Use the CData ODBC Driver for Certinia in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Certinia, you gain database-like access to live Certinia data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding Certinia as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of Certinia data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Certinia data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Certinia, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Certinia 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 Certinia data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Certinia as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Certinia follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

There are several authentication methods available for connecting to Certinia: login credentials, SSO, and OAuth.

Authenticating with a Login and Token

Set the User and Password to your login credentials. Additionally, set the SecurityToken. By default, the SecurityToken is required, but you can make it optional by allowing a range of trusted IP addresses.

To disable the security token:

1. Log in to Certinia and enter "Network Access" in the Quick Find box in the setup section.
2. Add your IP address to the list of trusted IP addresses.

To obtain the security token:

1. Open the personal information page on certinia.com.
2. Click the link to reset your security token. The token will be emailed to you.
3. Specify the security token in the SecurityToken connection property or append it to the Password.

Authenticating with OAuth

If you do not have access to the user name and password or do not want to require them, use the OAuth user consent flow. See the OAuth section in the Help for an authentication guide.

Connecting to Certinia Sandbox Accounts

Set UseSandbox to true (false by default) to use a Certinia sandbox account. Ensure that you specify a sandbox user name in User.

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 Certinia 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

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize Certinia Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting Certinia in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to Certinia in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add Certinia data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of Certinia data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData Certinia Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the Certinia data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query. SELECT * FROM Account NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Certinia data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Certinia, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver.
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for Certinia in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Certinia data. Read our other articles on connecting to Certinia in MicroStrategy and connecting to Certinia in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.