Create Reports from SAP ByDesign Data in Looker Studio

Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) allows you to create branded reports with data visualizations to share with your clients. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to SAP ByDesign data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to create a virtual database for SAP ByDesign and build reports from SAP ByDesign data in Looker Studio.

CData Connect Cloud provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for SAP ByDesign, allowing you to easily build reports from live SAP ByDesign data in Looker Studio — without replicating the data. As you build visualizations, Looker Studio generates queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Cloud pushes all supported query operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to SAP ByDesign, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return SAP ByDesign data.

Connect to SAP ByDesign in Connect Cloud

CData Connect Cloud uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

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

   Set the following connection properties to connect to SAP ByDesign.

   • Url: Set this to the Url of your SAP ByDesign site. For example, https://test.sapbydesign.com
   • User: Set this to the username of your account.
   • Password: Set this to the password of your account.
   • CustomService or AnalyticsService: Only one of these must be specified. If you have a custom service you want to retrieve data from, specify CustomService. If you want to retrieve the reports of a analytical service, specify AnalyticsService.
     If neither is specified, 'cc_home_analytics.svc' will used as a default for the AnalyticsService property. If you are not sure what service to specify, you can always query the Services view to list available services.
4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SAP ByDesign Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

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

Visualize Live SAP ByDesign Data in Looker Studio

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Cloud from Looker Studio to create a new SAP ByDesign 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 Cloud Connector.
2. Click Authorize and allow access to your Google account.
3. Click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect Cloud instance
4. In the CData Connect Cloud Connector in Looker Studio select a Connection (e.g. SAPByDesign1) and click Next
5. Select a Table (e.g. [Inventory Balance]) 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 ByDesign Data from Cloud Applications

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

Try CData Connect Cloud and get real-time data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.