Use Microsoft Copilot Studio to talk to your SAP Ariba Procurement Data via CData Connect AI

Microsoft Copilot Studio is a no-code/low-code platform for creating AI Agents that can automate tasks, answer questions, and assist with various business processes. When combined with CData Connect AI Remote MCP, you can leverage Copilot Studio to interact with your SAP Ariba Procurement data in real-time. This article outlines the process of connecting to SAP Ariba Procurement using Connect AI Remote MCP and creating a connection in Copilot Studio to interact with your SAP Ariba Procurement data.

CData Connect AI offers a dedicated cloud-to-cloud interface for connecting to SAP Ariba Procurement data. The CData Connect AI Remote MCP Server enables secure communication between Microsoft Copilot Studio and SAP Ariba Procurement. This allows you to ask questions and take actions on your SAP Ariba Procurement data using Microsoft Copilot Studio, all without the need for data replication to a natively supported database. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, directly to SAP Ariba Procurement. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly deliver the requested SAP Ariba Procurement data.

In this article, we show how to build a agent in Microsoft Copilot Studio to conversational explore (or Vibe Query) your data. The connectivity principals apply to any Copilot agent. With Connect AI you can build workflows and agents with access to live SAP Ariba Procurement data, plus hundreds of other sources.

Step 1: Configure SAP Ariba Procurement Connectivity for Microsoft Copilot Studio

Connectivity to SAP Ariba Procurement from Microsoft Copilot Studio is made possible through CData Connect AI Remote MCP. To interact with SAP Ariba Procurement data from Microsoft Copilot Studio, we start by creating and configuring a SAP Ariba Procurement connection in CData Connect AI.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "SAP Ariba Procurement" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAP Ariba Procurement.

   In order to connect with SAP Ariba Procurement, set the following:

   • ANID: Your Ariba Network ID.
   • ANID: Specify which API you would like the provider to retrieve SAP Ariba data from. Select the Buyer or Supplier API based on your business role (possible values are PurchaseOrdersBuyerAPIV1 or PurchaseOrdersSupplierAPIV1).
   • Environment: Indicate whether you are connecting to a test or production environment (possible values are TEST or PRODUCTION).

   Authenticating with OAuth

   After setting connection properties, you need to configure OAuth connectivity to authenticate.

   • Set AuthScheme to OAuthClient.
   • Register an application with the service to obtain the APIKey, OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret.

     For more information on creating an OAuth application, refer to the Help documentation.

   Automatic OAuth

   After setting the following, you are ready to connect:

   APIKey: The Application key in your app settings. OAuthClientId: The OAuth Client Id in your app settings. OAuthClientSecret: The OAuth Secret in your app settings.

   When you connect, the provider automatically completes the OAuth process:

   1. The provider obtains an access token from SAP Ariba and uses it to request data.
   2. The provider refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.
   3. The OAuth values are saved in memory relative to the location specified in OAuthSettingsLocation.
   Click Save & Test
4. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SAP Ariba Procurement Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

With the connection configured, we are ready to connect to SAP Ariba Procurement data from Microsoft Copilot Studio.

Step 2: Connect Microsoft Copilot Studio to CData Connect AI

Follow these steps to add a CData Connect AI MCP connection in Microsoft Copilot Studio:

1. Under Tools, click Add tool, then click + New Tool.
2. In the Add Tool window, search for and click CData Connect AI.
3. In the Connect to CData Connect AI window, click Create to authenticate your connection CData Connect AI using OAuth authentication.
4. Click Add and configure to add the CData Connect AI Tool to your agent.

Optional: Give the AI Agent context

This step establishes the AI Agent's role and provides context for the conversation through the Instructions property in the Agent. By providing instructions that explicitly informs the agent about its role as an MCP Server expert and lists the available tools, you can enhance the agent's understanding and response accuracy. For example, you can set the System Message to:

You are an expert at using the MCP Client tool connected which is the CData Connect AI MCP Server. Always search thoroughly and use the most relevant MCP Client tool for each query. Below are the available tools and a description of each:
queryData: Execute SQL queries against connected data sources and retrieve results. When you use the queryData tool, ensure you use the following format for the table name: catalog.schema.tableName
getCatalogs: Retrieve a list of available connections from CData Connect AI. The connection names should be used as catalog names in other tools and in any queries to CData Connect AI. Use the `getSchemas` tool to get a list of available schemas for a specific catalog.
getSchemas: Retrieve a list of available database schemas from CData Connect AI for a specific catalog. Use the `getTables` tool to get a list of available tables for a specific catalog and schema.
getTables: Retrieve a list of available database tables from CData Connect AI for a specific catalog and schema. Use the `getColumns` tool to get a list of available columns for a specific table.
getColumns: Retrieve a list of available database columns from CData Connect AI for a specific catalog, schema, and table.
getProcedures: Retrieve a list of stored procedures from CData Connect AI for a specific catalog and schema
getProcedureParameters: Retrieve a list of stored procedure parameters from CData Connect AI for a specific catalog, schema, and procedure.
executeProcedure: Execute stored procedures with parameters against connected data sources
  

Step 3: Explore Live SAP Ariba Procurement Data with Microsoft Copilot Studio

With the Agent created in Microsoft Copilot Studio and the MCP tool connected, you can now interact with your SAP Ariba Procurement data using Microsoft Copilot Studio. The MCP tool allows you to send queries and receive responses from the SAP Ariba Procurement data source in real-time.

Open the chat window in your Microsoft Copilot Studio Agent to begin interacting with your SAP Ariba Procurement data. You can ask questions, retrieve data, and perform actions on your SAP Ariba Procurement data using the MCP tool:

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