Use the CData ODBC Driver for Salesforce in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Salesforce, you gain database-like access to live Salesforce data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding Salesforce as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of Salesforce data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Salesforce data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Salesforce, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Salesforce and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze Salesforce data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Getting Started

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Connect to Salesforce as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Salesforce follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

There are several authentication methods available for connecting to Salesforce: OAuth, Login (or basic), and SSO. The Login method requires you to have the username, password, and security token of the user.

OAuth Authentication (default)

The default authentication mechanism (and the one preferred by Salesforce) is OAuth. To use OAuth with CData's embedded OAuth application, leave the connection properties blank. If you have configured your own custom OAuth application with Salesforce (see the Help documentation for more information), set OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL to the properties for you application. Set InitiateOAuth to the desired OAuth flow ("GETANDREFRESH" will have the connector manage the entire OAuth flow).

Login (or Basic) Authentication

If you do not wish do not wish to use OAuth authentication, you can use Login (or basic) authentication. Set AuthScheme to Basic, and set the User, Password, and SecurityToken properties. You can configure your security token in Salesforce.

SSO (single sign-on) Authentication

SSO (single sign-on) can be used by setting the SSOProperties, SSOLoginUrl, and SSOExchangeURL connection properties, which allow you to authenticate to an identity provider. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the Help documentation for more information.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

If your Salesforce org has MFA enforcement enabled, set MFACode to the time-based one-time passcode (TOTP) generated by your authenticator app (such as Salesforce Authenticator or Google Authenticator). MFACode applies to both OAuth and Login authentication flows.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Salesforce in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData Salesforce Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Salesforce
Description = My Description
InitiateOAuth = GETANDREFRESH
MFACode = YourMFACode

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize Salesforce Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting Salesforce in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to Salesforce in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add Salesforce data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of Salesforce data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData Salesforce Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
👁 Creating a new data source for Salesforce.

6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the Salesforce data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM Account
   

   👁 Querying Salesforce for data.
   NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Salesforce data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Salesforce, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver. 👁 Visualize Salesforce data.
   
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for Salesforce in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Salesforce data. Read our other articles on connecting to Salesforce in MicroStrategy and connecting to Salesforce in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.