Create SharePoint Excel Services 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 SharePoint Excel Services data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to create a virtual database for SharePoint Excel Services and build reports from SharePoint Excel Services data in Bold BI.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for SharePoint Excel Services, allowing you to easily build reports from live SharePoint Excel Services 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 SharePoint Excel Services, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested SharePoint Excel Services data.

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

   The URL, User, and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid credentials for SharePoint Online, SharePoint 2010, or SharePoint 2013. Additionally, the Library property must be set to a valid SharePoint Document Library and the File property must be set to a valid .xlsx file in the indicated Library.

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 SharePoint Excel Services data from Bold BI.

Visualize Live SharePoint Excel Services Data in Bold BI

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Server from Bold BI to create a new SharePoint Excel Services 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 SharePoint Excel Services on-demand or choose Extract to load the data into Bold BI
   • Database: Choose the database you created from the drop-down menu (excelservicesdb)
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 SharePoint Excel Services Data from Applications

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

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