Use the CData ODBC Driver for Oracle Eloqua Reporting in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Oracle Eloqua Reporting, you gain database-like access to live Oracle Eloqua Reporting data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding Oracle Eloqua Reporting as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of Oracle Eloqua Reporting data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Oracle Eloqua Reporting data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Oracle Eloqua Reporting, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Oracle Eloqua Reporting 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 Oracle Eloqua Reporting data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Oracle Eloqua Reporting as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Oracle Eloqua Reporting follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

Oracle Eloqua Reporting supports the following authentication methods:

• Basic authentication (User and Password)
• OAuth 2.0 code grant flow
• OAuth 2.0 password grant flow

Basic Authentication (User and Password)

To perform authentication with a user and password, specify these properties:

• AuthScheme: Basic.
• Company: The company name associated with your Oracle Eloqua Reporting account.
• User: Your login account name.
• Password: Your login password.

OAuth Authentication (Code Grant Flow)

To authenticate with the OAuth code grant flow, you must set AuthScheme to OAuth and create a custom OAuth application. For information about how to create a custom OAuth application, see the Help documentation.

Then set the following properties:

• InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
• OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your application.
• OAuthClientSecret: The client secret that was assigned when you registered your application.
• CallbackURL: The redirect URI that was defined when you registered your application.

When you connect, the driver opens Oracle Eloqua Reporting's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application. When the access token expires, the driver refreshes it automatically.

OAuth Authentication (Password Grant Flow)

With the OAuth password grant flow, you can use your OAuth application's credentials alongside your user credentials to authenticate without the need to grant permission manually via a browser prompt. You must create an OAuth app (see the Help documentation) to use this authentication method.

Set the following properties:

• AuthScheme: OAuthPassword
• Company: The company's unique identifier.
• User: Your login account name.
• Password: Your login password.
• OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
• OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

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 Oracle Eloqua Reporting 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 OracleEloquaReporting Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Oracle Eloqua Reporting
Description = My Description
AuthScheme = Basic
User = user
Password = password
Company = MyCompany

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize Oracle Eloqua Reporting Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting Oracle Eloqua Reporting in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to Oracle Eloqua Reporting in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add Oracle Eloqua Reporting data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of Oracle Eloqua Reporting data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData OracleEloquaReporting Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.

6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the Oracle Eloqua Reporting data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM 
   

   NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Oracle Eloqua Reporting data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Oracle Eloqua Reporting, 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.
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for Oracle Eloqua Reporting in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Oracle Eloqua Reporting data. Read our other articles on connecting to Oracle Eloqua Reporting in MicroStrategy and connecting to Oracle Eloqua Reporting in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.