Access Live Azure Analysis Services Data in Excel (Desktop) via Connect AI

Microsoft Excel is a widely used spreadsheet software application, primarily used for tasks related to data management, analysis, and visualization. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate access to Azure Analysis Services data directly within Excel, facilitating data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more.This article shows how to connect to Azure Analysis Services in your Connect AI instance and access live Azure Analysis Services data in Excel spreadsheets.

CData Connect AI provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Azure Analysis Services, allowing you to easily access live Azure Analysis Services data in Excel for the web. Simply use the Connect AI Add-In to query live data (or write your own). Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported query operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Azure Analysis Services, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Azure Analysis Services data.

Configure Azure Analysis Services Connectivity for Excel

Connectivity to Azure Analysis Services from Excel is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Azure Analysis Services data from Excel, we start by creating and configuring a Azure Analysis Services connection.

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

2. Select "Azure Analysis Services" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Azure Analysis Services.

   To connect to Azure Analysis Services, set the Url property to a valid server, for instance, asazure://southcentralus.asazure.windows.net/server, in addition to authenticating. Optionally, set Database to distinguish which Azure database on the server to connect to.

   Azure Analysis Services uses the OAuth authentication standard. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with Azure Analysis Services using the browser. You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. See the Help documentation for more information.

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

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Azure Analysis Services data from Excel.

Access Live Azure Analysis Services Data in Excel

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Excel to access live Azure Analysis Services data.

1. Open Excel, create a new sheet (or open an existing one).
2. Click Insert and click Get Add-ins. (if you have already installed the Add-In, jump to step 4).
3. Search for CData Connect AI Add-In and install the Add-in. 👁 Install the Add-In
   
4. Click Data and open the CData Connect AI Add-In.
5. In the Add-In panel, click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect AI instance 👁 Authorizing the Add-In
   
6. In the CData Connect AI panel in Excel, click Import 👁 CData Connect AI panel in Excel
   
7. Choose a Connection (e.g. AAS1), Table (e.g. Customer), and Columns to import 👁 CData Connect AI panel in Excel
   
8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit 👁 Choosing a Connection, Table, and Columns
   
9. Click Execute to import the data 👁 Executing the Query
   

Live Access to Azure Analysis Services Data from Cloud Applications

Now, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Azure Analysis Services data from your Excel workbook. You can add more data to your workbook for calculations, aggregations, collaboration, and more.

Try CData Connect AI and get real-time data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.