Create Sage 50 UK 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 Sage 50 UK data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Sage 50 UK and build reports from Sage 50 UK data in Bold BI.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for Sage 50 UK, allowing you to easily build reports from live Sage 50 UK 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 Sage 50 UK, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Sage 50 UK data.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for Sage 50 UK 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 "Sage 50 UK" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Sage 50 UK.

   Note: Only Sage 50 UK 2012 and above are supported.

   The User and Password properties, under the Connection section, must be set to valid Sage 50 UK user credentials. These values will be the same used to log in to the Sage 50 UK software.

   Additionally, the URL property, under the Connection section, will need to be set to the address of the company dataset desired. To obtain the address, do the following:

   1. If you have not already done so, open the Sage 50 UK software.
   2. Click Tools -> Internet Options.
   3. Select the SData Settings tab.
   4. Click the Details button next to Sage 50 Accounts. A window is displayed containing a list of company names along with the address to their corresponding datasets.
   5. Set the URL property to the value in the address field next to the company desired.
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 Sage 50 UK data from Bold BI.

Visualize Live Sage 50 UK Data in Bold BI

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Server from Bold BI to create a new Sage 50 UK 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 Sage 50 UK on-demand or choose Extract to load the data into Bold BI
   • Database: Choose the database you created from the drop-down menu (sageukdb)
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 Sage 50 UK Data from Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Sage 50 UK data from your Bold BI workbook. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Sage 50 UK data.

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