what about whitelisting an IP with inbound/outbound rules on the host and then connecting directly to the database remotely? Since TCP/IP is already enabled, this seems at least theoretically possible.

Could this be done remotely though? The individual who is doing the reporting/analysis isn't here locally and would need to be able to connect to the database remotely.

I'm assuming you're saying the user would need to remote into the machine where the DB is and then log in from there?

Is it possible to grant someone access to the SQL Server database directly for querying and more in-depth reporting/data analysis? I'd like to whitelist an IP and allow read only access to the database for an individual who does this kind of technical work. Is that something I could explore or am I ...