Import Sugar CRM Data into the Power BI Service for Visualizations

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 Sugar CRM data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Sugar CRM in CData Connect AI, publish a dataset from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI Service and then create reports on Sugar CRM data in the Power BI service.

Configure Sugar CRM Connectivity for Power BI Service

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

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

2. Select "Sugar CRM" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Sugar CRM.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SugarCRM user credentials. This will use the default OAuth token created to allow client logins. OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret are required if you do not wish to use the default OAuth token.

   You can generate a new OAuth consumer key and consumer secret in Admin -> OAuth Keys. Set the OAuthClientId to the OAuth consumer key. Set the OAuthClientSecret to the consumer secret.

   Additionally, specify the URL to the SugarCRM account.

   Note that retrieving SugarCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you store the metadata locally as described in the "Caching Metadata" chapter of the help documentation.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Sugar CRM Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Sugar CRM data from the Power BI service.

Publish a Dataset from Power BI Desktop

Once you connect to Sugar CRM in Connect AI, you can create a dataset in Power BI desktop and publish the dataset to the Power BI service.

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 Sugar CRM data from Power BI
6. Define any relationships between the selected entities on the Relationships tab.
7. Click Publish (from the Home menu) and select a Workspace.

Build Reports and Dashboards on Sugar CRM Data in the Power BI Service

Now that you have published a dataset to the Power BI service, you can create new reports and dashboards based on the published data:

1. Log in to PowerBI.com.
2. Click Workspaces and select a workspace.
3. Click Create and select Report.
4. Select the published dataset for the report. 👁 Select a dataset
   
5. Choose fields and visualizations to add to your report. 👁 Visualizing Sugar CRM data in the Power BI service
   

Live Access to Sugar CRM Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Sugar CRM data from the Power BI service. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Sugar CRM data.

To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect AI.