Access Live Azure Analysis Services Data in Excel (Desktop) through Connect Spreadsheets

Microsoft Excel is a widely used spreadsheet software application, primarily used for tasks related to data management, analysis, and visualization. When combined with Connect Spreadsheets by CData, 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 Connect Spreadsheets and access live Azure Analysis Services data in Excel spreadsheets.

Connect Spreadsheets is the easiest way to get all your live data into Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets - no more downloading, wrangling, and uploading files again. Just connect to your data, select the dataset you'd like to see, and import it into your spreadsheet.

Configure Azure Analysis Services Connectivity for Excel

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

1. Log into Connect Spreadsheets, click Connections and 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 Create & 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 Connect Spreadsheets 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 Connect Spreadsheets and install the Add-in. 👁 Install the Add-In
   
4. Click Data and open the CData Connect Spreadsheets Add-In.
5. In the Add-In panel, click "Log in" to authenticate with your Connect Spreadsheets account 👁 Authorizing the Add-In
   
6. In the Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel, click Import 👁 Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel
   
7. Choose a Connection (e.g. AAS1), Table (e.g. Customer), and Columns to import 👁 Connect Spreadsheets panel in Excel
   
8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit 👁 Choosing a Connection, Table, and Columns
   
9. Click Execute to import the data and opt to overwrite the existing sheet or create a new one. 👁 Executing the Query
   

Live Access to Azure Analysis Services Data from Spreadsheet Apps

New, 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 Connect Spreadsheets and get real-time data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from Microsoft Excel.