How to integrate Metabase with Epicor Kinetic 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 Epicor Kinetic data. This article describes how to connect to Epicor Kinetic and build a simple visualization using Epicor Kinetic data.

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

Configure Epicor Kinetic Connectivity for Metabase

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

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

   To successfully connect to your ERP instance, you must specify the following connection properties:

   • Url:the URL of the server hosting your ERP instance. For example, https://myserver.EpicorSaaS.com
   • ERPInstance: the name of your ERP instance.
   • User: the username of your account.
   • Password: the password of your account.
   • Service: the service you want to retrieve data from. For example, BaqSvc.

   In addition, you may also set the optional connection properties:

   • ApiKey: An optional key that may be required for connection to some services depending on your account configuration.
   • ApiVersion: Defaults to v1. May be set to v2 to use the newer Epicor API.
   • Company: Required if you set the ApiVersion to v2.
4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Epicor Kinetic 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 Epicor Kinetic 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. "Epicor Kinetic (Connect Cloud)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. epicorKinetic1)
   • 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 Epicor Kinetic Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect Cloud, you can query Epicor Kinetic and build visualizations.

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

   SELECT CustNum, Company FROM Customers WHERE CompanyName = 'CompanyName'

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