Use the Connect Server to Access SAP BusinessObjects BI Data in Microsoft Power Pivot



Use the Connect Server to connect to live SAP BusinessObjects BI data in the Power Pivot business intelligence tool.

This article will explain how to use the Connect Server to provide SAP BusinessObjects BI data as OData services and then consume the data in Microsoft Excel's Power Pivot business intelligence tool. Follow the steps below to retrieve SAP BusinessObjects BI data in Power Pivot.

Connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI from Power Pivot

To work with live SAP BusinessObjects BI data in Power Pivot, we need to connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI from Connect Server, provide user access to the new virtual database, and create OData endpoints for the SAP BusinessObjects BI data.

Add a Connect Server User

Create a User to connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI from Power Pivot through Connect Server.

  1. Click Users -> Add
  2. Configure a User
  3. Click Save Changes and make note of the Authtoken for the new user

Connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI from Connect Server

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

  1. Open Connect Server and click Connections
  2. Select "SAP BusinessObjects BI" from Available Data Sources
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI.

    To connect to your SAP Business Objects BI instance, you must set the following connection properties:

    • Url: set this to the rest API URL. After logging into the Central Management Console, choose 'Applications' from the combo box. Double-click on 'RESTful Web Service' and you'll see the access URL. By default it is, http://{Server-Name}:6405/biprws.
    • User: set this to the username of your instance.
    • Password: set this to the password of your instance.
  4. Click Save Changes
  5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions (SELECT is all that is required for Reveal).

Add SAP BusinessObjects BI OData Endpoints in Connect Server

After connecting to SAP BusinessObjects BI, create OData Endpoints for the desired table(s).

  1. Click OData -> Tables -> Add Tables
  2. Select the SAP BusinessObjects BI database
  3. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Next
  4. (Optional) Edit the resource to select specific fields and more
  5. Save the settings

(Optional) Configure Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

When accessing and connecting to multiple domains from an application, there is a possibility of violating the limitations of cross-site scripting. In that case, configure the CORS settings in OData -> Settings.

  • Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS): ON
  • Allow all domains without '*': ON
  • Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, PUT, POST, OPTIONS
  • Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Authorization

Save the changes to the settings.

Import SAP BusinessObjects BI Tables in Power Pivot

Follow the steps below to import tables that can be refreshed on demand:

  1. In Excel, click Data -> Get Data -> From Other Sources -> From OData Feed
  2. Fill out the OData feed URL (e.g. http://localhost:8080/odata.rsc)
  3. On the next screen, select Basic and configure the username and password. Password should be your auth token.
  4. Select the tables that you would like to import into Excel

  5. After selecting your table(s) and clicking Load, you should see the data appear in an Excel spreadsheet

  6. Now, click the Power Pivot tab on the ribbon, and then select Add to Data Model. This can now work with your SAP BusinessObjects BI data in Power Pivot.

Free Trial & More Information

If you are interested in connecting to your SAP BusinessObjects BI data (or data from any of our other supported data sources) from Power Pivot, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect Server today! For more information on Connect Server and to see what other data sources we support, refer to our CData Connect page.

Ready to get started?

Learn more or sign up for a free trial:

CData Connect Server