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Get the Report →Use the CData ODBC Driver for SAP ERP in SAS JMP
You can use the CData ODBC Driver to integrate SAP data into the statistical analysis tools available in SAS JMP. This article shows how to use SAP data in the Graph Builder and Query Builder.
You can use the CData ODBC Driver for SAP ERP to integrate live data into your statistical analysis with SAS JMP. The driver proxies your queries directly to the SAP API, ensuring that your analysis reflects any changes to the data. The CData ODBC Driver supports the standard SQL used by JMP in the background as you design reports.
This article shows how to access SAP data into a report and create data visualization. It also shows how to use SQL to query SAP data from the JMP Query Builder.
About SAP Data Integration
CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from SAP. Customers use CData connectivity to:
- Access every edition of SAP, including SAP R/3, SAP NetWeaver, SAP ERP / ECC 6.0, and SAP S/4 HANA on premises data that is exposed by the RFC.
- Perform actions like sending IDoc or IDoc XML files to the server and creating schemas for functions or queries through SQL stored procedures.
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Connect optimally depending on where a customer's SAP instance is hosted.
- Customers using SAP S/4HANA cloud public edition will use SAP NetWeaver Gateway connectivity
- Customers using SAP S/4HANA private edition will use either SAP ERP or SAP NetWeaver Gateway connectivity.
While most users leverage our tools to replicate SAP data to databases or data warehouses, many also integrate live SAP data with analytics tools such as Tableau, Power BI, and Excel.
Getting Started
Access SAP Data as an ODBC Data Source
If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.
You can connect to SAP systems using either librfc32.dll, librfc32u.dll, NetWeaver, or Web Services (SOAP). Set the ConnectionType connection property to CLASSIC (librfc32.dll), CLASSIC_UNICODE (librfc32u.dll), NETWEAVER, or SOAP.
If you are using the SOAP interface, set the Client, RFCUrl, SystemNumber, User, and Password properties, under the Authentication section.
Otherwise, set Host, User, Password, Client, and SystemNumber.
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.
For more information, see this guide on obtaining the connection properties needed to connect to any SAP system.
When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.
Import SAP Data with the Query Builder
After you have created the SAP DSN, you can use SQL to invoke the capabilities of the SAP API. Follow the steps below to execute some supported queries in the Query Builder:
- In SAS JMP, click File -> Database -> Query Builder. The Select Database Connection dialog is displayed.
- Click New Connection.
- On the Machine Data Source tab, select the ODBC DSN you configured and then click Next.
- The Select Tables for Query dialog is displayed and in the Available Tables section, select a table and click Primary. After choosing the primary table, click Build Query to open the Query Builder.
- As you drag Available Columns to the Included Columns tab, the underlying SQL query is updated and you can view the generated SQL Query in the SQL tab.
- Click Run Query to display the data.
- To refresh the results with the current data, right-click Update from Database and click Run Script.
Visualize SAP Data
After importing, you can use the Graph Builder to create graphs visually. To open the Graph Builder, click the Graph Builder button in the toolbar.
- Drag a dimension column onto the x axis. For example, MANDT.
- Drag a measure column onto the y axis. For example, MBRSH.
- Select a chart type. For example, a bar chart.