Create Reports from SAP Data in Looker Studio

Looker Studio, formerly known as Google Data Studio, empowers users to craft customized reports featuring data visualizations that can be shared with clients while reflecting your brand identity. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate cloud-to-cloud access to SAP data to create visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article provides step-by-step instructions on establishing a virtual database for SAP and generating reports from SAP data within Looker Studio.

CData Connect AI offers a seamless cloud-to-cloud interface tailored for SAP, making it straightforward to construct reports directly from live SAP data within Looker Studio without the need for data replication. As you create visualizations, Looker Studio generates queries to retrieve data. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported query operations, including filters, JOINs, and more, directly to SAP. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly provide the requested SAP data.

Getting Started

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Configure SAP Connectivity for Looker Studio

Connectivity to SAP from Looker Studio is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with SAP data from Looker Studio, we start by creating and configuring a SAP connection.

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

2. Select "SAP" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAP.

   The Java edition supports connecting to an SAP system using the JCo .jar file. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for information on using the Jco JAR file.

   The Windows edition supports connecting to SAP systems using either the librfc32.dll, the librfc32u.dll, NetWeaver, or Web Services (SOAP). Set the ConnectionType connection property to CLASSIC (librfc32.dll), CLASSIC_UNICODE (librfc32u.dll), NETWEAVER, or SOAP.

   Note: We do not distribute the librfc32.dll or other SAP assemblies. You must find them from your SAP installation and install them on your machine.

   All versions of Sync support connecting to an SAP system using Web services (SOAP). If you are using the SOAP interface you must enable SOAP access to your SAP system and set the Client, RFCUrl, SystemNumber, User, and Password properties, under the Authentication section. Additionally, set the ConnectionType to SOAP.

   See this guide on obtaining the connection properties needed to connect to any SAP system.

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

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to SAP data from Looker Studio.

Visualize Live SAP Data from Looker Studio

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Looker Studio to create a new SAP data source and build a simple visualization from the data.

1. Log into Looker Studio, click data sources, create a new data source, and choose CData Connect AI Connector.

2. Click Authorize and allow access to your Google account.
3. Click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect AI instance
4. In the CData Connect AI Connector in Looker Studio select a Connection (e.g. SAPERP1) and click Next
5. Select a Table (e.g. MARA) or use a Custom Query and click Connect to continue
6. If needed, modify columns, click Create Report, and add the data source to the report.

7. Select a visualization style and add it to the report.
8. Select Dimensions and Measures to customize your visualization.

Live Access to SAP Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live SAP data from your Looker Studio workbook. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating SAP data.

Try CData Connect AI and get real-time data access to 300+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.