Access Live SAP BusinessObjects BI Data in Excel (Desktop) via Connect AI

Microsoft Excel is a widely used spreadsheet software application, primarily used for tasks related to data management, analysis, and visualization. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate access to SAP BusinessObjects BI data directly within Excel, facilitating data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more.This article shows how to connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI in your Connect AI instance and access live SAP BusinessObjects BI data in Excel spreadsheets.

CData Connect AI provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for SAP BusinessObjects BI, allowing you to easily access live SAP BusinessObjects BI data in Excel for the web. Simply use the Connect AI Add-In to query live data (or write your own). Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported query operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to SAP BusinessObjects BI, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return SAP BusinessObjects BI data.

Configure SAP BusinessObjects BI Connectivity for Excel

Connectivity to SAP BusinessObjects BI from Excel is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with SAP BusinessObjects BI data from Excel, we start by creating and configuring a SAP BusinessObjects BI connection.

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

2. Select "SAP BusinessObjects BI" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI.

   To connect to your SAP Business Objects BI instance, you must set the following connection properties:

   • Url: set this to the rest API URL. After logging into the Central Management Console, choose 'Applications' from the combo box. Double-click on 'RESTful Web Service' and you'll see the access URL. By default it is, http://{Server-Name}:6405/biprws.
   • User: set this to the username of your instance.
   • Password: set this to the password of your instance.
   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SAP BusinessObjects BI Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI data from Excel.

Access Live SAP BusinessObjects BI Data in Excel

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Excel to access live SAP BusinessObjects BI data.

1. Open Excel, create a new sheet (or open an existing one).
2. Click Insert and click Get Add-ins. (if you have already installed the Add-In, jump to step 4).
3. Search for CData Connect AI Add-In and install the Add-in. 👁 Install the Add-In
   
4. Click Data and open the CData Connect AI Add-In.
5. In the Add-In panel, click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect AI instance 👁 Authorizing the Add-In
   
6. In the CData Connect AI panel in Excel, click Import 👁 CData Connect AI panel in Excel
   
7. Choose a Connection (e.g. SAPBusinessObjectsBI1), Table (e.g. MyCustomReport), and Columns to import 👁 CData Connect AI panel in Excel
   
8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit 👁 Choosing a Connection, Table, and Columns
   
9. Click Execute to import the data 👁 Executing the Query
   

Live Access to SAP BusinessObjects BI Data from Cloud Applications

Now, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live SAP BusinessObjects BI data from your Excel workbook. You can add more data to your workbook for calculations, aggregations, collaboration, and more.

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