Create Datasets from SQL Analysis Services in Domo Workbench and Build Visualizations of SQL Analysis Services Data in Domo

Domo helps you manage, analyze, and share data across your entire organization, enabling decision makers to identify and act on strategic opportunities. Domo Workbench provides a secure, client-side solution for uploading your on-premise data to Domo. The CData ODBC Driver for SQL Analysis Services links Domo Workbench to operational SQL Analysis Services data. You can build datasets from SQL Analysis Services data using standard SQL queries in Workbench and then create real-time visualizations of SQL Analysis Services data in the Domo service.

The CData ODBC Drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live SQL Analysis Services data in Domo due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from Domo to SQL Analysis Services, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SQL Analysis Services and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze SQL Analysis Services data using native Domo data types.

Connect to SQL Analysis Services as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

To connect, provide authentication and set the Url property to a valid SQL Server Analysis Services endpoint. You can connect to SQL Server Analysis Services instances hosted over HTTP with XMLA access. See the Microsoft documentation to configure HTTP access to SQL Server Analysis Services.

To secure connections and authenticate, set the corresponding connection properties, below. The data provider supports the major authentication schemes, including HTTP and Windows, as well as SSL/TLS.

• HTTP Authentication

  Set AuthScheme to "Basic" or "Digest" and set User and Password. Specify other authentication values in CustomHeaders.

• Windows (NTLM)

  Set the Windows User and Password and set AuthScheme to "NTLM".

• Kerberos and Kerberos Delegation

  To authenticate with Kerberos, set AuthScheme to NEGOTIATE. To use Kerberos delegation, set AuthScheme to KERBEROSDELEGATION. If needed, provide the User, Password, and KerberosSPN. By default, the data provider attempts to communicate with the SPN at the specified Url.

• SSL/TLS:

  By default, the data provider 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.

You can then access any cube as a relational table: When you connect the data provider retrieves SSAS metadata and dynamically updates the table schemas. Instead of retrieving metadata every connection, you can set the CacheLocation property to automatically cache to a simple file-based store.

See the Getting Started section of the CData documentation, under Retrieving Analysis Services Data, to execute SQL-92 queries to the cubes.

When you configure the DSN, 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.

After creating a DSN, you will need to create a dataset for SQL Analysis Services in Domo Workbench using the SQL Analysis Services DSN and build a visualization in the Domo service based on the dataset.

Build a Dataset for SQL Analysis Services Data

You can follow the steps below to build a dataset based on a table in SQL Analysis Services in Domo Workbench using the CData ODBC Driver for SQL Analysis Services.

1. Open Domo Workbench and, if you have not already, add your Domo service server to Workbench. In the Accounts submenu, click Add New, type in the server address (i.e., domain.domo.com) and click through the wizard to authenticate. 👁 Connecting to the Domo Service.
   
2. In the DataSet Jobs submenu, click Add New.
3. Name the dataset job (i.e., ODBC SQL Analysis Services Adventure_Works), select ODBC Connection Provider as the transport method, and click through the wizard. 👁 Configuring the DataSet Job.
   
4. In the newly created DataSet Job, navigate to Source and click to configure the settings.
5. Select System DSN for the Connection Type.
6. Select the previously configured DSN (CData SSAS Sys) for the System DSN.
7. Click to validate the configuration. 👁 Configuring the Source Settings.
   
8. Below the settings, set the Query to a SQL query:

   SELECT * FROM Adventure_Works

   NOTE: By connecting to SQL Analysis Services data using an ODBC driver, you simply need to know SQL in order to get your data, circumventing the need to know SQL Analysis Services-specific APIs or protocols.
9. Click preview. 👁 Querying SQL Analysis Services Data.
   
10. Check over the generated schema, add any transformations, then save and run the dataset job. 👁 Save and Run the Configured DataSet Job (Salesforce is shown).
    

With the dataset job run, the dataset will be accessible from the Domo service, allowing you to build visualizations, reports, and more based on SQL Analysis Services data.

Create Data Visualizations

With the DataSet Job saved and run in Domo Workbench, we are ready to build visualizations of the SQL Analysis Services data in the Domo service.

1. Navigate to the Data Center. 👁 Accessing the Data Center (Salesforce is shown).
   
2. In the data warehouse, select the ODBC data source and drill down to our new dataset. 👁 Selecting the SQL Analysis Services Dataset (Salesforce is shown).
   
3. With the dataset selected, choose to create a visualization.
4. In the new card:
   • Drag a Dimension to the X Value.
   • Drag a Measure to the Y Value.
   • Choose a Visualization.
   👁 Visualizing SQL Analysis Services Data in Domo (Salesforce is shown).
   

With the CData ODBC Driver for SQL Analysis Services, you can build custom datasets based on SQL Analysis Services data using only SQL in Domo Workbench and then build and share visualizations and reports through the Domo service.