Grafana is an open-source platform that allows users to analyze, monitor, and visualize telemetry from various data sources. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate access to QuickBooks Online data for business dashboards. This article outlines the process of connecting to QuickBooks Online using Connect AI and creating a basic dashboard from QuickBooks Online data within Grafana.
CData Connect AI offers a pure SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for QuickBooks Online, enabling the creation of dashboards directly from live QuickBooks Online data within Grafana, all without the need for data replication to a native database. As you build visualizations, Grafana generates SQL queries to gather data. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, directly to QuickBooks Online. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly deliver the requested QuickBooks Online data.
About QuickBooks Online Data Integration
CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from QuickBooks Online. Customers use CData connectivity to:
- Realize high-performance data reads thanks to push-down query optimization for complex operations like filters and aggregations.
- Read, write, update, and delete QuickBooks Online data.
- Run reports, download attachments, and send or void invoices directly from code using SQL stored procedures.
- Connect securely using OAuth and modern cryptography, including TLS 1.2, SHA-256, and ECC.
Many users access live QuickBooks Online data from preferred analytics tools like Power BI and Excel, directly from databases with federated access, and use CData solutions to easily integrate QuickBooks Online data with automated workflows for business-to-business communications.
For more information on how customers are solving problems with CData's QuickBooks Online solutions, refer to our blog: https://www.cdata.com/blog/360-view-of-your-customers.
Getting Started
Configure QuickBooks Online Connectivity for Grafana
Connectivity to QuickBooks Online from Grafana is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with QuickBooks Online data from Grafana, we start by creating and configuring a QuickBooks Online connection.
-
Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection
- Select "QuickBooks Online" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source
-
QuickBooks Online uses OAuth to authenticate. Click "Sign in" to authenticate with QuickBooks Online.
👁 Authenticating with OAuth (Salesforce is shown).
-
Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add QuickBooks 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.
-
Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
-
On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
-
Give the PAT a name and click Create.
👁 Creating a new PAT
-
The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.
With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to QuickBooks Online data from Grafana.
Visualize Live QuickBooks Online Data in Grafana
To establish a connection from Grafana to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server API, follow these steps.
-
If you have not already done so, download and install Grafana for your operating system from the Grafana Website. Once installed, access Grafana at http://localhost:3000/.
-
Log in to Grafana with your username and password for Grafana. If this is your first time logging in, the username is admin and the password is admin.
-
On the navigation menu, click Sources > Add new connection. On this page, you can search for Microsoft SQL Server and select it as your data source.
👁 Adding a new Connection in Grafana
-
Select Microsoft SQL Server and click Add new data source.
👁 Adding a new Connection in Grafana
-
Enter a name for the new data source and then enter the following connection settings:
-
Click Save & Test. A Database Connect OK message appears when you have a successful connection established.
Create a Dashboard
Once you create the data source for QuickBooks Online, you can start building dashboards on QuickBooks Online data. Start in the navigation menu and click Dashboards
-
On the Dashboards page, click + Create dashboard, then click + Add visualization.
-
This opens the Select data source window where you can select your created connection.
👁 Select your connection. (Salesforce shown)
-
After selecting your connection, you can choose the tables and columns that you want to query for your visualization. Then press Run Query to run the generated query.
👁 Select the tables and columns you want to query. (Salesforce shown)
-
After running your query, the resulting data is populated above the query editor. Here you can select the visualization that you want to use to present your data on the dashboard panel.
👁 Visualize your queried data. (Salesforce shown)
-
When you have finished editing your panel, you can click Save dashboard to save the changes made to your Dashboard.
To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, try CData Connect AI today!
