How to integrate Metabase with Timely Data

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

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Timely, allowing you to easily integrate with live Timely 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 Timely, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Timely data.

Configure Timely Connectivity for Metabase

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

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "Timely" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Timely.

   Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Timely Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Timely.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Timely (see below).

   Timely API Profile Settings

   Register an OAuth application through your Timely account under Settings > Devs > New Application to obtain your Client ID and Client Secret.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Timely Connection page and update the User-based 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.
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 and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Timely data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect AI from Metabase

After creating the connection in Connect AI, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect AI.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
2. Configure the connection to Connect AI and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "Timely (Connect AI)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. API1)
   • Username: A Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Password: The PAT previously created
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)
   

Execute Timely Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect AI, you can query Timely and build visualizations.

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

   SELECT Id, Name FROM Accounts WHERE Status = 'Active'

   
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 Timely data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live Timely data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to Timely (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Timely data in Metabase today.