VOOZH about

URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/dynamics365-odata-sap-lumira.rst

⇱ Consume Dynamics 365 OData Feeds in SAP Lumira

Consume Dynamics 365 OData Feeds in SAP Lumira

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use the API Server to create data visualizations on Dynamics 365 feeds that reflect any changes in SAP Lumira.

You can use the CData API Server to create data visualizations based on Dynamics 365 data in SAP Lumira. The API Server enables connectivity to live data: dashboards and reports can be refreshed on demand. This article shows how to create a chart that is always up to date.

About Dynamics 365 Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Microsoft Dynamics 365 data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Read and write data in the full Dynamics 365 ecosystem: Sales, Customer Service, Finance & Operations, Marketing, and more.
  • Extend the native features of Dynamics CRM with customizable caching and intelligent query aggregation and separation.
  • Authenticate securely with Dynamics 365 in a variety of ways, including Azure Active Directory, Azure Managed Service Identity credentials, and Azure Service Principal using either a client secret or a certificate.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to manage their Dynamics 365 entities - listing, creating, and removing associations between entities.

CData customers use our Dynamics 365 connectivity solutions for a variety of reasons, whether they're looking to replicate their data into a data warehouse (alongside other data sources) or analyze live Dynamics 365 data from their preferred data tools inside the Microsoft ecosystem (Power BI, Excel, etc.) or with external tools (Tableau, Looker, etc.).


Getting Started


Set Up the API Server

If you have not already done so, download the CData API Server. Once you have installed the API Server, follow the steps below to begin producing secure Dynamics 365 OData services:

Connect to Dynamics 365

To work with Dynamics 365 data from SAP Lumira, we start by creating and configuring a Dynamics 365 connection. Follow the steps below to configure the API Server to connect to Dynamics 365 data:

  1. First, navigate to the Connections page.
  2. Click Add Connection and then search for and select the Dynamics 365 connection. 👁 Selecting a data source (SQLite is shown)
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Dynamics 365.

    Edition and OrganizationUrl are required connection properties. The Dynamics 365 connector supports connecting to the following editions: CustomerService, FieldService, FinOpsOnline, FinOpsOnPremise, HumanResources, Marketing, ProjectOperations and Sales.

    For Dynamics 365 Business Central, use the separate Dynamics 365 Business Central driver.

    OrganizationUrl is the URL to your Dynamics 365 organization. For instance, https://orgcb42e1d0.crm.dynamics.com

    👁 Connecting to a datasource (SQLite is shown)
  4. After configuring the connection, click Save & Test to confirm a successful connection.

Configure API Server Users

Next, create a user to access your Dynamics 365 data through the API Server. You can add and configure users on the Users page. Follow the steps below to configure and create a user:

  1. On the Users page, click Add User to open the Add User dialog.
  2. Next, set the Role, Username, and Privileges properties and then click Add User. 👁 Configure a new user
  3. An Authtoken is then generated for the user. You can find the Authtoken and other information for each user on the Users page: 👁 API Server user settings

Creating API Endpoints for Dynamics 365

Having created a user, you are ready to create API endpoints for the Dynamics 365 tables:

  1. First, navigate to the API page and then click Add Table . 👁 Add tables
  2. Select the connection you wish to access and click Next. 👁 Select the connection (SQLite is shown)
  3. With the connection selected, create endpoints by selecting each table and then clicking Confirm. 👁 Adding tables from the connection (SQLite is shown)

Gather the OData Url

Having configured a connection to Dynamics 365 data, created a user, and added resources to the API Server, you now have an easily accessible REST API based on the OData protocol for those resources. From the API page in API Server, you can view and copy the API Endpoints for the API:

👁 API Endpoints

Connect to Dynamics 365 from SAP Lumira

Follow the steps below to retrieve Dynamics 365 data into SAP Lumira. You can execute an SQL query or use the UI.

  1. In SAP Lumira, click File -> New -> Query with SQL. The Add New Dataset dialog is displayed.
  2. Expand the Generic section and click the Generic OData 2.0 Connector option.
  3. In the Service Root URI box, enter the OData endpoint of the API Server. This URL will resemble the following: 
    https://your-server:8080/api.rsc
  4. In the User Name and Password boxes, enter the username and authtoken of an API user. These credentials will be used in HTTP Basic authentication. 👁 The OData endpoint and HTTP Basic authentication configured for an API user.

  5. Select entities in the tree or enter an SQL query. This article imports Dynamics 365 GoalHeadings entities.

    👁 Available entities for import. (Salesforce is shown.)

  6. When you click Connect, SAP Lumira will generate the corresponding OData request and load the results into memory. You can then use any of the data processing tools available in SAP Lumira, such as filters, aggregates, and summary functions.

    👁 Tables of Dynamics 365 data to be imported into SAP Lumira. (Salesforce Accounts are shown.)

Create Data Visualizations

After you have imported the data, you can create data visualizations in the Visualize room. Follow the steps below to create a basic chart.

  1. In the Measures and Dimensions pane, drag measures and dimensions onto the x-axis and y-axis fields in the Visualization Tools pane. SAP Lumira automatically detects dimensions and measures from the metadata service of the API Server.

    By default, the SUM function is applied to all measures. Click the gear icon next to a measure to change the default summary.

  2. In the Visualization Tools pane, select the chart type.
  3. In the Chart Canvas pane, apply filters, sort by measures, add rankings, and update the chart with the current Dynamics 365 data. 👁 A basic line chart. (Salesforce is shown.)