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Get the Report →Create an SAP BusinessObjects Universe on the CData ODBC Driver for Asana
Provide connectivity to Asana data through an SAP BusinessObjects universe.
This article shows how to create and publish an SAP BusinessObjects universe on the CData ODBC Driver for Asana. You will connect to Asana data from the Information Design Tool as well as the Web Intelligence tool.
Connect to Asana as an ODBC Data Source
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.
You can optionally set the following to refine the data returned from Asana.
- WorkspaceId: Set this to the globally unique identifier (gid) associated with your Asana Workspace to only return projects from the specified workspace. To get your workspace id, navigate to https://app.asana.com/api/1.0/workspaces while logged into Asana. This displays a JSON object containing your workspace name and Id.
- ProjectId: Set this to the globally unique identifier (gid) associated with your Asana Project to only return data mapped under the specified project. Project IDs can be found in the URL of your project's Overview page. This will be the numbers directly after /0/.
Connect Using OAuth Authentication
You must use OAuth to authenticate with Asana. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with Asana using the browser. See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.
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.
Create an ODBC Connection to Asana Data
This section shows how to create a connection to the Asana ODBC data source in the Information Design Tool. After you create a connection, you can analyze data or create a BusinessObjects universe.
Right-click your project and click New -> New Relational Connection.
- In the wizard that is displayed, enter a name for the connection.
Select Generic -> Generic ODBC datasource -> ODBC Drivers and select the DSN.
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Finish the wizard with the default values for connection pooling and custom parameters.
Analyze Asana Data in the Information Design Tool
In the Information Design Tool, you can use both published and local ODBC connections to browse and query data.
In the Local Projects view, double-click the connection (the .cnx file) to open the Asana data source.
On the Show Values tab, you can load table data and enter SQL queries. To view table data, expand the node for the table, right-click the table, and click Show Values. Values will be displayed in the Raw Data tab.
On the Analysis tab, you can drag and drop columns onto the axes of a chart.
Publish the Local Connection
To publish the universe to the CMS, you additionally need to publish the connection.
In the Local Projects view, right-click the connection and click Publish Connection to a Repository.
Enter the host and port of the repository and connection credentials.
Select the folder where the connection will be published.
In the success dialog that results, click Yes to create a connection shortcut.
Create a Universe on the ODBC Driver for Asana
You can follow the steps below to create a universe on the ODBC driver for Asana. The universe in this example will be published to a repository, so it uses the published connection created in the previous step.
In the Information Design Tool, click File->New Universe.
Select your project.
Select the option to create the universe on a relational data source.
Select the shortcut to the published connection.
Enter a name for the Data Foundation.
Import tables and columns that you want to access as objects.
Enter a name for the Business Layer.
Publish the Universe
You can follow the steps below to publish the universe to the CMS.
In the Local Projects view, right-click the business layer and click Publish -> To a Repository.
In the Publish Universe dialog, enter any integrity checks before importing.
Select or create a folder on the repository where the universe will be published.
Query Asana Data in Web Intelligence
You can use the published universe to connect to Asana in Web Intelligence.
Open Web Intelligence from the BusinessObjects launchpad and create a new document.
Select the Universe option for the data source.
Select the Asana universe. This opens a Query Panel. Drag objects to the Result Objects pane to use them in the query.