Import Blackbaud FE NXT Data into the Power BI Service for Visualizations

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, you get access to Blackbaud FE NXT data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Blackbaud FE NXT in CData Connect Cloud, publish a dataset from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI Service and then create reports on Blackbaud FE NXT data in the Power BI service.

Configure Blackbaud FE NXT Connectivity for Power BI Service

Connectivity to Blackbaud FE NXT from Power BI Service is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Blackbaud FE NXT data from Power BI Service, we start by creating and configuring a Blackbaud FE NXT connection.

(Optional) Add a New Connect Cloud User

As needed, create Users to connect to Blackbaud FE NXT 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

Connect to Blackbaud FE NXT 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 "Blackbaud FE NXT" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Blackbaud FE NXT.

   Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT 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 guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

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

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Blackbaud FE NXT data from the Power BI service.

Publish a Dataset from Power BI Desktop

Once you connect to Blackbaud FE NXT in Connect Cloud, you can create a dataset in Power BI desktop and publish the dataset to the Power BI service.

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect Cloud and click "Connect"
2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect Cloud account
3. After signing in, click "Connect"
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog
5. Click Load to establish the connection to your Blackbaud FE NXT data from Power BI

6. Define any relationships between the selected entities on the Relationships tab.
7. Click Publish (from the Home menu) and select a Workspace.

Build Reports and Dashboards on Blackbaud FE NXT Data in the Power BI Service

Now that you have published a dataset to the Power BI service, you can create new reports and dashboards based on the published data:

1. Log in to PowerBI.com.
2. Click Workspaces and select a workspace.
3. Click Create and select Report.
4. Select the published dataset for the report.
5. Choose fields and visualizations to add to your report.

Live Access to Blackbaud FE NXT Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Blackbaud FE NXT data from the Power BI service. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Blackbaud FE NXT data.

To get live data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect Cloud.