Build Sage X3 Cloud-Connected Dashboards Using Zoho Analytics

Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use CData Connect AI to connect to Sage X3 Cloud Data from Zoho Analytics and import live Sage X3 Cloud data.

Zoho Analytics is a modern BI and Analytics platform that allows you to connect and analyze your data, while also creating visualizations and dashboards to discover hidden insights. When paired with CData Connect AI, Zoho Analytics provides instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Sage X3 Cloud data for reporting and analytics. This article demonstrates how to connect to Sage X3 Cloud using Connect AI and analyze Sage X3 Cloud data by creating dashboards in Zoho Analytics.

CData Connect AI provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Sage X3 Cloud, allowing you to analyze Sage X3 Cloud data in Zoho Analytics — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Sage X3 Cloud, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Sage X3 Cloud data quickly.

Configure Sage X3 Cloud Connectivity for Zoho Analytics

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

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
    2. Adding a Connection
  2. Select "Sage X3 Cloud" from the Add Connection panel
    3. Selecting a data source
  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.

    Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  4. Click Save & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Sage X3 Cloud Connection page and update the User-based permissions. Updating 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. Creating a new PAT
  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 Zoho Analytics.

Connect to Sage X3 Cloud in Zoho Analytics Using CData Connect AI

To establish a connection from Zoho Analytics to CData Connect AI, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to Zoho Analytics.
    2. Logging into Zoho Analytics
  2. Create a new connection and select Cloud Databases to open the connection modal.
    3. Creating a new connection
  3. Enter the following information:
    • Database Type - select MS SQL Server.
    • Endpoint - enter tds.cdata.com
    • SQL Server Instance Name - leave this blank.
    • Port - enter 14333
    • Username - enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected].
    • Password - enter the PAT you generated.
    • Database Name - enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, SageX3Cloud1).
    • Click Next.
      • Displaying configuration settings
  4. Choose the table that you would like to import from, e.g. BPCUSTOMER.
    5. Choosing table to import
  5. A Data Preview of the table should pop up. Next, enter a Workspace Name and Table Name to be able to refer to in Zoho Analytics. Click Next.
    6. Displaying data preview
  6. There is an option to schedule the import periodically. After configuring, click Create.
    7. Scheduling the import
  7. Now, the import has been initiated. Click OK.
    8. Initiating the import
  8. View your new connection in the Zoho Analytics Explorer.
    9. Viewing new connection
  9. Click on the new connection to see the table.
    10. Viewing the table
  10. Zoho Analytics can auto-generate dashboards for the user, as seen here:
    11. Auto-generating a dashboard

We have successfully imported Sage X3 Cloud data into Zoho Analytics and created dashboards.

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