Use CData Connect Cloud to Access Sugar CRM Data in Microsoft Power Pivot

This article will explain how to use CData Connect Cloud to present Sugar CRM data as OData services and then consume the data in Microsoft Excel's Power Pivot business intelligence tool. Follow the steps below to retrieve and edit Sugar CRM data in Power Pivot.

Connect to Sugar CRM from Power Pivot

To work with Sugar CRM data from Power Pivot, we need to connect to Sugar CRM from Connect Cloud, provide user access to the connection, and create OData endpoints for the Sugar CRM data.

(Optional) Add a New Connect Cloud User

As needed, create Users to connect to Sugar CRM through Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the Users page and click Invite Users
2. Enter the new user's email address and click Send to invite the user
3. You can review and edit users from the Users page

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.

Connect to Sugar CRM from Connect Cloud

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

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

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SugarCRM user credentials. This will use the default OAuth token created to allow client logins. OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret are required if you do not wish to use the default OAuth token.

   You can generate a new OAuth consumer key and consumer secret in Admin -> OAuth Keys. Set the OAuthClientId to the OAuth consumer key. Set the OAuthClientSecret to the consumer secret.

   Additionally, specify the URL to the SugarCRM account.

   Note that retrieving SugarCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you store the metadata locally as described in the "Caching Metadata" chapter of the help documentation.

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

Add Sugar CRM OData Endpoints in Connect Cloud

After connecting to Sugar CRM, create OData Endpoints for the desired table(s).

1. Navigate to the OData page and click Add to create new OData endpoints
2. Select the Sugar CRM connection (e.g. SugarCRM1) and click Next
3. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm

With the connection and OData endpoints configured, you are ready to connect to Sugar CRM data from Power Pivot.

Import Sugar CRM 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. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/service)
3. On the next screen, select Basic and configure the username and password. Password will be your PAT.

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 Sugar CRM data in Power Pivot.

Free Trial & More Information

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