Build Visualizations of Live PCA Sales Data in Power BI (through CData Connect)

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect (on-premise or in the cloud), you get access to PCA Sales data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to use CData Connect to create a virtual database for PCA Sales, connect to PCA Sales data into Power BI and then create reports on PCA Sales data in Power BI.

Create a Virtual SQL Database for PCA Sales 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 "PCA Sales" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to PCA Sales.

   In order to authenticate using the OAuth, specify the following:

   • AuthScheme: Set to OAuth.

   In order to authenticate using the OAuth Password, specify the following:

   • AuthScheme: Set to OAuthPassword.
   • User: Enter the PCA Sales username.
   • Password: Enter the PCA Sales password.
   • ServiceId: Enter the Service ID used to connect tot he PCA API server.
   • ServicePassword: Enter the Service Password for the above Service ID.

   For both authentication methods, specify the following:

   • Data Center: Enter the name for the PCA API Server.
   • Default Data Area: Enter the data area to which you want to connect.
   • Product Code: Enter "Kon20" or "Acc20."

   For more information, refer to the Help documentation.

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 and visualize PCA Sales from Power BI.

Query PCA Sales Tables

Follow the steps below to build a query to pull PCA Sales data into the report:

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Other -> SQL Server and click "Connect"
2. Set Server to the address and port of your CData Connect instance (localhost:8033 by default) and set Database to the name of the virtual database you just created (PCASales1)
3. Use "Database" authentication, enter the credentials for a CData Connect user and click "Connect"
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog
5. Click Load to import the data into Power BI

Create PCA Sales Data Visualizations

After connecting to the data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view by dragging fields from the Fields pane onto the canvas. Select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize along with the chart type.

Click Refresh to synchronize your report with any changes to the data.

SQL Access to PCA Sales Data from Data Applications

With CData Connect you have a direct connection to PCA Sales data from Power BI. You can import more data, create new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating PCA Sales data.

To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including PCA Sales) directly from your on-premise BI, reporting, ETL and other data applications, visit the CData Connect page and download a free trial.