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Get the Report →Use the CData ODBC Driver for Microsoft Dataverse in SAS for Real-Time Reporting and Analytics
Connect to real-time Microsoft Dataverse data in SAS for reporting, analytics, and visualizations using the CData ODBC Driver for Microsoft Dataverse.
SAS is a software suite developed for advanced analytics, multivariate analysis, business intelligence, data management, and predictive analytics. When you pair SAS with the CData ODBC Driver for Microsoft Dataverse, you gain database-like access to live Microsoft Dataverse data from SAS, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. This articles walks through creating a library for Microsoft Dataverse in SAS and creating a simple report based on real-time Microsoft Dataverse data.
The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Microsoft Dataverse data in SAS due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SAS to Microsoft Dataverse, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Microsoft Dataverse and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can easily visualize and analyze Microsoft Dataverse data in SAS.
About Microsoft Dataverse Data Integration
CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from Microsoft Dataverse (formerly the Common Data Service). Customers use CData connectivity to:
- Access both Dataverse Entities and Dataverse system tables to work with exactly the data they need.
- Authenticate securely with Microsoft Dataverse in a variety of ways, including Azure Active Directory, Azure Managed Service Identity credentials, and Azure Service Principal using either a client secret or a certificate.
- Use SQL stored procedures to manage Microsoft Dataverse entities - listing, creating, and removing associations between entities.
CData customers use our Dataverse connectivity solutions for a variety of reasons, whether they're looking to replicate their data into a data warehouse (alongside other data sources)or analyze live Dataverse data from their preferred data tools inside the Microsoft ecosystem (Power BI, Excel, etc.) or with external tools (Tableau, Looker, etc.).
Getting Started
Connect to Microsoft Dataverse as an ODBC Data Source
Information for connecting to Microsoft Dataverse follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments (the ODBC Driver for Microsoft Dataverse must be installed on the machine hosting the SAS System).
You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. Below are the minimum connection properties required to connect.
- InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
- OrganizationUrl: Set this to the organization URL you are connecting to, such as https://myorganization.crm.dynamics.com.
- Tenant (optional): Set this if you wish to authenticate to a different tenant than your default. This is required to work with an organization not on your default Tenant.
When you connect the Common Data Service OAuth endpoint opens in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions. The OAuth process completes automatically.
When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.
Windows
If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.
Linux
If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Microsoft Dataverse in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.
/etc/odbc.ini
[CData CDS Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Microsoft Dataverse
Description = My Description
OrganizationUrl = https://myaccount.crm.dynamics.com/
For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).
Create a Microsoft Dataverse Library in SAS
Connect to Microsoft Dataverse in SAS by adding a library based on the CData ODBC Driver for Microsoft Dataverse.
- Open SAS and expand Libraries in the Explorer pane.
- In the Active Libraries window, right-click and select New.
- Name your library (odbclib), select ODBC as the Engine, and click to Enable at startup (if you want the library to persist between sessions).
- Set Data Source to the DSN you previously configured and click OK.
Create a View from a Microsoft Dataverse Query
SAS natively supports querying data either using a low-code, point-and-click Query tool or programmatically with PROC SQL and a custom SQL query. When you create a View in SAS, the defining query is executed each time the view is queried. This means that you always query live Microsoft Dataverse data for reports, charts, and analytics.
Using the Query Tool
- In SAS, click Tools -> Query
- Select the table sources and the table(s) you wish to pull data from. Then, click OK.
- Select columns and right-click to add filtering, ordering, grouping, etc.
- Create a local view to contain the query results by right-clicking the SQL Query Tool window, selecting Show Query, and clicking Create View. Name the View and click OK.
Using PROC SQL
- In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
- Use PROC SQL to query the data and create a local view.
NOTE: This procedure creates a view in the Work library. You can optionally specify a library in the create view statement.proc sql; create view accounts_view as select accountid, name from odbclib.accounts where Name = 'MyAccount'; quit;
- Click Run -> Submit to execute the query and create a local view.
Report On or Visualize Microsoft Dataverse Data in SAS
With a local view created, you can report, visualize, or otherwise analyze Microsoft Dataverse data using the powerful SAS features. Print a simple report using PROC PRINT and create a basic graph based on the data using PROC GCHART.
Print an HTML Report
- In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
- Use PROC PRINT to print an HTML report for the Microsoft Dataverse Accounts data.
proc print data=accounts; title "Microsoft Dataverse Accounts Data"; run;
Print a Chart
- In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
- Use PROC GCHART to create a chart for the Accounts data.
proc gchart data=accounts; pie accountid / sumvar=name value=arrow percent=arrow noheading percent=inside plabel=(height=12pt) slice=inside value=none name='AccountsChart'; run;