Use the CData ODBC Driver for Jira Assets in MicroStrategy Desktop

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

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Jira Assets data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Jira Assets, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Jira Assets 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 Jira Assets data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Jira Assets as an ODBC Data Source

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

Jira Assets supports connecting and authenticating via the APIToken.

To generate an API token:

1. Log in to your Atlassian account.
2. Navigate to Security < Create and manage API Token < Create API Token.

Atlassian generates and then displays the API token.

After you have generated the API token, set these parameters:

• AuthScheme: APIToken.
• User: The login of the authenticating user.
• APIToken: The API token you just generated.

You are now ready to connect and authenticate to Jira Assets.

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 Jira Assets 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 JiraAssets Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Jira Assets
Description = My Description
User = MyUser
APIToken = myApiToken
Url = https://yoursitename.atlassian.net

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

Connect to and Visualize Jira Assets Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

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

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 Jira Assets data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM Objects
   

   👁 Querying Jira Assets 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 Jira Assets data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Jira Assets, 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 Jira Assets data.
   
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

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