Use CData Connect AI to Access Calendly Data in Microsoft Power Pivot

Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use CData Connect AI to connect to live Calendly data in the Power Pivot business intelligence tool.

This article will explain how to use CData Connect AI to present Calendly data as OData services and then consume the data in Microsoft Excel's Power Pivot business intelligence tool. Follow the steps below to retrieve Calendly data in Power Pivot.

Connect to Calendly from Power Pivot

To work with Calendly data from Power Pivot, we need to connect to Calendly from Connect AI, provide user access to the connection, and create a Virtual Schema for the Calendly data.

Connect to Calendly from Connect AI

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

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
  2. Adding a Connection
  3. Select "Calendly" from the Add Connection panel
  4. Selecting a data source
  5. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Calendly.

    Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Calendly Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\CalendlyProfile.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Calendly (see below).

    Calendly API Profile Settings

    To authenticate to Calendly, provide an API Key. The Calendly API Key, can be found in your Calendly account, under 'Integrations' > 'API & Webhooks' > 'Generate New Token'. Set the APIKey in the ProfileSettings connection property. Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)

  6. Click Save & Test
  7. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Calendly Connection page and update the User-based permissions. Updating permissions

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

  1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
  2. On the Settings page, go to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
  3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. Creating a new PAT
  4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Configure Calendly Endpoints for Power Pivot

After connecting to Calendly, create a virtual schema for your desired table(s).

  1. Navigate to the Virtual Schemas page and click Add to create a new Virtual Schema (enter a Virtual Schema Name and click Confirm), or select an existing one. The Virtual Schemas page. Adding a new Virtual Schema.
  2. Click Add to open the Add Asset dialog and add new assets to the Virtual Schema.
  3. Select the Calendly connection (e.g. API1) and click Next. Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
  4. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm. Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
  5. Click View Endpoints and make note of the OData Service URL for your virtual schema, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{virtual_schema_name}

With the connection, PAT, and Virtual Schema configured, you are ready to connect to Calendly data from Power Pivot.

Import Calendly Tables in Power Pivot

Follow the steps below to import tables that can be refreshed on demand:

  1. In Excel, click Data -> Get Data -> From Other Sources -> From OData Feed Starting the OData connection.
  2. Fill out the OData feed URL (e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{virtual_schema_name}) The URL of the OData endpoint for Connect AI.
  3. On the next screen, select Basic and configure the username and password. Password will be your PAT. Authenticating with Connect AI
  4. Select the tables that you would like to import into Excel Selecting tables (Salesforce is shown.)

  5. After selecting your table(s) and clicking Load, you should see the data appear in an Excel spreadsheet Loading tables (Salesforce is shown.)

  6. Now, click the Power Pivot tab on the ribbon, and then select Add to Data Model. Loading data into Power Pivot (Salesforce is shown.) This can now work with your Calendly data in Power Pivot.

    The Pivot Table that is consuming OData feeds from Connect AI. (Salesforce is shown.)

Free Trial & More Information

If you are interested in connecting to your Calendly data (or data from any of our other supported data sources) from Power Pivot, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect AI today! For more information on Connect AI and to see what other data sources we support, refer to our CData Connect AI page.

Ready to get started?

Learn more about CData Connect AI or sign up for free trial access:

Free Trial