How to integrate Metabase with Epicor Kinetic 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 Epicor Kinetic data. This article describes how to connect to Epicor Kinetic and build a simple visualization using Epicor Kinetic data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Epicor Kinetic, allowing you to easily integrate with live Epicor Kinetic 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 Epicor Kinetic, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Epicor Kinetic data.

Configure Epicor Kinetic Connectivity for Metabase

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

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

2. Select "Epicor Kinetic" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Epicor Kinetic.

   To successfully connect to your ERP instance, you must specify the following connection properties:

   • Url:the URL of the server hosting your ERP instance. For example, https://myserver.EpicorSaaS.com
   • ERPInstance: the name of your ERP instance.
   • User: the username of your account.
   • Password: the password of your account.
   • Service: the service you want to retrieve data from. For example, BaqSvc.

   In addition, you may also set the optional connection properties:

   • ApiKey: An optional key that may be required for connection to some services depending on your account configuration.
   • ApiVersion: Defaults to v1. May be set to v2 to use the newer Epicor API.
   • Company: Required if you set the ApiVersion to v2.
   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Epicor Kinetic 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 Epicor Kinetic 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. "Epicor Kinetic (Connect AI)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. EpicorERP1)
   • 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 Epicor Kinetic Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect AI, you can query Epicor Kinetic and build visualizations.

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

   SELECT CustNum, Company FROM Customers WHERE CompanyName = 'CompanyName'

   👁 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 Epicor Kinetic data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live Epicor Kinetic data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to Epicor Kinetic (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Epicor Kinetic data in Metabase today.