Visualize Dynamics 365 Business Central 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 Dynamics 365 Business Central data within Tableau.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for Dynamics 365 Business Central, allowing you to easily build reports from live Dynamics 365 Business Central 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 Dynamics 365 Business Central, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Dynamics 365 Business Central data.

This article shows how to create a virtual SQL Server database for Dynamics 365 Business Central, connect to the virtual database in Tableau, and build a simple chart.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for Dynamics 365 Business Central 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 "Dynamics 365 Business Central" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central.

   To authenticate to Dynamics 365 Business Central, you must provide the User and AccessKey properties.

   To obtain the User and AccessKey values, navigate to the Users page in Dynamics 365 Business Central and then click on Edit. The User Name and Web Service Access Key values are what you will enter as the User and AccessKey connection string properties. Note that the User Name is not your email address. It is a shortened user name.

   To connect to data, specify OrganizationUrl. If you have multiple companies in your organization, you must also specify the Company to indicate which company you would like to connect to. Company does not need to be specified if you have only one company.

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 Dynamics 365 Business Central data from Tableau Desktop.

Visualize Live Dynamics 365 Business Central Data in Tableau Desktop

The steps below outline connecting to the virtual Dynamics 365 Business Central 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 Dynamics 365 Business Central 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 Dynamics 365 Business Central Data from On-Premise Applications

At this point, you have a direct connection to live Dynamics 365 Business Central 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 Dynamics 365 Business Central) from desktop applications like Tableau refer to our CData Connect page or download a free trial.