Analyze Epicor Kinetic Data in SAP Analytics Cloud

SAP Analytics Cloud is a cloud-based business intelligence platform. The CData Connect Server creates a virtual database for Epicor Kinetic and can be used to generate an OData API (natively consumable in Analytics Cloud) for Epicor Kinetic. By pairing SAP Analytics Cloud with the CData Connect Server, you get direct connectivity to all of your SaaS and cloud-based Big Data and NoSQL sources — no need to migrate your data or write your integrations. Simply connect to Connect Server as you would any other OData service and get instant, consolidated access to all of your data.

In this article, we walk through connecting to Epicor Kinetic in Connect Server and connecting to Connect Server from Analytics Cloud to create a model and build a simple dashboard.

Configure Connect Server to Connect to Epicor Kinetic

To connect to Epicor Kinetic data from SAP Analytics Cloud, you need to configure Epicor Kinetic access from your Connect Server instance. This means creating a user, connecting to Epicor Kinetic, adding OData endpoints, and (optionally) configuring CORS.

Add a Connect Server User

Create a User to connect to Epicor Kinetic from Analytics Cloud through Connect Server.

1. Click Users -> Add
2. Configure a User
3. Click Save Changes and make note of the Authtoken for the new user

Connect to Epicor Kinetic from Connect Server

CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.

1. Open Connect Server and click Connections
2. Select "Epicor Kinetic" from Available Data Sources
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Epicor Kinetic.

   To successfully connect to your ERP instance, you must specify the following connection properties:

   • Url:the URL of the server hosting your ERP instance. For example, https://myserver.EpicorSaaS.com
   • ERPInstance: the name of your ERP instance.
   • User: the username of your account.
   • Password: the password of your account.
   • Service: the service you want to retrieve data from. For example, BaqSvc.

   In addition, you may also set the optional connection properties:

   • ApiKey: An optional key that may be required for connection to some services depending on your account configuration.
   • ApiVersion: Defaults to v1. May be set to v2 to use the newer Epicor API.
   • Company: Required if you set the ApiVersion to v2.
4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add, and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions (SELECT is all that is required for Reveal)

Add Epicor Kinetic OData Endpoints in Connect Server

After connecting to Epicor Kinetic, create OData Endpoint for the desired table(s).

1. Click OData -> Tables -> Add Tables
2. Select the Epicor Kinetic database
3. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Next
4. (Optional) Edit the resource to select specific fields and more
5. Save the settings

(Optional) Configure Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

When accessing and connecting to multiple different domains from an application such as Ajax, there is a possibility of violating the limitations of cross-site scripting. In that case, configure the CORS settings in OData -> Settings.

• Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS): ON
• Allow all domains without '*': ON
• Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, PUT, POST, OPTIONS
• Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Authorization

Save the changes to the settings.

Create a Model of Epicor Kinetic Data in SAP Analytics Cloud

With the connection to Epicor Kinetic configured and the OData endpoint(s) created, we can create a Model for Epicor Kinetic data in SAP Analytics Cloud.

1. Log into your Analytics Cloud instance and click Create -> Model from the menu.
2. Choose "Get data from a datasource" and select "OData Services"
3. Choose an existing connection to your Connect Server OData or Create a new one:
   • Set "Connection Name"
   • Set "Data Service URL" to the Base URL for your OData API (typically: CONNECT_SERVER_URL/api.rsc)
   • Set "Authentication Type" to Basic Authentication
   • Set "User Name" to the Connect Server user you configured earlier
   • Set "Password" to the Authtoken for the above user
4. Choose "Create a new query" and click Next
5. Name the Query, select an OData endpoint (like epicorkineticdb_Customers) and click Next
6. Drag the columns you wish to work with into the Selected Data workspace and click Create
7. At this point, a Draft Data source is created; click the draft to finalize the model
8. Perform any transformations, including creating calculated dimensions, location dimensions, and combining data sources, then click Create Model
9. Name your model and click OK

Build a Dashboard in SAP Analytics Cloud

With the model created, you are ready to create a dashboard in SAP Analytics Cloud based on Epicor Kinetic data.

1. From the menu, click Create -> Story
2. Click an SAP Analytics Template (this article uses the "Dashboard" template)
3. Choose a layout and click Apply
4. From the More menu, select a visualization to insert (Chart)
5. Select a model to visualize
6. Select a structure and the required Measures and Dimensions
7. Save the story

More Information & Free Trial

Now, you have created a simple but powerful dashboard from live Epicor Kinetic data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Epicor Kinetic (and more than 200 other data sources), visit the Connect Server page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Epicor Kinetic data in SAP Analytics Cloud.