Work with Live Sage X3 Cloud Data in Power Query

Power Query is a data transformation and data preparation engine. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Sage X3 Cloud data from Power Query. This article shows how to connect to Connect AI from Power Query through Microsoft Excel and get live access to Sage X3 Cloud data for transformation and preparation.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL, cloud-to-cloud interface for Sage X3 Cloud, allowing you to easily integrate with live Sage X3 Cloud data in Power Query — without replicating the data. CData Connect AI looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Power Query and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Sage X3 Cloud, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Sage X3 Cloud data.

Configure Sage X3 Cloud Connectivity for Power Query

Connectivity to Sage X3 Cloud from Power Query is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Sage X3 Cloud data from Power Query, we start by creating and configuring a Sage X3 Cloud connection.

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

2. Select "Sage X3 Cloud" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Sage X3 Cloud.

   Sage X3 Cloud uses the OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials flow, and an X-API-Key is also required for API access. Set AuthScheme to OAuth and specify the following connection properties:

   • URL: The base URL of your Sage X3 Cloud instance.
   • OAuthAccessTokenUrl: The OAuth token endpoint (e.g., https://your-auth-domain/oauth/token).
   • OAuthClientId: Your OAuth application client ID.
   • OAuthClientSecret: Your OAuth application client secret.
   • Audience: The API audience value for the token request.
   • XAPIKey: The X-API-Key provided by your Sage X3 Cloud administrator.
   • Folder: The Sage X3 folder name (e.g., SEED). This folder is used as the default schema.
   • Folders (optional): A comma-separated list of Sage X3 folders (e.g., SEED,PERF). Each folder is exposed as a separate schema, so you can query across folders with the Schema.Table syntax.

   The driver obtains an access token with the Client Credentials flow and sends it with the X-API-Key on every API request. With InitiateOAuth set to GETANDREFRESH (the default), the driver acquires and refreshes the token automatically.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Sage X3 Cloud Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the 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.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Sage X3 Cloud data from Power Query.

Working with Live Sage X3 Cloud Data in Power Query

With the connection to Connect AI configured, you are ready to work with live Sage X3 Cloud data in Power Query.

1. In Microsoft Excel, open the Power Query Editor (from the Data ribbon, click Get Data -> Launch Power Query Editor)
2. Click New Source -> SQL Server
3. In the SQL Server database modal:
   • Set Server to tds.cdata.com,14333
   • (Optional) Set Database to the name of the Sage X3 Cloud connection (e.g. SageX3Cloud1 )
   
4. In the SQL Server credentials modal, select "Database" and
   • Set User to your Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected] )
   • Set Password to the PAT for the above user
   
5. Click Connect
6. Select the table(s) you wish to work with in the Navigator and click "OK"

At this point, you have live access to Sage X3 Cloud data from Power Query for transformation and preparation.

SQL Access to Sage X3 Cloud Data

Now you have a direct connection to live Sage X3 Cloud data from Microsoft Power Query. You can create more connections and transform and preparte your data to better drive business — all without replicating Sage X3 Cloud data.

To get real-time 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.