Visualize Jira Service Desk Data in Tableau Desktop (through CData Connect)

Tableau is a visual analytics platform transforming the way businesses use data to solve problems. When paired with CData Connect (or Connect Server), you can easily get access to live Jira Service Desk data within Tableau.

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

This article shows how to create a virtual SQL Server database for Jira Service Desk, connect to the virtual database in Tableau, and build a simple chart.

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

   You can establish a connection to any Jira Service Desk Cloud account or Server instance.

   Connecting with a Cloud Account

   To connect to a Cloud account, you'll first need to retrieve an APIToken. To generate one, log in to your Atlassian account and navigate to API tokens > Create API token. The generated token will be displayed.

   Supply the following to connect to data:

   • User: Set this to the username of the authenticating user.
   • APIToken: Set this to the API token found previously.

   Connecting with a Service Account

   To authenticate with a service account, you will need to supply the following connection properties:

   • User: Set this to the username of the authenticating user.
   • Password: Set this to the password of the authenticating user.
   • URL: Set this to the URL associated with your JIRA Service Desk endpoint. For example, https://yoursitename.atlassian.net.

   Note: Password has been deprecated for connecting to a Cloud Account and is now used only to connect to a Server Instance.

   Accessing Custom Fields

   By default, the connector only surfaces system fields. To access the custom fields for Issues, set IncludeCustomFields.

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 Jira Service Desk data from Tableau Desktop.

Visualize Live Jira Service Desk Data in Tableau Desktop

The steps below outline connecting to the virtual Jira Service Desk database in CData Connect and building a simple visualization from the data.

1. Open Tableau and click "Microsoft SQL Server" under Connect -> To a Server.
2. In the connection wizard, enter the values for your CData Connect instance and click "Sign In"
   • Server: the address of your Connect instance and port of the TDS endpoint, separated by a comma (default port is: 1433)
   • Database: the virtual database you configured for the Jira Service Desk data
   • Username & Password: the credentials for a CData Connect user
3. Select your newly created database and the table(s) you wish to visualize (defining relationships for JOINed tables as needed).
4. Select Dimensions and Measures and configure your visualization.

SQL Access to Jira Service Desk Data from On-Premise Applications

At this point, you have a direct connection to live Jira Service Desk data from your Tableau Desktop workbook. You can create new visualizations, build dashboards, and more. For more information on gaining SQL access to data from more than 200 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including Jira Service Desk) from desktop applications like Tableau refer to our CData Connect page or download a free trial.