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Connect to Dynamics 365 data in MicroStrategy Web using the CData JDBC Driver for Dynamics 365.
MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When you pair MicroStrategy with the CData JDBC Driver for Dynamics 365, you gain database-like access to live Dynamics 365 data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding Dynamics 365 as an external data source in MicroStrategy Web and creating a simple visualization of Dynamics 365 data.
The CData JDBC driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Dynamics 365 data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Dynamics 365, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Dynamics 365 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 visualize and analyze Dynamics 365 data using native MicroStrategy data types.
About Dynamics 365 Data Integration
CData simplifies access and integration of live Microsoft Dynamics 365 data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:
- Read and write data in the full Dynamics 365 ecosystem: Sales, Customer Service, Finance & Operations, Marketing, and more.
- Extend the native features of Dynamics CRM with customizable caching and intelligent query aggregation and separation.
- Authenticate securely with Dynamics 365 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 their Dynamics 365 entities - listing, creating, and removing associations between entities.
CData customers use our Dynamics 365 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 Dynamics 365 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 and Visualize Dynamics 365 Data using MicroStrategy Web
You can connect to Dynamics 365 in MicroStrategy Web by adding a data source based on the CData JDBC Driver for Dynamics 365.* Before you begin, you will need install the JDBC Driver for Dynamics 365 on the machine hosting the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server that your instance of MicroStrategy Web is connected to. Once you have created a data source you can build dynamic visualizations of Dynamics 365 data in MicroStrategy Web.
- Open MicroStrategy Web and select your project.
- Click Add External Data, select Databases, and use Select Tables as the Import Option.
- In the Import from Tables wizard, click to add a new Data Source.
- Select Generic in the Database menu and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
- Click the link to show the connection string and opt to edit the connection string. In the Driver menu, select MicroStrategy Cassandra ODBC Driver (MicroStrategy requires a certified driver to interface through JDBC, the actual driver will not be used).
- Set the connection string to the following:
JDBC;MSTR_JDBC_JAR_FOLDER=PATH\TO\JAR\;DRIVER=cdata.jdbc.dynamics365.Dynamics365Driver;URL={jdbc:dynamics365:OrganizationUrl=https://myaccount.operations.dynamics.com/;Edition=Sales;};
Edition and OrganizationUrl are required connection properties. The Dynamics 365 connector supports connecting to the following editions: CustomerService, FieldService, FinOpsOnline, FinOpsOnPremise, HumanResources, Marketing, ProjectOperations and Sales.
For Dynamics 365 Business Central, use the separate Dynamics 365 Business Central driver.
OrganizationUrl is the URL to your Dynamics 365 organization. For instance, https://orgcb42e1d0.crm.dynamics.com
Built-in Connection String Designer
For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Dynamics 365 JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.
java -jar cdata.jdbc.dynamics365.jar
Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.
When you configure the JDBC URL, 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.
- Right-click on the new data source, and choose Edit catalog options.
- Edit the SQL Statement to SELECT * FROM SYS_SCHEMAS to read the metadata from the JDBC Driver.
- Select the new data source to view the available tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
- Drag tables into the pane to import them. Note: Since we create a live connection, we can import whole tables and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products to customize our datasets.
- Click Finish, choose to the option to connect live, save the query, and choose the option to create a new dossier. Live connections are possible and effective, thanks to high-performance data processing native to CData JDBC drivers.
- Choose a visualization, choose fields to display and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Dynamics 365 data. Data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Dynamics 365, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL engine embedded in the driver.
- Once you have finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.
Using the CData JDBC Driver for Dynamics 365 in MicroStrategy Web, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Dynamics 365 data. Read our other articles on connecting to Dynamics 365 in MicroStrategy and connecting to Dynamics 365 in MicroStrategy Desktop for more examples.
Note: Connecting using a JDBC Driver requires a 3- or 4-Tier Architecture.