Build Sage 50 UK Visualizations in Tableau Cloud

Tableau Cloud is an analytics platform fully hosted in the cloud. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Sage 50 UK data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Sage 50 UK and build visualizations from Sage 50 UK data in Tableau Cloud.

CData Connect Cloud provides a pure SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for Sage 50 UK, allowing you to easily build visualizations from live Sage 50 UK data in Tableau Cloud without installing connectors or publishing worksheets and data sources from Tableau Desktop. As you build visualizations, Tableau Cloud generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Cloud pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Sage 50 UK, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Sage 50 UK data.

Configure Sage 50 UK Connectivity for Tableau Cloud

Connectivity to Sage 50 UK from Tableau Cloud is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Sage 50 UK data from Tableau Cloud, we start by creating and configuring a Sage 50 UK connection.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Sage 50 UK" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Sage 50 UK.

   Note: Only Sage 50 UK 2012 and above are supported.

   The User and Password properties, under the Connection section, must be set to valid Sage 50 UK user credentials. These values will be the same used to log in to the Sage 50 UK software.

   Additionally, the URL property, under the Connection section, will need to be set to the address of the company dataset desired. To obtain the address, do the following:

   1. If you have not already done so, open the Sage 50 UK software.
   2. Click Tools -> Internet Options.
   3. Select the SData Settings tab.
   4. Click the Details button next to Sage 50 Accounts. A window is displayed containing a list of company names along with the address to their corresponding datasets.
   5. Set the URL property to the value in the address field next to the company desired.
   
4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Sage 50 UK Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Configure Sage 50 UK Endpoints for Salesforce Connect

After connecting to Sage 50 UK, create a workspace and virtual dataset for your desired table(s).

1. Navigate to the Virtual Datasets page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace).
2. Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
3. Select the Sage 50 UK connection (e.g. Sage50UK1) and click Next.
4. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm.
5. Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}

With the connection and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Sage 50 UK data from Tableau Cloud.

Visualize Live Sage 50 UK Data in Tableau Cloud

The steps below outline creating a new data source in Tableau Cloud based on the virtual Sage 50 UK database in Connect Cloud and building a simple visualization from the data.

1. Log into Tableau Cloud, select a account, and create a new workbook.
2. In the new workbook, choose the Microsoft SQL Server Connector from the data wizard and fill in the values for your Connect Cloud instance.
   • Set Server to the OData URL for your Workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/MyWorkspace
   • Set Authentication to Username and Password
   • Set Username to your Connect Cloud username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Set Password to a PAT for the above user
   
3. Select your newly created database and the table(s) you wish to visualize (defining relationships for JOINad tables as needed).

4. Select Dimensions and Measures and configure your visualization.

Real-Time Access to Sage 50 UK Data from Cloud Applications

At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Sage 50 UK data from your Tableau Cloud workbook. You can create new visualizations, build dashboards, and more, with no need to publish data sources and workbooks from Tableau Desktop. For more information on gaining live access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources from cloud applications like Tableau Cloud, refer to our Connect Cloud page.