Use the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Analytics in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Analytics, you gain database-like access to live Adobe Analytics data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding Adobe Analytics as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of Adobe Analytics data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Adobe Analytics data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Adobe Analytics, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Adobe Analytics and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze Adobe Analytics data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Adobe Analytics as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Adobe Analytics follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

Adobe Analytics uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to create an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties. See the "Getting Started" section of the help documentation for a guide.

Retrieving GlobalCompanyId

GlobalCompanyId is a required connection property. If you do not know your Global Company ID, you can find it in the request URL for the users/me endpoint on the Swagger UI. After logging into the Swagger UI Url, expand the users endpoint and then click the GET users/me button. Click the Try it out and Execute buttons. Note your Global Company ID shown in the Request URL immediately preceding the users/me endpoint.

Retrieving Report Suite Id

Report Suite ID (RSID) is also a required connection property. In the Adobe Analytics UI, navigate to Admin -> Report Suites and you will get a list of your report suites along with their identifiers next to the name.

After setting the GlobalCompanyId, RSID and OAuth connection properties, you are ready to connect to Adobe Analytics.

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.

Windows

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.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Analytics in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize Adobe Analytics Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting Adobe Analytics in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to Adobe Analytics in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add Adobe Analytics data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of Adobe Analytics data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData AdobeAnalytics Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the Adobe Analytics data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query. SELECT * FROM AdsReport NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Adobe Analytics data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Adobe Analytics, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver.
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Analytics in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Adobe Analytics data. Read our other articles on connecting to Adobe Analytics in MicroStrategy and connecting to Adobe Analytics in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.