Visualize Live Act CRM Data in Power BI (via CData Connect AI)

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get access to Act CRM data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to use CData Connect to create a live connection to Act CRM, connect to Act CRM data from Power BI and then create reports on Act CRM data in Power BI.

Configure Act CRM Connectivity for Power BI

Connectivity to Act CRM from Power BI is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Act CRM data from Power BI, we start by creating and configuring a Act CRM connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection

2. Select "Act CRM" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Act CRM.

   The and properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Act! user credentials. In addition to the authentication values, see the following:

   • Connecting to Act! Premium

     In addition to the authentication values, the to Act! is also required; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/.

     Additionally, you must specify the you will connect to. This is found by going to the About Act! Premium menu of your account, at the top right of the page, in the ? menu. Use the Database Name in the window that appears.

   • Connecting to Act! Premium Cloud

     To connect to your Act! Premium Cloud account, you also need to specify the property. This property is found in the URL address of the Cloud account; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/ActCloudName/.

   Note that retrieving ActCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you set the property to store the metadata locally.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Act CRM Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Act CRM data from Power BI.

Query Act CRM Tables

Follow the steps below to build a query to pull Act CRM data into the report:

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect AI and click "Connect"
2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect AI account 👁 Authenticating with Connect AI
   
3. After signing in, click "Connect" 👁 Connecting to Connect AI
   
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog 👁 The available tables. (Salesforce tables are shown)
   
5. Click Load to establish the connection to your Act CRM data from Power BI

Create Act CRM Data Visualizations

After connecting to the data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view by dragging fields from the Fields pane onto the canvas. Select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize along with the chart type.

Click Refresh to synchronize your report with any changes to the data.

Live Access to Act CRM Data from Data Applications

With CData Connect AI you have a direct connection to Act CRM data from Power BI. You can import more data, create new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Act CRM data.

To get SQL data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including Act CRM) directly from your on-premise BI, reporting, ETL and other data applications, visit the CData Connect AI page and start a free trial.