Visualize SAP Ariba Source Data in TIBCO Spotfire through ODBC



The ODBC standard has ubiquitous support and makes self-service business intelligence easy. Use the ODBC Driver to load SAP Ariba Source data into TIBCO Spotfire.

This article walks you through using the CData ODBC Driver for SAP Ariba Source in TIBCO Spotfire. You will use the data import wizard to connect to a DSN (data source name) for Salesforce and build on the sample visualizations to create a simple dashboard.

Connect to SAP Ariba Source as an ODBC Data Source

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.

In order to connect with SAP Ariba Source, set the following:

  • API: Specify which API you would like the provider to retrieve SAP Ariba data from. Select the Supplier, Sourcing Project Management, or Contract API based on your business role (possible values are SupplierDataAPIWithPaginationV4, SourcingProjectManagementAPIV2, or ContractAPIV1).
  • DataCenter: The data center where your account's data is hosted.
  • Realm: The name of the site you want to access.
  • Environment: Indicate whether you are connecting to a test or production environment (possible values are TEST or PRODUCTION).

If you are connecting to the Supplier Data API or the Contract API, additionally set the following:

  • User: Id of the user on whose behalf API calls are invoked.
  • PasswordAdapter: The password associated with the authenticating User.

If you're connecting to the Supplier API, set ProjectId to the Id of the sourcing project you want to retrieve data from.

Authenticating with OAuth

After setting connection properties, you need to configure OAuth connectivity to authenticate.

  • Set AuthScheme to OAuthClient.
  • Register an application with the service to obtain the APIKey, OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret.

    For more information on creating an OAuth application, refer to the Help documentation.

Automatic OAuth

After setting the following, you are ready to connect:

    APIKey: The Application key in your app settings. OAuthClientId: The OAuth Client Id in your app settings. OAuthClientSecret: The OAuth Secret in your app settings.

When you connect, the provider automatically completes the OAuth process:

  1. The provider obtains an access token from SAP Ariba and uses it to request data.
  2. The provider refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.
  3. The OAuth values are saved in memory relative to the location specified in OAuthSettingsLocation.

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.

Create Visualizations of SAP Ariba Source Tables

Follow the steps below to connect to the DSN and create real-time data visualizations:

  1. Click Data -> Add Data ...
  2. Click Other -> Load data with ODBC, OLE DB, or ADO.NET data provider.
  3. In the Data Source Type menu, select ODBC Data Provider and click Configure.
  4. Select the DSN.
  5. Select the tables that you want to add to the dashboard. This example uses Vendors. You can also specify an SQL query. The driver supports the standard SQL syntax.
  6. If you want to work with the live data, click the Keep Data Table External option. This option enables your dashboards to reflect changes to the data in real time.

    If you want to load the data into memory and process the data locally, click the Import Data Table option. This option is better for offline use or if a slow network connection is making your dashboard less interactive.

  7. After adding tables, the Recommended Visualizations wizard is displayed. When you select a table, Spotfire uses the column data types to detect number, time, and category columns. This example uses Category in the Numbers section and SMVendorID in the Categories section.

After adding several visualizations in the Recommended Visualizations wizard, you can make other modifications to the dashboard. For example, you can zoom in on high probability opportunities by applying a filter on the page. To add a filter, click the Filter button. The available filters for each query are displayed in the Filters pane.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the SAP Ariba Source ODBC Driver to get started:

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SAP Ariba Source Icon SAP Ariba Source ODBC Driver

The SAP Ariba Source ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from SAP Ariba Source, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access SAP Ariba Source data like you would a database - read, write, and update SAP Ariba Source 0, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.