Discover how a bimodal integration strategy can address the major data management challenges facing your organization today.
Get the Report →Use the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics NAV in SAS for Real-Time Reporting and Analytics
Connect to real-time Dynamics NAV data in SAS for reporting, analytics, and visualizations using the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics NAV.
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 Dynamics NAV, you gain database-like access to live Dynamics NAV data from SAS, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. This articles walks through creating a library for Dynamics NAV in SAS and creating a simple report based on real-time Dynamics NAV data.
The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Dynamics NAV data in SAS due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SAS to Dynamics NAV, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Dynamics NAV 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 Dynamics NAV data in SAS.
Connect to Dynamics NAV as an ODBC Data Source
Information for connecting to Dynamics NAV follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments (the ODBC Driver for Dynamics NAV must be installed on the machine hosting the SAS System).
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.
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 Dynamics NAV 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 DynamicsNAV Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics NAV
Description = My Description
http://myserver:7048
User = myserver\Administrator
Password = admin
ServerInstance = DYNAMICSNAV71
For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).
Create a Dynamics NAV Library in SAS
Connect to Dynamics NAV in SAS by adding a library based on the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics NAV.
- 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 Dynamics NAV 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 Dynamics NAV 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 customer_view as select name, prices_including_vat from odbclib.customer where Name = 'Bob'; quit;
- Click Run -> Submit to execute the query and create a local view.
Report On or Visualize Dynamics NAV Data in SAS
With a local view created, you can report, visualize, or otherwise analyze Dynamics NAV 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 Dynamics NAV Customer data.
proc print data=customer; title "Dynamics NAV Customer Data"; run;
Print a Chart
- In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
- Use PROC GCHART to create a chart for the Customer data.
proc gchart data=customer; pie name / sumvar=prices_including_vat value=arrow percent=arrow noheading percent=inside plabel=(height=12pt) slice=inside value=none name='CustomerChart'; run;