Create Dynamics NAV Dashboards in Bold BI

Bold BI allows you to create, share, and collaborate on interactive BI dashboards. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get instant access to Dynamics NAV data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Dynamics NAV and build reports from Dynamics NAV data in Bold BI.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for Dynamics NAV, allowing you to easily build reports from live Dynamics NAV data in Bold BI — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build visualizations, Bold BI 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 NAV, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Dynamics NAV data.

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

   Before you can connect, OData Services will need to be enabled on the server. Once OData Services are enabled, you will be able to query any Services that are published on the server.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Dynamics NAV user credentials. In addition, you will need to specify a URL to a valid Dynamics NAV server organization root and a ServerInstance. If there is not a Service Default Company for the server, you will need to set the Company as well.

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 NAV data from Bold BI.

Visualize Live Dynamics NAV Data in Bold BI

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Server from Bold BI to create a new Dynamics NAV data source and build a simple visualization from the data.

1. Log into your Bold BI instance, click the data sources tab, create a new data source, and choose the SQL Server connector.
2. Choose the basic configuration and set the connection properties:
   • Name: Name your connection
   • Server name: Your Connect Server instance (CONNECT_SERVER_URL)
   • Port: 1433
   • Username: Your Connect Server username
   • Password: Your Connect Server password
   • Mode: Choose Live to query Dynamics NAV on-demand or choose Extract to load the data into Bold BI
   • Database: Choose the database you created from the drop-down menu (dynamicsnavdb)
3. Click Connect
4. Select the table to visualize and drag it onto the workspace.
5. Select a visualization style and add it to the report.
6. Click the gear icon for the visualization to configure the visualization properties and assign columns to the visualization.

SQL Access to Dynamics NAV Data from Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Dynamics NAV data from your Bold BI workbook. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Dynamics NAV data.

To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, see the CData Connect page.