Visualize Bullhorn CRM Data in Tableau Desktop (through CData Connect)

Tableau is a visual analytics platform transforming the way businesses use data to solve problems. When paired with CData Connect (or Connect Server), you can easily get access to live Bullhorn CRM data within Tableau.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for Bullhorn CRM, allowing you to easily build reports from live Bullhorn CRM data in Tableau Desktop — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build visualizations, Tableau Desktop generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Bullhorn CRM, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Bullhorn CRM data.

This article shows how to create a virtual SQL Server database for Bullhorn CRM, connect to the virtual database in Tableau, and build a simple chart.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for Bullhorn CRM Data

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

1. Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
2. Select "Bullhorn CRM" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Bullhorn CRM.

   Begin by providing your Bullhorn CRM account credentials in the following:

   • DataCenterCode: Set this to the data center code which responds to your data center. Refer to the list of data-center-specific Bullhorn API URLs: https://bullhorn.github.io/Data-Center-URLs/

   If you are uncertain about your data center code, codes like CLS2, CLS21, etc. are cluster IDs that are contained in a user's browser URL (address bar) once they are logged in.

   Example: https://cls21.bullhornstaffing.com/BullhornSTAFFING/MainFrame.jsp?#no-ba... indicates that the logged in user is on CLS21.

   Authenticating with OAuth

   Bullhorn CRM uses the OAuth 2.0 authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, create and configure a custom OAuth app. See the Help documentation for more information.

4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

With the virtual database created, you are ready to connect to Bullhorn CRM data from Tableau Desktop.

Visualize Live Bullhorn CRM Data in Tableau Desktop

The steps below outline connecting to the virtual Bullhorn CRM database in CData Connect and building a simple visualization from the data.

1. Open Tableau and click "Microsoft SQL Server" under Connect -> To a Server.
2. In the connection wizard, enter the values for your CData Connect instance and click "Sign In"
   • Server: the address of your Connect instance and port of the TDS endpoint, separated by a comma (default port is: 1433)
   • Database: the virtual database you configured for the Bullhorn CRM data
   • Username & Password: the credentials for a CData Connect user
3. Select your newly created database and the table(s) you wish to visualize (defining relationships for JOINed tables as needed).
4. Select Dimensions and Measures and configure your visualization.

SQL Access to Bullhorn CRM Data from On-Premise Applications

At this point, you have a direct connection to live Bullhorn CRM data from your Tableau Desktop workbook. You can create new visualizations, build dashboards, and more. For more information on gaining SQL access to data from more than 200 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including Bullhorn CRM) from desktop applications like Tableau refer to our CData Connect page or download a free trial.