Import Epicor Kinetic Data into the Power BI Service for Visualizations

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get access to Epicor Kinetic data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Epicor Kinetic in CData Connect AI, publish a dataset from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI Service and then create reports on Epicor Kinetic data in the Power BI service.

Configure Epicor Kinetic Connectivity for Power BI Service

Connectivity to Epicor Kinetic from Power BI Service is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Epicor Kinetic data from Power BI Service, 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
   

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Epicor Kinetic data from the Power BI service.

Publish a Dataset from Power BI Desktop

Once you connect to Epicor Kinetic in Connect AI, you can create a dataset in Power BI desktop and publish the dataset to the Power BI service.

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect AI and click "Connect"
2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect AI account 👁 Authenticating with Connect AI
   
3. After signing in, click "Connect" 👁 Connecting to Connect AI
   
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog 👁 The available tables. (Salesforce tables are shown)
   
5. Click Load to establish the connection to your Epicor Kinetic data from Power BI
6. Define any relationships between the selected entities on the Relationships tab.
7. Click Publish (from the Home menu) and select a Workspace.

Build Reports and Dashboards on Epicor Kinetic Data in the Power BI Service

Now that you have published a dataset to the Power BI service, you can create new reports and dashboards based on the published data:

1. Log in to PowerBI.com.
2. Click Workspaces and select a workspace.
3. Click Create and select Report.
4. Select the published dataset for the report. 👁 Select a dataset
   
5. Choose fields and visualizations to add to your report. 👁 Visualizing Epicor Kinetic data in the Power BI service
   

Live Access to Epicor Kinetic Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Epicor Kinetic data from the Power BI service. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Epicor Kinetic data.

To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect AI.