Create Freshdesk Dashboards in Bold BI

Bold BI allows you to create, share, and collaborate on interactive BI dashboards. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get instant access to Freshdesk data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Freshdesk and build reports from Freshdesk data in Bold BI.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for Freshdesk, allowing you to easily build reports from live Freshdesk data in Bold BI — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build visualizations, Bold BI generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Freshdesk, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Freshdesk data.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for Freshdesk Data

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

1. Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
2. Select "Freshdesk" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Freshdesk.

   FreshDesk makes use of basic authentication. To connect to data, set the following connection properties:

   • Domain: Set this to the domain associated with your FreshDesk account. For example, in your URL: https://my_domain.freshdesk.com.
   • APIKey: Set this to the API key associated with your FreshDesk account. To retrieve your API key, Log into your support Portal -> Click on profile picture in the top right corner -> profile settings page. The API key will be available below the change password section to the right.
4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

With the virtual database created, you are ready to connect to Freshdesk data from Bold BI.

Visualize Live Freshdesk Data in Bold BI

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Server from Bold BI to create a new Freshdesk data source and build a simple visualization from the data.

1. Log into your Bold BI instance, click the data sources tab, create a new data source, and choose the SQL Server connector.
2. Choose the basic configuration and set the connection properties:
   • Name: Name your connection
   • Server name: Your Connect Server instance (CONNECT_SERVER_URL)
   • Port: 1433
   • Username: Your Connect Server username
   • Password: Your Connect Server password
   • Mode: Choose Live to query Freshdesk on-demand or choose Extract to load the data into Bold BI
   • Database: Choose the database you created from the drop-down menu (freshdeskdb)
3. Click Connect
4. Select the table to visualize and drag it onto the workspace.
5. Select a visualization style and add it to the report.
6. Click the gear icon for the visualization to configure the visualization properties and assign columns to the visualization.

SQL Access to Freshdesk Data from Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Freshdesk data from your Bold BI workbook. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Freshdesk data.

To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, see the CData Connect page.