Connect to Power BI XMLA Data in RunMyProcess through Connect AI

Akorbi Digital RunMyProcess makes it easy to create applications for complex business applications, such as budget application and contract management. CData Connect AI creates a live connection to Power BI XMLA and can be used to generate an OData API (natively supported in RunMyProcess) for Power BI XMLA. By pairing RunMyProcess with CData Connect AI, you get true cloud-to-cloud connectivity to all your SaaS and cloud-based Big Data and NoSQL sources - no need to migrate your data or write your own integrations. Simply connect to Connect AI from RunMyProcess as you would any other REST service and get instant, live access to your Power BI XMLA data.

In this article, we walk through connecting to Power BI XMLA from CData Connect AI and accessing Power BI XMLA data through an OData feed in RunMyProcess.

Connect to Power BI XMLA from RunMyProcess

To work with live Power BI XMLA data in RunMyProcess, we need to connect to Power BI XMLA from Connect AI, provide user access to the connection, and create a Workspace for the Power BI XMLA data.

Connect to Power BI XMLA from Connect AI

CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

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

2. Select "Power BI XMLA" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Power BI XMLA.

   By default, use Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) to connect to Microsoft Power BI XMLA. Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) is Microsoft's multi-tenant, cloud-based directory and identity management service. It is user-based authentication that requires that you set AuthScheme to EntraID (formerly AzureAD).

   For more information on other authentication schemes, refer to the Help documentation.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Power BI XMLA 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.

Configure Power BI XMLA Endpoints for RunMyProcess

After connecting to Power BI XMLA, create a workspace for your desired table(s).

1. 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.
   
2. Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
3. Select the Power BI XMLA connection (e.g. PowerBIXMLA1) and click Next. 👁 Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
   
4. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm. 👁 Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
   
5. 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 Power BI XMLA data from RunMyProcess.

Retrieve Power BI XMLA Data from RunMyProcess DigitalSuite Studio

With the connection to Power BI XMLA and OData endpoints created, we are ready to add Power BI XMLA data to RunMyProcess for Retrieval.

Create a Provider

1. Log into RunMyProcess and open DigitalSuite Studio.
2. Click Resources to bring up the Resources page, then select then the CONNECTORS tab. 👁 Connectors page
   
3. Click the + (New Provider) button to create a new provider, choose the account to use, then click Confirm. 👁 Create a new provider
   
4. In the provider settings page, configure the following properties.
   • URL: Set the OData endpoint in the Connect AI OData page: https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}.
   • Authentication Schema: Select Login/Password.
   • Login: Specify a CData Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected]).
   • Password: Specify the PAT of the Connect AI user.
   👁 Selecting a connector
   
5. Fill in the same properties in the ACCEPTANCE and TEST tabs. Note: You can copy the configured settings by clicking 'Copy this configuration button,' then pasting the content in the new tab by clicking 'Paste previously copied configuration.'
6. Click Save to save the properties.

Retrieve Power BI XMLA Data by Creating a Connector

1. In the CONNECTORS tab, click the button with three dots to create the provider, then select Add connector from the menu.
2. In the following page, set Connector URL to the OData endpoint configured in Connect AI (e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}) 👁 Connector settings page
   
3. Click Save then Launch to test the connector execution. Click Launch test to execute. The process is successful if you get the JSON response of your configured table information. 👁 Execution test page
   

More Information & Free Trial

Now, you have created a provider and connector to retrieve Power BI XMLA data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Power BI XMLA (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Power BI XMLA data in RunMyProcess.