><td><a href="generation/subsetting">subsetting</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Generate data</strong></td><td>Run the data generation process to produce transformed destination data.</td><td></td><td><a href="workflows/data-generation-run-job">data-generation-run-job</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Schema changes</strong></td><td>Review and address changes to the source data schema.</td><td></td><td><a href="generation/schema-changes">schema-changes</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

## Manage a self-hosted Tonic Structural instance

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>User access</strong></td><td>Manage who has access to your instance.</td><td></td><td><a href="admin/tonic-user-access">tonic-user-access</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Monitoring and logging</strong></td><td>Monitor Structural services and share logs with Tonic.ai.</td><td></td><td><a href="admin/tonic-monitoring-logging">tonic-monitoring-logging</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Updating Structural</strong></td><td>Upgrade to the latest version of Structural.</td><td></td><td><a href="admin/updating-tonic">updating-tonic</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

To check the current operational status of Structural Cloud, go to [status.tonic.ai](https://status.tonic.ai).

Need help with Structural? Contact <support@tonic.ai>.