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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/qbonline-cloud-power-pivot.rst

⇱ Use CData Connect AI to Access QuickBooks Online Data in Microsoft Power Pivot

Use CData Connect AI to Access QuickBooks Online Data in Microsoft Power Pivot

👁 Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use CData Connect AI to connect to live QuickBooks Online data in the Power Pivot business intelligence tool.

This article will explain how to use CData Connect AI to present QuickBooks Online data as OData services and then consume the data in Microsoft Excel's Power Pivot business intelligence tool. Follow the steps below to retrieve and edit QuickBooks Online data in Power Pivot.

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


Connect to QuickBooks Online from Power Pivot

To work with QuickBooks Online data from Power Pivot, we need to connect to QuickBooks Online from Connect AI, provide user access to the connection, and create a Workspace for the QuickBooks Online data.

Connect to QuickBooks Online 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
    2. 👁 Adding a Connection
  2. Select "QuickBooks Online" from the Add Connection panel
    3. 👁 Selecting a data source
  3. QuickBooks Online uses OAuth to authenticate. Click "Sign in" to authenticate with QuickBooks Online. 👁 Authenticating with OAuth (Salesforce is shown).
  4. 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.

  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 QuickBooks Online Endpoints for Power Pivot

After connecting to QuickBooks Online, 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 QuickBooks Online connection (e.g. QuickBooksOnline1) 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 QuickBooks Online data from Power Pivot.

Import QuickBooks Online Tables in Power Pivot

Follow the steps below to import tables that can be refreshed on demand:

  1. In Excel, click Data -> Get Data -> From Other Sources -> From OData Feed 👁 Starting the OData connection.
  2. Fill out the OData feed URL (e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}) 👁 The URL of the OData endpoint for Connect AI.
  3. On the next screen, select Basic and configure the username and password. Password will be your PAT. 👁 Authenticating with Connect AI

  4. Select the tables that you would like to import into Excel 👁 Selecting tables (Salesforce is shown.)

  5. After selecting your table(s) and clicking Load, you should see the data appear in an Excel spreadsheet 👁 Loading tables (Salesforce is shown.)

  6. Now, click the Power Pivot tab on the ribbon, and then select Add to Data Model. 👁 Loading data into Power Pivot (Salesforce is shown.)
    This can now work with your QuickBooks Online data in Power Pivot.

    👁 The Pivot Table that is consuming OData feeds from Connect AI. (Salesforce is shown.)

Free Trial & More Information

If you are interested in connecting to your QuickBooks Online data (or data from any of our other supported data sources) from Power Pivot, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect AI today! For more information on Connect AI and to see what other data sources we support, refer to our CData Connect AI page.