How to integrate Metabase with SAP Business One Data

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live SAP Business One data. This article describes how to connect to SAP Business One and build a simple visualization using SAP Business One data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for SAP Business One, allowing you to easily integrate with live SAP Business One data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to SAP Business One, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return SAP Business One data.

Configure SAP Business One Connectivity for Metabase

Connectivity to SAP Business One from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with SAP Business One data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a SAP Business One connection.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "SAP Business One" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAP Business One.

   To authenticate to SAP Business One you must provide the Userand Passwordproperties.

   To connect to data, specify Url. This is your SAP Business One Service Layer root URL.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SAP Business One Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to SAP Business One data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect from Metabase

After creating the virtual database, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
2. Configure the connection to Connect Cloud and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "SAP Business One (Connect Cloud)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. SAPBusinessOne1)
   • Username: A Connect Cloud username (e.g. user@mydomain.com)
   • Password: The PAT for the above Connect Cloud user
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)

Execute SAP Business One Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect Cloud, you can query SAP Business One and build visualizations.

1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the SAP Business One data
2. Write a SQL query based on the SAP Business One connection in CData Connect Cloud, e.g.
   
   

   SELECT DocEntry, DocType FROM Orders

3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have built a simple visualization from SAP Business One data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live SAP Business One data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to SAP Business One (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live SAP Business One data in Metabase today.