Use the CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Experience Manager in MicroStrategy Desktop

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

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Adobe Experience Manager data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Adobe Experience Manager, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Adobe Experience Manager 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 Experience Manager data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Adobe Experience Manager as an ODBC Data Source

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

The driver connects to Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) instances that expose the JCR repository over WebDAV. It supports both on-premises AEM and AEM as a Cloud Service deployments.

To establish a connection, set the following properties:

• URL: The WebDAV-enabled JCR server URL.
  • AEM as a Cloud Service: https://author-pXXXXX-eXXXXX.adobeaemcloud.com/crx/server
  • Local development: http://localhost:4502/crx/server
• User: Your AEM username.
• Password: Your AEM password.

Note: Tables are dynamically generated based on the JCR repository structure. Ensure that the configured user has sufficient permissions to access the required content paths in the AEM repository.

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 Experience Manager 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

[CData AdobeExperienceManager Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Adobe Experience Manager
Description = My Description
URL = https://author-p12345-e67890.adobeaemcloud.com/crx/server
User = admin
Password = admin

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

Connect to and Visualize Adobe Experience Manager Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting Adobe Experience Manager in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to Adobe Experience Manager in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add Adobe Experience Manager data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of Adobe Experience Manager 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 AdobeExperienceManager 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 Experience Manager data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM Content
   

   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 Experience Manager data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Adobe Experience Manager, 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 Experience Manager in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Adobe Experience Manager data. Read our other articles on connecting to Adobe Experience Manager in MicroStrategy and connecting to Adobe Experience Manager in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.