Create Reports from Cosmos DB 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 Cosmos DB data to create visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article provides step-by-step instructions on establishing a virtual database for Cosmos DB and generating reports from Cosmos DB data within Looker Studio.

CData Connect AI offers a seamless cloud-to-cloud interface tailored for Cosmos DB, making it straightforward to construct reports directly from live Cosmos DB 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 Cosmos DB. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly provide the requested Cosmos DB data.

Configure Cosmos DB Connectivity for Looker Studio

Connectivity to Cosmos DB from Looker Studio is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Cosmos DB data from Looker Studio, we start by creating and configuring a Cosmos DB connection.

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

2. Select "Cosmos DB" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Cosmos DB.

   To obtain the connection string needed to connect to a Cosmos DB account using the SQL API, log in to the Azure Portal, select Azure Cosmos DB, and select your account. In the Settings section, click Connection String and set the following values:

   • AccountEndpoint: The Cosmos DB account URL from the Keys blade of the Cosmos DB account
   • AccountKey: In the Azure portal, navigate to the Cosmos DB service and select your Azure Cosmos DB account. From the resource menu, go to the Keys page. Find the PRIMARY KEY value and set AccountKey to this value.
   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Cosmos DB Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Cosmos DB data from Looker Studio.

Visualize Live Cosmos DB Data from Looker Studio

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Looker Studio to create a new Cosmos DB 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. CosmosDB1) and click Next 👁 Selecting a Connection
   
6. Select a Table (e.g. Customers) 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 Cosmos DB data in Looker Studio

Live Access to Cosmos DB Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Cosmos DB data from your Looker Studio workbook. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Cosmos DB 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.