SAP Analytics Cloud is a cloud-based business intelligence platform. CData Connect AI creates a pure, cloud-to-cloud connection to Excel Online and can be used to generate an OData API (natively supported in Analytics Cloud) for Excel Online. By pairing SAP Analytics Cloud with CData Connect AI, you get true cloud-to-cloud connectivity to all of your SaaS and cloud-based Big Data and NoSQL sources — no need to migrate your data or write your integrations. Simply connect to Connect AI as you would any other OData service and get instant, consolidated access to all of your data.
In this article, we walk through connecting to Excel Online from SAP Analytics Cloud (through CData Connect AI) to create a model and build a simple dashboard.
Connect to Excel Online from SAP Analytics Cloud
To work with live Excel Online data in SAP Analytics Cloud, we need to connect to Excel Online from Connect AI, provide user access to
the connection, and create a Workspace for the Excel Online data.
Connect to Excel Online from Connect AI
CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.
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Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection
- Select "Excel Online" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Excel Online.
You can connect to a workbook by providing authentication to Excel Online and then setting the following properties:
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: Set this to the name or Id of the workbook.
If you want to view a list of information about the available workbooks, execute a query to the Workbooks view after you authenticate.
- : Set this to true if you are connecting to a workbook in a sandbox account. Otherwise, leave this blank to connect to a production account.
You use the OAuth authentication standard to authenticate to Excel Online. See the Getting Started section in the help documentation for a guide. Getting Started also guides you through executing SQL to worksheets and ranges.
👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
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Click Save & Test
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Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Excel Online 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.
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Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
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On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
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Give the PAT a name and click Create.
👁 Creating a new PAT
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The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.
Configure Excel Online Endpoints for SAP Analytics Cloud
After connecting to Excel Online, create a workspace for your desired table(s).
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Navigate to the Workspaces page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace).
👁 The Workspaces page.
👁 Adding a new Workspace.
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Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
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Select the Excel Online connection (e.g. ExcelOnline1) and click Next.
👁 Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
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Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm.
👁 Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
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Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}
With the connection, PAT, and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Excel Online data from SAP Analytics Cloud.
Create a Model of Excel Online Data in SAP Analytics Cloud
With the connection to Excel Online configured and the OData endpoint(s) created, we can create a Model for Excel Online data in SAP Analytics Cloud.
- Log into your Analytics Cloud instance and click Create -> Model from the menu.
- Choose "Get data from a datasource" and select "OData Services"
- Choose an existing connection to your Connect AI OData or Create a new one:
- Set Connection Name
- Set Data Service URL to the Base URL for your OData API: https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}
- Set Authentication Type to Basic Authentication
- Set User Name to the Connect AI user (e.g. [email protected])
- Set Password to the PAT for the above user
👁 Creating a new OData Services Connection
- Choose "Create a new query" and click Next
- Name the Execute, select an OData endpoint (like Test_xlsx_Sheet1) and click Next
👁 Choosing a Connect AI OData endpoint to query
- Drag the columns you wish to work with into the Selected Data workspace and click Create
👁 Selecting fields (columns) from the OData endpoint
- At this point, a Draft Data source is created; click the draft to finalize the model
- Perform any transformations, including creating calculated dimensions, location dimensions, and combining data sources, then click Create Model
👁 Finalizing the model
- Name your model and click OK
Build a Dashboard in SAP Analytics Cloud
With the model created, you are ready to create a dashboard in SAP Analytics Cloud based on Excel Online data.
- From the menu, click Create -> Story
- Click on SAP Analytics Template (this article uses the "Dashboard" template)
- Choose a layout and click Apply
- From the More menu, select a visualization to insert (Chart)
👁 Inserting a visualization
- Select a model to visualize
- Select a structure and the required Measures and Dimensions
- Save the store
👁 Saving the Story
More Information & Free Trial
Now, you have created a simple but powerful dashboard from live Excel Online data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Excel Online (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Excel Online data in SAP Analytics Cloud.
