Create SSAS Tabular Models from Drift Data

SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) is an analytical data engine used in decision support and business analytics. It provides enterprise-grade semantic data models for business reports and client applications, such as Power BI, Excel, Reporting Services reports, and other data visualization tools. When paired with the CData API Driver for ODBC, you can create a tabular model from Drift data for deeper and faster data analysis.

Create a Connection to Drift Data

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.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Drift Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Drift.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Drift (see below).

Drift API Profile Settings

Drift uses OAuth-based authentication.

You must first register an application here: https://dev.drift.com. Your app will be assigned a client ID and a client secret. Set these in your connection string via the OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret properties. More information on setting up an OAuth application can be found at https://devdocs.drift.com/docs/.

After setting the following options in the ProfileSettings connection property, you are ready to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
• OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id that is specified in your app settings.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to Client Secret that is specified in your app settings.
• CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app settings.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.

Creating a Data Source for Drift

Start by creating a new Analysis Services Tabular Project in Visual Studio. Next create a Data Source for Drift in the project.

1. In the Tabular Model Explorer, right-click Data Sources and select "New Data Source"
2. Select "ODBC" from the Other tab and click "Connect"
3. Select the DSN you previously configured
4. Choose "Default or Custom" as the authentication option and click "Connect"

Add Tables & Relationships

After creating the data source you are ready to import tables and define the relationships between the tables.

1. Right-click the new data source, click "Import New Tables" and select the tables to import
2. After importing the tables, right-click "Relationships" and click "Create Relationships"
3. Select table(s), and choose the foreign keys, cardinality, and filter direction

Create Measures

After importing the tables and defining the relationships, you are ready to create measures.

1. Select the column in the table for which you wish to create a measure
2. In the Extensions menu -> click "Columns" -> "AutoSum" and select your aggregation method

Deploy the Model

Once you create measures, you are ready to deploy the model. Configure the target server and database by right-clicking the project and selecting "Properties." Configure the "Deployment Server" properties and click "OK."

After configuring the deployment server, open the "Build" menu and click "Deploy Solution." You now have a tabular model for Drift data in your SSAS instance, ready to be analyzed, reported, and viewed. Get started with a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for ODBC.