Use the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Target in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Target, you gain database-like access to live Adobe Target data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding Adobe Target as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of Adobe Target data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Adobe Target data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Adobe Target, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Adobe Target and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze Adobe Target data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Adobe Target as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Adobe Target follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

To connect to Adobe Target, you must provide the Tenant property along with OAuth connection properties mentioned below. Note that while other connection properties can influence processing behavior, they do not affect the ability to connect.

To determine your Tenant name:

1. Log in to Adobe Experience. The URL will look similar to: "https://experience.adobe.com/#/@mycompanyname/preferences/general-section".
2. Extract the value after the "/#/@". In this example, it is "mycompanyname".
3. Set the Tenant connection property to that value.

User Accounts (OAuth)

You must set AuthScheme to OAuthClient for all user account flows.

Note: Adobe authentication via OAuth requires updating your token every two weeks.

All Applications

CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies OAuth authentication. Alternatively, you can create a custom OAuth application. Review Creating a Custom OAuth App in the Help documentation for more information.

Obtaining the OAuth Access Token

Set the following properties to connect:

• InitiateOAuth: Set to GETANDREFRESH to automatically perform the OAuth exchange and refresh the OAuthAccessToken as needed.
• OAuthClientId : Set to the client Id assigned when you registered your app.
• OAuthClientSecret : Set to the client secret assigned when you registered your app.
• CallbackURL : Set to the redirect URI defined when you registered your app. For example: https://localhost:3333

With these settings, the provider obtains an access token from Adobe Target, which it uses to request data. The OAuth values are stored in the location specified by OAuthSettingsLocation, ensuring they persist across connections.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Target in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData AdobeTarget Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Target
Description = My Description
Tenant = mycompanyname
InitiateOAuth = GETANDREFRESH

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize Adobe Target Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting Adobe Target in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to Adobe Target in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add Adobe Target data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of Adobe Target data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData AdobeTarget Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
👁 Creating a new data source for Adobe Target.

6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the Adobe Target data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM Activities
   

   👁 Querying Adobe Target for data.
   NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Adobe Target data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Adobe Target, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver. 👁 Visualize Adobe Target data.
   
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Target in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Adobe Target data. Read our other articles on connecting to Adobe Target in MicroStrategy and connecting to Adobe Target in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.