Create Reports from Azure Analysis Services Data in Looker Studio

Looker Studio, formerly known as Google Data Studio, empowers users to craft customized reports featuring data visualizations that can be shared with clients while reflecting your brand identity. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate cloud-to-cloud access to Azure Analysis Services data to create visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article provides step-by-step instructions on establishing a virtual database for Azure Analysis Services and generating reports from Azure Analysis Services data within Looker Studio.

CData Connect AI offers a seamless cloud-to-cloud interface tailored for Azure Analysis Services, making it straightforward to construct reports directly from live Azure Analysis Services data within Looker Studio without the need for data replication. As you create visualizations, Looker Studio generates queries to retrieve data. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported query operations, including filters, JOINs, and more, directly to Azure Analysis Services. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly provide the requested Azure Analysis Services data.

Configure Azure Analysis Services Connectivity for Looker Studio

Connectivity to Azure Analysis Services from Looker Studio is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Azure Analysis Services data from Looker Studio, 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 Looker Studio.

Visualize Live Azure Analysis Services Data from Looker Studio

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Looker Studio to create a new Azure Analysis Services data source and build a simple visualization from the data.

1. Log into Looker Studio, click data sources, create a new data source, and choose CData Connect AI Connector.
👁 Create a new connection in Looker Studio

2. Click Authorize and allow access to your Google account. 👁 Granting permissions to the Connector
   
3. Click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect AI instance 👁 Authenticating with CData Connect AI
   
4. In the CData Connect AI Connector in Looker Studio select Connections to import from the dropdown and click Next
👁 Importing from Connections

5. Now select a Connection (e.g. AAS1) and click Next 👁 Selecting a Connection
   
6. Select a Table (e.g. Customer) or use a Custom Query and click Connect to continue 👁 Selecting a Table
   
7. If needed, modify columns, click Create Report, and add the data source to the report.
👁 Configuring column definitions

8. Select a visualization style and add it to the report.
9. Select Dimensions and Measures to customize your visualization.
👁 Visualizing Azure Analysis Services data in Looker Studio

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 Looker Studio workbook. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Azure Analysis Services data.

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