Use ChatGPT to Talk to Your SharePoint Data via CData Connect AI
ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, launched in November 2022. Based on large language models (LLMs), it enables users to refine and steer conversations through natural language processing. ChatGPT's developer mode, available to Plus and Pro subscribers, provides full Model Context Protocol (MCP) support for connecting to external data sources and tools.
CData Connect AI offers a dedicated cloud-to-cloud interface for connecting to SharePoint data. The CData Connect AI Remote MCP Server enables secure communication between ChatGPT and SharePoint. This allows you to ask questions and take actions on your SharePoint data using ChatGPT, 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 SharePoint. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly deliver the requested SharePoint data.
About SharePoint Data Integration
Accessing and integrating live data from SharePoint has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:
- Access data from a wide range of SharePoint versions, including Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and above, and SharePoint Online.
- Access all of SharePoint thanks to support for Hidden and Lookup columns.
- Recursively scan folders to create a relational model of all SharePoint data.
- Use SQL stored procedures to upload and download documents and attachments.
Most customers rely on CData solutions to integrate SharePoint data into their database or data warehouse, while others integrate their SharePoint data with preferred data tools, like Power BI, Tableau, or Excel.
For more information on how customers are solving problems with CData's SharePoint solutions, refer to our blog: Drivers in Focus: Collaboration Tools.
Getting Started
Step 1: Configure SharePoint Connectivity for ChatGPT
Connectivity to SharePoint from ChatGPT is made possible through CData Connect AI Remote MCP. To interact with SharePoint data from ChatGPT, we start by creating and configuring a SharePoint connection in CData Connect AI.
- Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
- Select "SharePoint" from the Add Connection panel
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SharePoint.
Set the URL property to the base SharePoint site or to a sub-site. This allows you to query any lists and other SharePoint entities defined for the site or sub-site.
The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SharePoint user credentials when using SharePoint On-Premise.
If you are connecting to SharePoint Online, set the SharePointEdition to SHAREPOINTONLINE along with the User and Password connection string properties. For more details on connecting to SharePoint Online, see the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation
- Click Save & Test
With the connection configured, we are ready to connect to SharePoint data from ChatGPT.
Step 2: Connect ChatGPT to CData Connect AI
Follow these steps to add a CData Connect AI connector in ChatGPT:
- Sign in to ChatGPT with a Plus or Pro subscription.
- Navigate to Settings > Connectors.
- Under the "Advanced settings" section, toggle on Developer mode.
- Once developer mode is enabled, return to the Connectors page and click Create.
- Enter a name for the connector (such as Connect AI MCP).
- In the Remote MCP server URL field, enter:
https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp
- Set Authentication to "OAuth."
- Check I trust this application and click Create
- You will be redirected to CData Connect AI's OAuth authorization page. Sign in with your Connect AI credentials.
- Review the permissions requested and click Authorize to grant ChatGPT access to your Connect AI resources.
- After successful authorization, you will be redirected back to ChatGPT.
- The Connect AI MCP Server will now appear in your available connectors list where you can manage the connector and enable/disable actions (tools).
Step 3: Explore Live SharePoint Data with ChatGPT
- Start a new conversation in ChatGPT.
- In the tool picker, enable "Developer Mode."
- Enable your Connect AI MCP Sever.
- You can now start exploring your data with natural language prompts. ChatGPT will use the Connect AI MCP server to query your live SharePoint data. Example prompts:
- "Show me all customers from the last 30 days"
- "What are my top performing products?"
- "Analyze sales trends for this quarter"
- "List all active projects and their current status"
- ChatGPT will translate your natural language queries into SQL and execute them against your SharePoint data through the Connect AI MCP server.
IMPORTANT: ChatGPT's developer mode provides full read/write MCP access. Be cautious when allowing write operations to your SharePoint data. Always review and confirm any data modifications before allowing them to proceed.
NOTE: Developer mode is in beta and only available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers. Refer to OpenAI's documentation for the latest setup information.
Get CData Connect AI
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