Create Blackbaud FE NXT Dashboards in Bold BI



Use CData Connect Server to create a virtual SQL Server Database for Blackbaud FE NXT data to build custom dashboards in Bold BI.

Bold BI allows you to create, share, and collaborate on interactive BI dashboards. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get instant access to Blackbaud FE NXT data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Blackbaud FE NXT and build reports from Blackbaud FE NXT data in Bold BI.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for Blackbaud FE NXT, allowing you to easily build reports from live Blackbaud FE NXT data in Bold BI — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build visualizations, Bold BI generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Blackbaud FE NXT, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Blackbaud FE NXT data.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for Blackbaud FE NXT Data

CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.

  1. Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
  2. Select "Blackbaud FE NXT" from Available Data Sources.
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Blackbaud FE NXT.

    Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to create an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties.

    See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

  4. Click Save Changes
  5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

With the virtual database created, you are ready to connect to Blackbaud FE NXT data from Bold BI.

Visualize Live Blackbaud FE NXT Data in Bold BI

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Server from Bold BI to create a new Blackbaud FE NXT data source and build a simple visualization from the data.

  1. Log into your Bold BI instance, click the data sources tab, create a new data source, and choose the SQL Server connector.
  2. Choose the basic configuration and set the connection properties:
    • Name: Name your connection
    • Server name: Your Connect Server instance (CONNECT_SERVER_URL)
    • Port: 1433
    • Username: Your Connect Server username
    • Password: Your Connect Server password
    • Mode: Choose Live to query Blackbaud FE NXT on-demand or choose Extract to load the data into Bold BI
    • Database: Choose the database you created from the drop-down menu (blackbaudfenxtdb)
  3. Click Connect
  4. Select the table to visualize and drag it onto the workspace.
  5. Select a visualization style and add it to the report.
  6. Click the gear icon for the visualization to configure the visualization properties and assign columns to the visualization.

SQL Access to Blackbaud FE NXT Data from Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Blackbaud FE NXT data from your Bold BI workbook. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Blackbaud FE NXT data.

To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, see the CData Connect page.

Ready to get started?

Learn more or sign up for a free trial:

CData Connect Server