For IT, security and data teams reviewing Harmonize MCP Server before rollout.
In short: a hosted, read-only MCP server. Users sign in with their work account through Auth0. Every request stays within your organization's data. No free-form SQL, no transaction-level export.
How a question is answered
|
Step |
What happens |
|---|---|
|
1. Ask |
An authorized user asks a question in an approved AI assistant. |
|
2. Structured request |
Subject to the AI platform's controls, the assistant selects an approved Harmonize capability and sends a structured request. |
|
3. Authenticate and scope |
Auth0 authenticates the user and issues an OAuth token. Harmonize validates it and establishes the permitted client scope. |
|
4. Compute and return |
Harmonize validates the request against the governed catalog, runs the read-only query, and returns a query-limited result for presentation. |
Harmonize exposes a small set of read-only analytics tools: metric discovery, term lookup, metric queries and period comparisons, and BIN reference.
What it does and doesn't do
It does
-
Answer questions about approval rates, fees and interchange, effective rates, refunds and disputes
-
Explain metrics using governed business definitions
-
Break results down by processor, card brand, channel, merchant hierarchy and period
-
Compare periods: month over month, year over year
-
Look up issuer and card attributes for a BIN
It doesn't
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Change anything. It is read-only against your Harmonize data and configuration
-
Accept free-form SQL. Every query comes from the governed catalog
-
Export transactions. Results are query-limited summaries, not records
-
Move money or change anything in another system
Supported AI tools
|
Tool |
Status |
How you connect |
Network note |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Claude (claude.ai and Claude Desktop) |
Available |
Custom connector. An organization owner adds it once; each user signs in. |
Calls from Anthropic's cloud. No network change. |
|
ChatGPT |
Available |
Custom MCP app. A workspace admin creates it once; each user signs in. |
Calls from OpenAI's cloud. No network change. |
|
Cursor |
Available |
Remote server config. Add the server in Cursor; sign in when the browser opens. |
Calls from the user's machine. Allow outbound HTTPS to the MCP host. |
|
Microsoft 365 Copilot |
Coming soon |
Federated connector submission in progress. |
Calls from Microsoft's cloud. |
Ready to connect? See the MCP Setup Guide.
Security
Auth0-authenticated, client-scoped, query-limited and operationally logged.
|
Area |
Detail |
|---|---|
|
Sign-in |
Auth0 authenticates each user through OpenID Connect and issues OAuth access tokens that expire per the configured security policy. Access can be disabled through the identity provider or by Optimized Payments. |
|
Client isolation |
Every request is kept within the client scope established by the verified token, with complementary controls at identity, request handling, query construction, execution validation and database access. |
|
Governed queries |
An AI application can invoke only the tools Harmonize exposes and authorizes. Harmonize builds each query from the governed metric catalog; there is no free-form SQL path. |
|
Data in scope |
Merchant-level payments analytics for your portfolio: sales and transaction volumes, refunds, fees and rates, authorization outcomes, disputes and chargebacks. |
|
Logging |
Operational and security logs support monitoring, troubleshooting and audit, and are designed to exclude business content and sensitive values. Analytics result sets are not persisted outside the governed data platform. |
|
Hosting |
Managed Microsoft Azure environments, with Snowflake as the governed analytics data platform. External connections are protected with TLS. |
Shared responsibilities
|
Optimized Payments |
Your organization |
|---|---|
|
Operates Harmonize MCP and maintains the service-level access, data-protection and security controls described here and in the setup guide. |
Selects and manages its approved AI platform, approves authorized users, and uses the service in line with its own security policies, agreements and permitted-data requirements. |
AI platform data handling: when Harmonize MCP is used through an AI assistant, the user's questions and returned results are handled by your selected AI platform and its service providers, under your configuration and agreement with them. Use an approved enterprise configuration that meets your data-handling requirements.
Company-level security program, compliance documentation and subprocessors: trust.optimizedpayments.com