Analyze Sage 300 Data in SAP Analytics Cloud

SAP Analytics Cloud is a cloud-based business intelligence platform. The CData Connect Server creates a virtual database for Sage 300 and can be used to generate an OData API (natively consumable in Analytics Cloud) for Sage 300. By pairing SAP Analytics Cloud with the CData Connect Server, you get direct connectivity to all of your SaaS and cloud-based Big Data and NoSQL sources — no need to migrate your data or write your integrations. Simply connect to Connect Server as you would any other OData service and get instant, consolidated access to all of your data.

In this article, we walk through connecting to Sage 300 in Connect Server and connecting to Connect Server from Analytics Cloud to create a model and build a simple dashboard.

Configure Connect Server to Connect to Sage 300

To connect to Sage 300 data from SAP Analytics Cloud, you need to configure Sage 300 access from your Connect Server instance. This means creating a user, connecting to Sage 300, adding OData endpoints, and (optionally) configuring CORS.

Add a Connect Server User

Create a User to connect to Sage 300 from Analytics Cloud through Connect Server.

1. Click Users -> Add
2. Configure a User
3. Click Save Changes and make note of the Authtoken for the new user

Connect to Sage 300 from Connect Server

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

1. Open Connect Server and click Connections
2. Select "Sage 300" from Available Data Sources
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Sage 300.

   Sage 300 requires some initial setup in order to communicate over the Sage 300 Web API.

   • Set up the security groups for the Sage 300 user. Give the Sage 300 user access to the option under Security Groups (per each module required).
   • Edit both web.config files in the /Online/Web and /Online/WebApi folders; change the key AllowWebApiAccessForAdmin to true. Restart the webAPI app-pool for the settings to take.
   • Once the user access is configured, click https://server/Sage300WebApi/ to ensure access to the web API.

   Authenticate to Sage 300 using Basic authentication.

   Connect Using Basic Authentication

   You must provide values for the following properties to successfully authenticate to Sage 300. Note that the provider reuses the session opened by Sage 300 using cookies. This means that your credentials are used only on the first request to open the session. After that, cookies returned from Sage 300 are used for authentication.

   • Url: Set this to the url of the server hosting Sage 300. Construct a URL for the Sage 300 Web API as follows: {protocol}://{host-application-path}/v{version}/{tenant}/ For example, http://localhost/Sage300WebApi/v1.0/-/.
   • User: Set this to the username of your account.
   • Password: Set this to the password of your account.
4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add, and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions (SELECT is all that is required for Reveal)

Add Sage 300 OData Endpoints in Connect Server

After connecting to Sage 300, create OData Endpoint for the desired table(s).

1. Click OData -> Tables -> Add Tables
2. Select the Sage 300 database
3. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Next
4. (Optional) Edit the resource to select specific fields and more
5. Save the settings

(Optional) Configure Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

When accessing and connecting to multiple different domains from an application such as Ajax, there is a possibility of violating the limitations of cross-site scripting. In that case, configure the CORS settings in OData -> Settings.

• Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS): ON
• Allow all domains without '*': ON
• Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, PUT, POST, OPTIONS
• Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Authorization

Save the changes to the settings.

Create a Model of Sage 300 Data in SAP Analytics Cloud

With the connection to Sage 300 configured and the OData endpoint(s) created, we can create a Model for Sage 300 data in SAP Analytics Cloud.

1. Log into your Analytics Cloud instance and click Create -> Model from the menu.
2. Choose "Get data from a datasource" and select "OData Services"
3. Choose an existing connection to your Connect Server OData or Create a new one:
   • Set "Connection Name"
   • Set "Data Service URL" to the Base URL for your OData API (typically: CONNECT_SERVER_URL/api.rsc)
   • Set "Authentication Type" to Basic Authentication
   • Set "User Name" to the Connect Server user you configured earlier
   • Set "Password" to the Authtoken for the above user
4. Choose "Create a new query" and click Next
5. Name the Query, select an OData endpoint (like sage300db_OEInvoices) and click Next
6. Drag the columns you wish to work with into the Selected Data workspace and click Create
7. At this point, a Draft Data source is created; click the draft to finalize the model
8. Perform any transformations, including creating calculated dimensions, location dimensions, and combining data sources, then click Create Model
9. Name your model and click OK

Build a Dashboard in SAP Analytics Cloud

With the model created, you are ready to create a dashboard in SAP Analytics Cloud based on Sage 300 data.

1. From the menu, click Create -> Story
2. Click an SAP Analytics Template (this article uses the "Dashboard" template)
3. Choose a layout and click Apply
4. From the More menu, select a visualization to insert (Chart)
5. Select a model to visualize
6. Select a structure and the required Measures and Dimensions
7. Save the story

More Information & Free Trial

Now, you have created a simple but powerful dashboard from live Sage 300 data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Sage 300 (and more than 200 other data sources), visit the Connect Server page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Sage 300 data in SAP Analytics Cloud.