Visualize SharePoint Data in Tableau Desktop (through CData Connect)

Tableau is a visual analytics platform transforming the way businesses use data to solve problems. When paired with CData Connect (or Connect Server), you can easily get access to live SharePoint data within Tableau.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for SharePoint, allowing you to easily build reports from live SharePoint data in Tableau Desktop — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build visualizations, Tableau Desktop generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to SharePoint, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested SharePoint data.

This article shows how to create a virtual SQL Server database for SharePoint, connect to the virtual database in Tableau, and build a simple chart.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for SharePoint Data

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

1. Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
2. Select "SharePoint" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SharePoint.

   Set the URL property to the base SharePoint site or to a sub-site. This allows you to query any lists and other SharePoint entities defined for the site or sub-site.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SharePoint user credentials when using SharePoint On-Premise.

   If you are connecting to SharePoint Online, set the SharePointEdition to SHAREPOINTONLINE along with the User and Password connection string properties. For more details on connecting to SharePoint Online, see the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation

4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

With the virtual database created, you are ready to connect to SharePoint data from Tableau Desktop.

Visualize Live SharePoint Data in Tableau Desktop

The steps below outline connecting to the virtual SharePoint database in CData Connect and building a simple visualization from the data.

1. Open Tableau and click "Microsoft SQL Server" under Connect -> To a Server.
2. In the connection wizard, enter the values for your CData Connect instance and click "Sign In"
   • Server: the address of your Connect instance and port of the TDS endpoint, separated by a comma (default port is: 1433)
   • Database: the virtual database you configured for the SharePoint data
   • Username & Password: the credentials for a CData Connect user
3. Select your newly created database and the table(s) you wish to visualize (defining relationships for JOINed tables as needed).
4. Select Dimensions and Measures and configure your visualization.

SQL Access to SharePoint Data from On-Premise Applications

At this point, you have a direct connection to live SharePoint data from your Tableau Desktop workbook. You can create new visualizations, build dashboards, and more. For more information on gaining SQL access to data from more than 200 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including SharePoint) from desktop applications like Tableau refer to our CData Connect page or download a free trial.