Create Reports from Sage 200 Data in Looker Studio

Looker Studio, formerly known as Google Data Studio, empowers users to craft customized reports featuring data visualizations that can be shared with clients while reflecting your brand identity. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate cloud-to-cloud access to Sage 200 data to create visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article provides step-by-step instructions on establishing a virtual database for Sage 200 and generating reports from Sage 200 data within Looker Studio.

CData Connect AI offers a seamless cloud-to-cloud interface tailored for Sage 200, making it straightforward to construct reports directly from live Sage 200 data within Looker Studio without the need for data replication. As you create visualizations, Looker Studio generates queries to retrieve data. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported query operations, including filters, JOINs, and more, directly to Sage 200. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly provide the requested Sage 200 data.

Configure Sage 200 Connectivity for Looker Studio

Connectivity to Sage 200 from Looker Studio is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Sage 200 data from Looker Studio, we start by creating and configuring a Sage 200 connection.

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

2. Select "Sage 200" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Sage 200.
   • Schema: Determines which Sage 200 edition you are connecting to. Specify either StandardUK or ProfessionalUK.
   • Subscription Key: Provides access to the APIs that are used to establish a connection. You will first need to log into the Sage 200 API website and subscribe to the API edition that matches your account. You can do so here: https://developer.columbus.sage.com/docs/services/api/uk. Afterwards, the subscription key may be found in your profile after logging into Sage 200.
   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Sage 200 Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Sage 200 data from Looker Studio.

Visualize Live Sage 200 Data from Looker Studio

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Looker Studio to create a new Sage 200 data source and build a simple visualization from the data.

1. Log into Looker Studio, click data sources, create a new data source, and choose CData Connect AI Connector.
👁 Create a new connection in Looker Studio

2. Click Authorize and allow access to your Google account. 👁 Granting permissions to the Connector
   
3. Click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect AI instance 👁 Authenticating with CData Connect AI
   
4. In the CData Connect AI Connector in Looker Studio select Connections to import from the dropdown and click Next
👁 Importing from Connections

5. Now select a Connection (e.g. Sage2001) and click Next 👁 Selecting a Connection
   
6. Select a Table (e.g. Banks) or use a Custom Query and click Connect to continue 👁 Selecting a Table
   
7. If needed, modify columns, click Create Report, and add the data source to the report.
👁 Configuring column definitions

8. Select a visualization style and add it to the report.
9. Select Dimensions and Measures to customize your visualization.
👁 Visualizing Sage 200 data in Looker Studio

Live Access to Sage 200 Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Sage 200 data from your Looker Studio workbook. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Sage 200 data.

Try CData Connect AI and get real-time data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.