Build Epicor Kinetic Visualizations in Tableau Desktop

Tableau is a visual analytics platform transforming the way businesses use data to solve problems. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Epicor Kinetic data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Epicor Kinetic and build visualizations from Epicor Kinetic data in Tableau.

CData Connect Cloud provides a pure SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for Epicor Kinetic, allowing you to easily build visualizations from live Epicor Kinetic data in Tableau without installing connectors. As you build visualizations, Tableau generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Cloud pushes 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 Tableau

Connectivity to Epicor Kinetic from Tableau is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Epicor Kinetic data from Tableau, 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 Tableau.

Visualize Live Epicor Kinetic Data in Tableau

To establish a connection from Tableau Desktop to the CData Connect Cloud Virtual SQL Server API, follow these steps.

1. In Tableau Desktop, open a new book. Under To a Server, select More, then Microsoft SQL Server.
2. Enter your credentials:
   • Server: enter the Virtual SQL Server endpoint and port separated by a comma: tds.cdata.com,14333
   • Database: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect Cloud data source you want to connect to (for example, epicorKinetic1).
   • Authentication: select Use a specific username and password.
   • Username: enter your CData Connect Cloud username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect Cloud interface. For example, [email protected].
   • Password: enter the PAT you previously generated.
   • Require SSL: leave this selected.
3. Click Sign In.
4. Select the Database (Connect Cloud connection) you wish to work with and opt for a Live or Extract Connection type.
5. Select the table(s) you wish to visualize. If you select multiple tables, define the relationship between the tables using the appropriate columns.
6. Select the fields to visualize.

Real-Time Access to Epicor Kinetic Data from Data Applications

At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Epicor Kinetic data from your Tableau workbook. You can create new visualizations, build dashboards, and more. For more information on gaining live access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources from applications like Tableau, refer to our Connect Cloud page.