Use ChatGPT to Talk to Your Sage 300 Data via CData Connect AI

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, launched in November 2022. Based on large language models (LLMs), it enables users to refine and steer conversations through natural language processing. ChatGPT's developer mode, available to Plus and Pro subscribers, provides full Model Context Protocol (MCP) support for connecting to external data sources and tools.

CData Connect AI offers a dedicated cloud-to-cloud interface for connecting to Sage 300 data. The CData Connect AI Remote MCP Server enables secure communication between ChatGPT and Sage 300. This allows you to ask questions and take actions on your Sage 300 data using ChatGPT, all without the need for data replication to a natively supported database. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, directly to Sage 300. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly deliver the requested Sage 300 data.

Step 1: Configure Sage 300 Connectivity for ChatGPT

Connectivity to Sage 300 from ChatGPT is made possible through CData Connect AI Remote MCP. To interact with Sage 300 data from ChatGPT, we start by creating and configuring a Sage 300 connection in CData Connect AI.

1. Log into your Connect AI account, click Sources, and then click Add Connection.

2. Select "Sage 300" from the Add Connection panel.

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Sage 300.

   Sage 300 requires some initial setup in order to communicate over the Sage 300 Web API.

   • Set up the security groups for the Sage 300 user. Give the Sage 300 user access to the option under Security Groups (per each module required).
   • Edit both web.config files in the /Online/Web and /Online/WebApi folders; change the key AllowWebApiAccessForAdmin to true. Restart the webAPI app-pool for the settings to take.
   • Once the user access is configured, click https://server/Sage300WebApi/ to ensure access to the web API.

   Authenticate to Sage 300 using Basic authentication.

   Connect Using Basic Authentication

   You must provide values for the following properties to successfully authenticate to Sage 300. Note that the provider reuses the session opened by Sage 300 using cookies. This means that your credentials are used only on the first request to open the session. After that, cookies returned from Sage 300 are used for authentication.

   • Url: Set this to the url of the server hosting Sage 300. Construct a URL for the Sage 300 Web API as follows: {protocol}://{host-application-path}/v{version}/{tenant}/ For example, http://localhost/Sage300WebApi/v1.0/-/.
   • User: Set this to the username of your account.
   • Password: Set this to the password of your account.
   
4. Click Save & Test

With the connection configured, we are ready to connect to Sage 300 data from ChatGPT.

Step 2: Connect ChatGPT to CData Connect AI

Follow these steps to add a CData Connect AI connection in ChatGPT:

1. Sign in to ChatGPT with a Plus or Pro subscription.
2. Navigate to Apps from the left panel.
3. Select the CData Connect AI app from the list.
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4. Click Connect to authenticate to your Connect AI account.

5. Click Sign in with CData Connect AI to add Connect AI to your ChatGPT account.

6. After successful authorization, you will be redirected back to ChatGPT.
7. Click Start Chat to start a new conversation in ChatGPT with Connect AI connected at the background.

Step 3: Explore Live Sage 300 Data with ChatGPT

1. Start a new conversation in ChatGPT.
2. Connect AI should ideally be automatically enabled in the chat. If not, navigate to -> More -> CData Connect AI, under the chatbox, to enable the connector from the dropdown

3. You can now start exploring your data with natural language prompts. ChatGPT will use the Connect AI MCP server to query your live Sage 300 data. Example prompts:
   • "Show me all customers from the last 30 days"
   • "What are my top performing products?"
   • "Analyze sales trends for this quarter"
   • "List all active projects and their current status"
   Refer to CData prompt library for more prompt ideas.

4. Permit ChatGPT to access your Sage 300 data. Click Query Data to continue, or Deny to refuse.

5. ChatGPT translates your natural language queries into SQL and execute them against your Sage 300 data through the Connect AI MCP server.

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