Use the CData ODBC Driver for Harvest in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Harvest, you gain database-like access to live Harvest data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding Harvest as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of Harvest data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Harvest data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Harvest, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Harvest and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze Harvest data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Harvest as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Harvest follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Harvest Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Harvest.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Harvest (see below).

Harvest API Profile Settings

To authenticate to Harvest, you can use either Token authentication or the OAuth standard. Use Basic authentication to connect to your own data. Use OAuth to allow other users to connect to their data.

Using Token Authentication

To use Token Authentication, set the APIKey to your Harvest Personal Access Token in the ProfileSettings connection property. In addition to APIKey, set your AccountId in ProfileSettings to connect.

Using OAuth Authentication

First, register an OAuth2 application with Harvest. The application can be created from the "Developers" section of Harvest ID.

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

• ProfileSettings: Set your AccountId in ProfileSettings.
• AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
• OAuthClientId: Set this to the client ID that you specified in your app settings.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client secret that you specified in your app settings.
• CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI that you specified in your app settings.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage how the driver obtains and refreshes the OAuthAccessToken.

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.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Harvest in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData API Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Harvest
Description = My Description
Profile = C:\profiles\Harvest.apip
ProfileSettings = 'APIKey = my_personal_key
AccountId = _your_account_id'

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize Harvest Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting Harvest in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to Harvest in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add Harvest data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of Harvest data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData API Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
👁 Creating a new data source for Harvest.

6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the Harvest data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM Invoices
   

   👁 Querying Harvest for data.
   NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Harvest data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Harvest, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver. 👁 Visualize Harvest data.
   
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for Harvest in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Harvest data. Read our other articles on connecting to Harvest in MicroStrategy and connecting to Harvest in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.