How to integrate Metabase with Blackbaud FE NXT Data

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect AI, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live Blackbaud FE NXT data. This article describes how to connect to Blackbaud FE NXT and build a simple visualization using Blackbaud FE NXT data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Blackbaud FE NXT, allowing you to easily integrate with live Blackbaud FE NXT data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Blackbaud FE NXT, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Blackbaud FE NXT data.

Configure Blackbaud FE NXT Connectivity for Metabase

Connectivity to Blackbaud FE NXT from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Blackbaud FE NXT data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a Blackbaud FE NXT connection.

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

2. Select "Blackbaud FE NXT" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Blackbaud FE NXT.

   Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, create an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties.

   See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

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

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
   
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Blackbaud FE NXT data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect AI from Metabase

After creating the connection in Connect AI, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect AI.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab 👁 Adding a new database connection to Metabase.
   
2. Configure the connection to Connect AI and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "Blackbaud FE NXT (Connect AI)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. FinancialEdgeNXT1)
   • Username: A Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Password: The PAT previously created
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)
   👁 Configuring the connection to Connect AI.
   

Execute Blackbaud FE NXT Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect AI, you can query Blackbaud FE NXT and build visualizations.

1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the Blackbaud FE NXT data 👁 Click the 'Write SQL' button.
   
2. Write a SQL query based on the Blackbaud FE NXT connection in CData Connect AI, e.g.
   
   

   SELECT AccountId, AccountNumber FROM Accounts

   👁 Collected data (Salesforce is shown).
   
3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization 👁 Collected data (Salesforce is shown).
   

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have built a simple visualization from Blackbaud FE NXT data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live Blackbaud FE NXT data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to Blackbaud FE NXT (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Blackbaud FE NXT data in Metabase today.