Import Sage 300 Data into the Power BI Service for Visualizations

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 AI, you get access to Sage 300 data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Sage 300 in CData Connect AI, publish a dataset from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI Service and then create reports on Sage 300 data in the Power BI service.

Configure Sage 300 Connectivity for Power BI Service

Connectivity to Sage 300 from Power BI Service is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Sage 300 data from Power BI Service, we start by creating and configuring a Sage 300 connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, 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
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Sage 300 Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Sage 300 data from the Power BI service.

Publish a Dataset from Power BI Desktop

Once you connect to Sage 300 in Connect AI, you can create a dataset in Power BI desktop and publish the dataset to the Power BI service.

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect AI and click "Connect"
2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect AI account
3. After signing in, click "Connect"
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog
5. Click Load to establish the connection to your Sage 300 data from Power BI

6. Define any relationships between the selected entities on the Relationships tab.
7. Click Publish (from the Home menu) and select a Workspace.

Build Reports and Dashboards on Sage 300 Data in the Power BI Service

Now that you have published a dataset to the Power BI service, you can create new reports and dashboards based on the published data:

1. Log in to PowerBI.com.
2. Click Workspaces and select a workspace.
3. Click Create and select Report.
4. Select the published dataset for the report.
5. Choose fields and visualizations to add to your report.

Live Access to Sage 300 Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Sage 300 data from the Power BI service. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Sage 300 data.

To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect AI.