How to integrate Metabase with SAP ByDesign Data

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live SAP ByDesign data. This article describes how to connect to SAP ByDesign and build a simple visualization using SAP ByDesign data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for SAP ByDesign, allowing you to easily integrate with live SAP ByDesign data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to SAP ByDesign, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return SAP ByDesign data.

Configure SAP ByDesign Connectivity for Metabase

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

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.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
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, you are ready to connect to SAP ByDesign data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect from Metabase

After creating the virtual database, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
2. Configure the connection to Connect Cloud and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "SAP ByDesign (Connect Cloud)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. SAPByDesign1)
   • Username: A Connect Cloud username (e.g. user@mydomain.com)
   • Password: The PAT for the above Connect Cloud user
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)

Execute SAP ByDesign Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect Cloud, you can query SAP ByDesign and build visualizations.

1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the SAP ByDesign data
2. Write a SQL query based on the SAP ByDesign connection in CData Connect Cloud, e.g.
   
   

   SELECT ID, ProductCategoryID FROM [Inventory Balance] WHERE ProductCategoryID = '1234567'

3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have built a simple visualization from SAP ByDesign data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live SAP ByDesign data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to SAP ByDesign (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live SAP ByDesign data in Metabase today.