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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/dynamics365-tableau-desktop.rst

⇱ Visualize Live Dynamics 365 Data in Tableau

Visualize Live Dynamics 365 Data in Tableau

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use CData Tableau Connectors and Tableau Desktop to visualize live Dynamics 365 data.

Tableau is a visual analytics platform transforming the way businesses use data to solve problems. When paired with the CData Tableau Connector for Dynamics 365, you can easily get access to live Dynamics 365 data within Tableau. This article shows how to connect to Dynamics 365 in Tableau and build a simple chart.

The CData Tableau Connectors enable high-speed access to live Dynamics 365 data in Tableau. Once you install the connector, you simply authenticate with Dynamics 365 and you can immediately start building responsive, dynamic visualizations and dashboards. By surfacing Dynamics 365 data using native Tableau data types and handling complex filters, aggregations, & other operations automatically, CData Tableau Connectors grant seamless access to Dynamics 365 data.

NOTE: The CData Tableau Connectors require Tableau 2020.3 or higher. If you are using an older version of Tableau, you will need to use the CData JDBC Driver. If you wish to connect to Dynamics 365 data in Tableau Cloud, you will need to use CData Connect AI.

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


Connect to Dynamics 365 in Tableau

Open Tableau and click More under Connect -> To a Server. Select "Dynamics 365 by CData," then configure the connection and click "Sign In."

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

👁 Configuring the Connector (Sage Intacct is shown)

Discover Schemas and Query Data

  1. Select CData from the Database pull-down menu.
  2. Select Dynamics365 from the Schema pull-down menu.
  3. Drag the tables and views you wish to visualize onto the join area. You can include multiple tables. 👁 Selecting table(s)
  4. Select Update Now or Automatically Update. Update Now lets you preview the first 10,000 rows of the data source (or enter the number of rows you want to see in the Rows text box). Automatically Update automatically reflects the changes in the preview area.
  5. Click the tab for your worksheet. Columns are listed as Dimensions and Measures, depending on the data type. The CData Tableau Connector discovers data types automatically, allowing you to leverage the powerful data processing and visualization features of Tableau.
  6. Drag a field from the Dimensions or Measures area to Rows or Columns. Tableau creates column or row headers.
  7. Select one of the chart types from the Show Me tab. Tableau displays the chart type that you selected.
    8. 👁 Visualizing live Dynamics 365 data

Using the CData Tableau Connector for Dynamics 365 with Tableau, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Dynamics 365 data. Download a free, 30-day trial and get started today.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Dynamics 365 Tableau Connector to get started:

 Download Now

Learn more:

👁 Dynamics 365 Icon
Dynamics 365 Tableau Connector

The fastest and easiest way to connect Tableau to Dynamics 365 data. Includes comprehensive high-performance data access, real-time integration, extensive metadata discovery, and robust SQL-92 support.