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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/dynamicscrm-odbc-dundas-bi.rst

⇱ Build Dashboards with Dynamics CRM Data in Dundas BI

Build Dashboards with Dynamics CRM Data in Dundas BI

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Create dynamic dashboards and perform analytics based on Dynamics CRM data in Dundas BI.

The CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics CRM enables access to live data from Dynamics CRM under the ODBC standard, allowing you work with Dynamics CRM data in a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools and directly, using familiar SQL queries. This article shows how to connect to Dynamics CRM data as a generic ODBC Data Provider and create charts, reports, and dashboards based on Dynamics CRM data in Dundas BI.

About Dynamics CRM Data Integration

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

  • Read and write data in the Dynamics CRM 2011+ Services and Dynamics CRM Online.
  • Extend the native features of Dynamics CRM with customizable caching and intelligent query aggregation and separation.
  • Authenticate securely with Dynamics CRM 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.

CData customers use our Dynamics CRM 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 CRMa 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 CRM Data

  1. If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can configure the DSN using the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the Help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.

    The connection string options meet the authentication and connection requirements of different Dynamics CRM instances. To connect to your instance, set the User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, to valid Dynamics CRM user credentials and set the Url to a valid Dynamics CRM server organization root. Additionally, set the CRMVersion property to 'CRM2011+' or 'CRMOnline'. IFD configurations are supported as well; set InternetFacingDeployment to true.

    Additionally, you can provide the security token service (STS) or AD FS endpoint in the STSURL property. This value can be retrieved with the GetSTSUrl stored procedure. Office 365 users can connect to the default STS URL by simply setting CRMVersion.

    When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

  2. Open the Dundas BI interface, open the menu, and click New Data Connector. 👁 Adding a New Data Connector.
  3. Configure the Dundas BI Data Connector:
    • Name the Data Connector.
    • Select "ODBC generic" as the Data Provider.
    • Check the "Use System DSN" checkbox.
    • Select the appropriate System DSN.
    👁 Configure the Data Connector.

Add Dynamics CRM Data to a Dashboard

You are now ready to create a dashboard with Dynamics CRM data.

  1. Navigate to the Home page.
  2. Click Explore Data.
    3. 👁 Home > Explore Data
  3. Expand the appropriate Data Connector.
  4. Drag the relevant data from the Connector to the panel.
    • You can select an entire "table" to add, but you may need to remove Measures/Rows from the Metric Set to build an appropriate visualization. Alternatively, you can select only the fields you wish to include in the visualization.
    • With the fields selected, you can add any filters or conditions on the Measures and Rows, further customizing the visualization.
    5. 👁 Adding data from a Data Connector. (Salesforce is shown.)
  5. Click Re-visualize from the menu bar and select the appropriate visualization for the data.
    6. 👁 Displayed Data. (Salesforce is shown.)
  6. Click Add To New Dashboard to add the visualization to a new dashboard.
    7. 👁 Adding the Visualization to a Dashboard. (Salesforce is shown.)
  7. Configure the dashboard, creating dynamic visualizations of Dynamics CRM data. 👁 Sample Dashboard (Salesforce data is shown.)

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Dynamics CRM ODBC Driver to get started:

 Download Now

Learn more:

👁 Dynamics CRM Icon
Dynamics CRM ODBC Driver

The Dynamics CRM ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Dynamics CRM (OnPremise & Online) account data, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Dynamics CRM data like you would a database - read, write, and update Leads, Contacts, Opportunities, Accounts, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.