Visualize Live SAP ByDesign Data in Power BI (via CData Connect AI)

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get access to SAP ByDesign data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to use CData Connect to create a live connection to SAP ByDesign, connect to SAP ByDesign data from Power BI and then create reports on SAP ByDesign data in Power BI.

Configure SAP ByDesign Connectivity for Power BI

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

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

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

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAP ByDesign.

   Set the following connection properties to connect to SAP ByDesign.

   • Url: Set this to the Url of your SAP ByDesign site. For example, https://test.sapbydesign.com
   • User: Set this to the username of your account.
   • Password: Set this to the password of your account.
   • CustomService or AnalyticsService: Only one of these must be specified. If you have a custom service you want to retrieve data from, specify CustomService. If you want to retrieve the reports of a analytical service, specify AnalyticsService.
     If neither is specified, 'cc_home_analytics.svc' will used as a default for the AnalyticsService property. If you are not sure what service to specify, you can always query the Services view to list available services.
   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SAP ByDesign Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to SAP ByDesign data from Power BI.

Query SAP ByDesign Tables

Follow the steps below to build a query to pull SAP ByDesign data into the report:

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect AI and click "Connect"
2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect AI account 👁 Authenticating with Connect AI
   
3. After signing in, click "Connect" 👁 Connecting to Connect AI
   
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog 👁 The available tables. (Salesforce tables are shown)
   
5. Click Load to establish the connection to your SAP ByDesign data from Power BI

Create SAP ByDesign Data Visualizations

After connecting to the data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view by dragging fields from the Fields pane onto the canvas. Select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize along with the chart type.

Click Refresh to synchronize your report with any changes to the data.

Live Access to SAP ByDesign Data from Data Applications

With CData Connect AI you have a direct connection to SAP ByDesign data from Power BI. You can import more data, create new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating SAP ByDesign data.

To get SQL data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including SAP ByDesign) directly from your on-premise BI, reporting, ETL and other data applications, visit the CData Connect AI page and start a free trial.