SAP Ariba Source Reporting in OBIEE with the SAP Ariba Source JDBC Driver

The CData JDBC Driver for SAP Ariba Source is a standard database driver that can integrate real-time access to SAP Ariba Source data into your Java-based reporting server. This article shows how to deploy the driver to Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) and create reports on SAP Ariba Source data that reflect any changes.

Deploy the JDBC Driver

Follow the steps below to add the JDBC driver to WebLogic's classpath.

For WebLogic 12.2.1, simply place the driver JAR and .lic file into DOMAIN_HOME\lib; for example, ORACLE_HOME\user_projects\domains\MY_DOMAIN\lib. These files will be added to the server classpath at startup.

You can also manually add the driver to the classpath: This is required for earlier versions. Prepend the following to PRE_CLASSPATH in setDomainEnv.cmd (Windows) or setDomainEnv.sh (Unix). This script is located in the bin subfolder of the folder for that domain. For example: ORACLE_HOME\user_projects\domains\MY_DOMAIN\bin.

set PRE_CLASSPATH=your-installation-directory\lib\cdata.jdbc.saparibasource.jar;%PRE_CLASSPATH%

Restart all servers; for example, run the stop and start commands in DOMAIN_HOME\bitools\bin.

Create a JDBC Data Source for SAP Ariba Source

After deploying the JDBC driver, you can create a JDBC data source from BI Publisher.

1. Log into BI Publisher, at the URL http://localhost:9502/analytics, for example, and click Administration -> Manage BI Publisher.
2. Click JDBC Connection -> Add Data Source.
3. Enter the following information:
   • Data Source Name: Enter the name that users will create connections to in their reports.
   • Driver Type: Select Other.
   • Database DriverClass: Enter the driver class, cdata.jdbc.saparibasource.SAPAribaSourceDriver.
   • Connection String: Enter the JDBC URL.

     In order to connect with SAP Ariba Source, set the following:

     • API: Specify which API you would like the provider to retrieve SAP Ariba data from. Select the Supplier, Sourcing Project Management, or Contract API based on your business role (possible values are SupplierDataAPIWithPaginationV4, SourcingProjectManagementAPIV2, or ContractAPIV1).
     • DataCenter: The data center where your account's data is hosted.
     • Realm: The name of the site you want to access.
     • Environment: Indicate whether you are connecting to a test or production environment (possible values are TEST or PRODUCTION).

     If you are connecting to the Supplier Data API or the Contract API, additionally set the following:

     • User: Id of the user on whose behalf API calls are invoked.
     • PasswordAdapter: The password associated with the authenticating User.

     If you're connecting to the Supplier API, set ProjectId to the Id of the sourcing project you want to retrieve data from.

     Authenticating with OAuth

     After setting connection properties, you need to configure OAuth connectivity to authenticate.

     • Set AuthScheme to OAuthClient.
     • Register an application with the service to obtain the APIKey, OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret.

       For more information on creating an OAuth application, refer to the Help documentation.

     Automatic OAuth

     After setting the following, you are ready to connect:

     APIKey: The Application key in your app settings. OAuthClientId: The OAuth Client Id in your app settings. OAuthClientSecret: The OAuth Secret in your app settings.

     When you connect, the provider automatically completes the OAuth process:

     1. The provider obtains an access token from SAP Ariba and uses it to request data.
     2. The provider refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.
     3. The OAuth values are saved in memory relative to the location specified in OAuthSettingsLocation.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the SAP Ariba Source JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.saparibasource.jar
     

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

     👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
     

     When you configure the JDBC URL, 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.

     A typical JDBC URL is below:

     jdbc:saparibasource:API=SupplierDataAPIWithPagination-V4;APIKey=wWVLn7WTAXrIRMAzZ6VnuEj7Ekot5jnU;Environment=SANDBOX;Realm=testRealm;AuthScheme=OAuthClient;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

   • Username: Enter the username.
   • Password: Enter the password.
4. In the Security section, select the allowed user roles. 👁 The required settings for a JDBC data source. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

Create Real-Time SAP Ariba Source Reports

You can now create reports and analyses based on real-time SAP Ariba Source data. Follow the steps below to use the standard report wizard to create an interactive report that reflects any changes to SAP Ariba Source data.

1. On the global header, click New -> Data Model.
2. On the Diagram tab, select SQL query in the menu.
3. Enter a name for the query and in the Data Source menu select the SAP Ariba Source JDBC data source you created.
4. Select standard SQL and enter a query like the following:

   SELECT SMVendorID, Category FROM Vendors WHERE Region = 'USA'

   👁 The SQL query to be used to create the data set for the report's data model. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
5. Click View Data to generate the sample data to be used as you build your report.
6. Select the number of rows to include in the sample data, click View, and then click Save As Sample Data.
7. Click Create Report -> Use Data Model.
8. Select Guide Me and on the Select Layout page select the report objects you want to include. In this example we select Chart and Table.
9. Drop a numeric column like Category onto the Drop Value Here box on the y-axis. Drop a dimension column like SMVendorID onto the Drop Label Here box on the x-axis. 👁 The dimensions and measures for a chart. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
10. Click Refresh to pick up any changes to the SAP Ariba Source data. 👁 An interactive, refresh-on-demand report. (Salesforce is shown.)