Visualize Live Sugar CRM 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 Sugar CRM data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to use CData Connect to create a live connection to Sugar CRM, connect to Sugar CRM data from Power BI and then create reports on Sugar CRM data in Power BI.

Configure Sugar CRM Connectivity for Power BI

Connectivity to Sugar CRM from Power BI is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Sugar CRM data from Power BI, 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 Power BI.

Query Sugar CRM Tables

Follow the steps below to build a query to pull Sugar CRM 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 Sugar CRM data from Power BI

Create Sugar CRM 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 Sugar CRM Data from Data Applications

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

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