Integrate SAP Ariba Source Data in the Pentaho Report Designer

The CData JDBC driver for SAP Ariba Source data enables access to live data from dashboards and reports. This article shows how to connect to SAP Ariba Source data as a JDBC data source and publish reports based on SAP Ariba Source data in Pentaho.

Connect and Create a Report

1. Copy the JAR file of the driver, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory, to the \Report-Designer\lib\jdbc\ folder in the Pentaho directory.
2. Run the report-designer.bat file in the \Report-Designer\ folder to open the Report-Designer UI.

3. Create a new data source with the driver by clicking Data -> Add Data Source -> Advanced -> JDBC (Custom) and then creating a new SAP Ariba Source connection. In the resulting dialog, configure the connection properties as shown below.

   • Custom Connection URL property: Enter the JDBC URL. This starts with jdbc:saparibasource: and is followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

     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.

     Below is a typical JDBC URL:

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

   • Custom Driver Class Name: Enter cdata.jdbc.saparibasource.SAPAribaSourceDriver.
   • User Name: The username to authenticate with.
   • Password: The password to authenticate with.
   👁 Required connection properties defined in the JDBC URL. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

Add SAP Ariba Source Data to a Report

You are now ready to create a report with SAP Ariba Source data.

1. Add the SAP Ariba Source source to your report: Click Data -> Add Data Source -> JDBC and select the data source.

2. Configure the query. This article uses the one below:

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

   👁 The query to retrieve data, specified in the JDBC data source configuration wizard. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
3. Drag a chart onto your report and double-click it to edit the chart. Run the report to display the chart. You can use the results of this query to create a simple chart for the Vendors table.
4. Finally, run the report to see the chart.