Import Certinia 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 AI, you get access to Certinia data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Certinia in CData Connect AI, publish a dataset from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI Service and then create reports on Certinia data in the Power BI service.

Configure Certinia Connectivity for Power BI Service

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

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "Certinia" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Certinia.

   There are several authentication methods available for connecting to Certinia: login credentials, SSO, and OAuth.

   Authenticating with a Login and Token

   Set the User and Password to your login credentials. Additionally, set the SecurityToken. By default, the SecurityToken is required, but you can make it optional by allowing a range of trusted IP addresses.

   To disable the security token:

   1. Log in to Certinia and enter "Network Access" in the Quick Find box in the setup section.
   2. Add your IP address to the list of trusted IP addresses.

   To obtain the security token:

   1. Open the personal information page on certinia.com.
   2. Click the link to reset your security token. The token will be emailed to you.
   3. Specify the security token in the SecurityToken connection property or append it to the Password.

   Authenticating with OAuth

   If you do not have access to the user name and password or do not want to require them, use the OAuth user consent flow. See the OAuth section in the Help for an authentication guide.

   Connecting to Certinia Sandbox Accounts

   Set UseSandbox to true (false by default) to use a Certinia sandbox account. Ensure that you specify a sandbox user name in User.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Certinia Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

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

Publish a Dataset from Power BI Desktop

Once you connect to Certinia in Connect AI, 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 AI and click "Connect"
2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect AI account
3. After signing in, click "Connect"
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog
5. Click Load to establish the connection to your Certinia 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 Certinia 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 Certinia Data from Cloud Applications

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

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