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Get the Report →Use the CData ODBC Driver for Bullhorn CRM in MicroStrategy
Connect to Bullhorn CRM data in MicroStrategy Developer using the CData ODBC Driver for Bullhorn CRM.
MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When you pair MicroStrategy with the CData ODBC Driver for Bullhorn CRM, you gain database-like access to live Bullhorn CRM data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through creating a database instance for Bullhorn CRM in MicroStrategy Developer and creating a Warehouse Catalog based on Bullhorn CRM data.
The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Bullhorn CRM data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Bullhorn CRM, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Bullhorn CRM 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 Bullhorn CRM data using native MicroStrategy data types.
Connect to Bullhorn CRM as an ODBC Data Source
Information for connecting to Bullhorn CRM follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments (the ODBC Driver for Bullhorn CRM must be installed on the machine hosting the connected MicroStrategy Intelligence Server).
Begin by providing your Bullhorn CRM account credentials in the following:
- DataCenterCode: Set this to the data center code which responds to your data center. Refer to the list of data-center-specific Bullhorn API URLs: https://bullhorn.github.io/Data-Center-URLs/
If you are uncertain about your data center code, codes like CLS2, CLS21, etc. are cluster IDs that are contained in a user's browser URL (address bar) once they are logged in.
Example: https://cls21.bullhornstaffing.com/BullhornSTAFFING/MainFrame.jsp?#no-ba... indicates that the logged in user is on CLS21.
Authenticating with OAuth
Bullhorn CRM uses the OAuth 2.0 authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, create and configure a custom OAuth app. See the Help documentation for more information.
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.
Windows
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.
Linux
If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Bullhorn CRM in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.
/etc/odbc.ini
[CData BullhornCRM Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Bullhorn CRM
Description = My Description
DataCenterCode = CLS33
OAuthClientId = myoauthclientid
OAuthClientSecret = myoauthclientsecret
For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).
Create a Bullhorn CRM Database Instance in MicroStrategy Developer
You can connect to Bullhorn CRM in MicroStrategy Developer by adding a database instance based on the CData ODBC Driver for Bullhorn CRM.*
- Open MicroStrategy Developer and select a Project Source.
- Navigate to Administration -> Configuration Managers -> Database Instances and right-click to add a new instance.
- Name the instance, select Generic DBMS as the database connection type, and create a new database connection.
- In the database connection wizard, name the connection and create a new Database Login name, using filler values for the user and password.
- Select the DSN that you configured earlier as the ODBC data source (i.e., CData BullhornCRM Sys).
- Select the newly created database connection.
- In the Project Source, right-click the project and open the Project configuration.
- Navigate to Database Instances and select the newly created database instance.
- Close MicroStrategy Developer and restart the connected MicroStrategy Intelligence Server to complete the database instance creation.
With the database instance configured, you will now be able to connect to Bullhorn CRM data from the Warehouse Catalog and Data Import.
Connect to Bullhorn CRM Data from the Warehouse Catalog
Once you have created a database instance based on the ODBC Driver for Bullhorn CRM, you can connect to data from the Warehouse Catalog.
- Select your project and click Schema -> Warehouse Catalog.
- In the Read Settings for the Catalog, click Settings and set the queries to retrieve the schema:
- To retrieve the list of tables, use the following query:
SELECT CatalogName NAME_SPACE, TableName TAB_NAME FROM SYS_TABLES
- To retrieve the list of columns for selected tables, use the following query:
SELECT DISTINCT CatalogName NAME_SPACE, TableName TAB_NAME, ColumnName COL_NAME, DataTypeName DATA_TYPE, Length DATA_LEN, NumericPrecision DATA_PREC, NumericScale DATA_SCALE FROM SYS_TABLECOLUMNS WHERE TableName IN (#TABLE_LIST#) ORDER BY 1,2,3
- To retrieve the list of tables, use the following query:
- Select tables to be used in the project.
If you are interested in connecting to Bullhorn CRM from other MicroStrategy products, you can read about connecting from MicroStrategy Web and connecting from MicroStrategy Desktop.
Note: connecting using a ODBC driver requires a 3- or 4-tier architecture.