Use CData Connect AI to Access Talkdesk Data in Microsoft Power Pivot

Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use CData Connect AI to connect to live Talkdesk data in the Power Pivot business intelligence tool.

This article will explain how to use CData Connect AI to present Talkdesk data as OData services and then consume the data in Microsoft Excel's Power Pivot business intelligence tool. Follow the steps below to retrieve Talkdesk data in Power Pivot.

Connect to Talkdesk from Power Pivot

To work with Talkdesk data from Power Pivot, we need to connect to Talkdesk from Connect AI, provide user access to the connection, and create a Workspace for the Talkdesk data.

Connect to Talkdesk from Connect AI

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

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
  2. Adding a Connection
  3. Select "Talkdesk" from the Add Connection panel
  4. Selecting a data source
  5. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Talkdesk.

    Talkdesk uses the OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials grant. There is no browser-based authorization step and no callback URL.

    Set the following connection properties:

    • AccountName: The name of your Talkdesk account.
    • Region: The region where your Talkdesk instance is deployed. Supported values are US (default), EU, CA, AU, UK, and FedRamp.
    • OAuthClientId: The Client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
    • OAuthClientSecret: The Client Secret assigned to your custom OAuth application.

    Creating a Custom OAuth Application

    1. Log in to your Talkdesk account and select OAuth Clients from the navigation menu.
    2. Click Create OAuth Client and give the client a descriptive name.
    3. Set Grant Type to Client Credentials.
    4. Click Add scopes and select the scopes for the data you want to access.
    5. Click Create and copy the Client Id and Client Secret.

    When you connect, the driver automatically requests an access token from Talkdesk, caches it, and refreshes it when it expires. Make sure the scopes selected for the application match the views you plan to query, or the token request can fail.

    Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  6. Click Save & Test
  7. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Talkdesk Connection page and update the User-based permissions. Updating permissions

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

  1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
  2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
  3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. Creating a new PAT
  4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Configure Talkdesk Endpoints for Power Pivot

After connecting to Talkdesk, create a workspace for your desired table(s).

  1. Navigate to the Workspaces page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace). The Workspaces page. Adding a new Workspace.
  2. Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
  3. Select the Talkdesk connection (e.g. Talkdesk1) and click Next. Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
  4. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm. Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
  5. Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}

With the connection, PAT, and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Talkdesk data from Power Pivot.

Import Talkdesk Tables in Power Pivot

Follow the steps below to import tables that can be refreshed on demand:

  1. In Excel, click Data -> Get Data -> From Other Sources -> From OData Feed Starting the OData connection.
  2. Fill out the OData feed URL (e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}) The URL of the OData endpoint for Connect AI.
  3. On the next screen, select Basic and configure the username and password. Password will be your PAT. Authenticating with Connect AI
  4. Select the tables that you would like to import into Excel Selecting tables (Salesforce is shown.)

  5. After selecting your table(s) and clicking Load, you should see the data appear in an Excel spreadsheet Loading tables (Salesforce is shown.)

  6. Now, click the Power Pivot tab on the ribbon, and then select Add to Data Model. Loading data into Power Pivot (Salesforce is shown.) This can now work with your Talkdesk data in Power Pivot.

    The Pivot Table that is consuming OData feeds from Connect AI. (Salesforce is shown.)

Free Trial & More Information

If you are interested in connecting to your Talkdesk data (or data from any of our other supported data sources) from Power Pivot, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect AI today! For more information on Connect AI and to see what other data sources we support, refer to our CData Connect AI page.

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