Build SAP Business Warehouse-Powered Applications in GitHub Copilot with CData MCP Server

GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered coding assistant that integrates directly into Visual Studio Code and other IDEs. With support for MCP, GitHub Copilot can connect to local tools and enterprise data sources, enabling natural language interaction with live systems during development.

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard for connecting LLM clients to external services through structured tool interfaces. MCP servers expose capabilities such as schema discovery and live querying, allowing AI agents to retrieve and reason over real-time data safely and consistently.

In this article, we guide you through installing the CData MCP Server for SAP Business Warehouse, configuring the connection to SAP Business Warehouse, connecting the MCP Server add-on to GitHub Copilot, and querying live SAP Business Warehouse data from within Visual Studio Code.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio Code is installed on your machine
• GitHub Copilot Chat extension is enabled in Visual Studio Code
• CData MCP Server for SAP Business Warehouse has been installed

Step 1: Download and install the CData MCP Server for SAP Business Warehouse

1. To begin, download the CData MCP Server for SAP Business Warehouse 👁 Downloading the CData MCP Server add-on installer
   
2. Find and double-click the installer to begin the installation
3. Run the installer and follow the prompts to complete the installation 👁 Completing the CData MCP Server add-on installation
   

When the installation is complete, you are ready to configure your MCP Server add-on by connecting to SAP Business Warehouse.

Step 2: Configure the connection to SAP Business Warehouse

1. After installation, open the CData MCP Server for SAP Business Warehouse configuration wizard 👁 The CData MCP Server add-on configuration wizard
   

   NOTE: If the wizard does not open automatically, search for "CData MCP Server for SAP Business Warehouse" in the Windows search bar and open the application.

   👁 Opening the CData MCP Server add-on configuration wizard (Google Sheets is shown).
   
2. In MCP Configuration > Configuration Name, either select an existing configuration or choose to create a new one 👁 Creating a new configuration
   
3. Name the configuration (e.g. "cdata_sapbusinesswarehouse") and click OK 👁 Naming the configuration
   

4. Enter the appropriate connection properties in the configuration wizard

   To connect to SAP Business Warehouse, set the URL property to a valid SAP Business Warehouse server base URL. The driver must connect to SAP Business Warehouse instances hosted over HTTP with XMLA access.

   The driver supports the following authentication schemes via the AuthScheme property:

   • None: Anonymous authentication, if available on the server.
   • Basic: Set User and Password and set AuthScheme to .
   • Kerberos: See the Using Kerberos section of the help documentation for the required Kerberos properties.

   By default, the driver attempts to negotiate SSL/TLS by checking the server's certificate against the system's trusted certificate store. To specify another certificate, see the SSLServerCert property for the available formats.

   👁 Configuring the MCP Server add-on connection
   
5. Click Connect to authenticate with SAP Business Warehouse
6. Click Save & Test to finalize the connection 👁 Saving and testing the MCP Server add-on configuration
   

This process creates a .mcp configuration file that GitHub Copilot will reference when launching the MCP Server add-on. Now with your MCP Server add-on configured, you are ready to connect it to GitHub Copilot.

Step 3: Connect the MCP Server add-on to GitHub Copilot

1. Download and install Visual Studio Code and enable the GitHub Copilot Chat extension

Option 1: Manually add the MCP configuration

1. Open or create the mcp.json file:
   • For global configuration: %%APPDATA%%/Roaming/Code/User/mcp.json
   • For project-specific configuration:
2. Add the JSON code shown below and save the file

{
 "servers": {
 "cdata_sapbusinesswarehouse": {
 "command": "C:\Program Files\CData\CData MCP Server for SAP Business Warehouse\jre\bin\java.exe",
 "args": [
 "-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8",
 "-jar",
 "C:\Program Files\CData\CData MCP Server for SAP Business Warehouse\lib\cdata.mcp.sapbusinesswarehouse.jar",
 "cdata_sapbusinesswarehouse"
 ]
 }
 }
}

NOTE: The command value should point to your Java 17+ java.exe executable, and the JAR path should point to the installed CData MCP Server add-on .jar file. The final argument must match the MCP configuration name you saved in the CData configuration wizard (e.g. "cdata_sapbusinesswarehouse").

Option 2: Copy the MCP configuration from the CData MCP Server for SAP Business Warehouse UI

1. After saving and testing your connection in the configuration wizard, click Next 👁 Selecting 'Next'
   
2. Select Github Copilot from the AI MCP Tool dropdown 👁 Choosing GitHub Copilot as the AI MCP tool
   
3. Follow the MCP Client Instructions to create the required configuration file 👁 MCP configuration instructions for GitHub Copilot
   
4. Copy the displayed JSON code and paste it into your configuration file

Step 4: Query live SAP Business Warehouse data in GitHub Copilot

1. Launch Visual Studio Code and open the GitHub Copilot Chat interface. Select the tool icon to enable the configured MCP Server add-on 👁 Enabling the CData MCP Server add-on in GitHub Copilot
   
2. Ask questions about your SAP Business Warehouse data using natural language. For example:

   "List all tables available in my SAP Business Warehouse data data connection."

   👁 Querying live data from GitHub Copilot
   
3. Start building with natural language prompts:

   For my project, data from the Sales is very important. Pull data from the most important columns like CustomerCount and City.
   

GitHub Copilot is now fully integrated with CData MCP Server for SAP Business Warehouse and can use the MCP tools to explore schemas and execute live queries against SAP Business Warehouse.

Build with MCP Server. Deploy with CData Drivers.

Download CData MCP Server for SAP Business Warehouse for free and give your AI tools schema-aware access to live SAP Business Warehouse data during development. When you're ready to move to production, CData SAP Business Warehouse Drivers deliver the same SQL-based access with enterprise-grade performance, security, and reliability.

Visit the CData Community to share insights, ask questions, and explore what's possible with MCP-powered AI workflows.