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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/salesforce-odata-power-pivot.rst

⇱ Use the CData API Server to Access Salesforce Data in Microsoft PowerPivot

Use the CData API Server to Access Salesforce Data in Microsoft PowerPivot

👁 Stanley Liu
Stanley Liu
Associate Technical Product Marketer
Use the CData API Server to connect to live Salesforce data in the Power Pivot business intelligence tool.

The CData API Server enables you to use REST, OData, JSON, or Open APIs to connect to and query Salesforce data. The OData standard enables real-time access to the live data, and support for OData is integrated into Power Pivot. This article details how to import an OData feed of Salesforce data into Microsoft Excel's PowerPivot business intelligence tool.

About Salesforce Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from Salesforce has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

  • Access to custom entities and fields means Salesforce users get access to all of Salesforce.
  • Create atomic and batch update operations.
  • Read, write, update, and delete their Salesforce data.
  • Leverage the latest Salesforce features and functionalities with support for SOAP API versions 30.0.
  • See improved performance based on SOQL support to push complex queries down to Salesforce servers.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to perform actions like creating, retrieving, aborting, and deleting jobs, uploading and downloading attachments and documents, and more.

Users frequently integrate Salesforce data with:

  • other ERPs, marketing automation, HCMs, and more.
  • preferred data tools like Power BI, Tableau, Looker, and more.
  • databases and data warehouses.

For more information on how CData solutions work with Salesforce, check out our Salesforce integration page.


Getting Started


Set Up the API Server

If you have not already done so, download the CData API Server. Once you have installed the API Server, follow the steps below to begin producing secure Salesforce OData services:

Connect to Salesforce

To work with Salesforce data from Microsoft Power Pivot, we start by creating and configuring a Salesforce connection. Follow the steps below to configure the API Server to connect to Salesforce data:

  1. First, navigate to the Connections page.
  2. Click Add Connection and then search for and select the Salesforce connection. 👁 Selecting a data source (SQLite is shown)
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Salesforce. 👁 Connecting to a datasource (SQLite is shown)
  4. After configuring the connection, click Save & Test to confirm a successful connection.

Configure API Server Users

Next, create a user to access your Salesforce data through the API Server. You can add and configure users on the Users page. Follow the steps below to configure and create a user:

  1. On the Users page, click Add User to open the Add User dialog.
  2. Next, set the Role, Username, and Privileges properties and then click Add User. 👁 Configure a new user
  3. An Authtoken is then generated for the user. You can find the Authtoken and other information for each user on the Users page: 👁 API Server user settings

Creating API Endpoints for Salesforce

Having created a user, you are ready to create API endpoints for the Salesforce tables:

  1. First, navigate to the API page and then click Add Table . 👁 Add tables
  2. Select the connection you wish to access and click Next. 👁 Select the connection (SQLite is shown)
  3. With the connection selected, create endpoints by selecting each table and then clicking Confirm. 👁 Adding tables from the connection (SQLite is shown)

Gather the OData Url

Having configured a connection to Salesforce data, created a user, and added resources to the API Server, you now have an easily accessible REST API based on the OData protocol for those resources. From the API page in API Server, you can view and copy the API Endpoints for the API:

👁 API Endpoints

Import Salesforce 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. In the OData feed connection, set the URL property to the OData Endpoint URL previously copied and click OK (e.g. "http://localhost:8080/api.rsc"): 👁 The URL of the OData endpoint for API Server
  3. In the next step of the wizard, define the authentication credentials. Select Basic and then enter the credentials for a user authorized to make requests. Specify the User name and enter the user's authtoken in the Password field: 👁 Authenticating with API Server
  4. Select the tables that you would like to import into Excel and click Load 👁 Selecting tables (SQLite is shown)
  5. After selecting and loading your table(s), you should see the data appear in an Excel spreadsheet. Now, click the Power Pivot tab on the ribbon, and then select Add to Data Model. 👁 Loading data into Power Pivot (SQLite is shown)
  6. You can now work with your Salesforce data in Power Pivot. 👁 The Pivot Table that is consuming OData feeds from API Server. (SQLite is shown)

Free Trial & More Information

If you are interested in connecting to your Salesforce data (or data from any of our other supported data sources) from Microsoft Power Pivot, download API Server to begin creating flexible and customizable REST, OData, JSON and Open APIs from any database or data store! As always, our world-class support team is ready to answer any questions you may have.