Build Visualizations of Live SAP Ariba Procurement Data in Power BI (through CData Connect)

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect (on-premise or in the cloud), you get access to SAP Ariba Procurement data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to use CData Connect to create a virtual database for SAP Ariba Procurement, connect to SAP Ariba Procurement data into Power BI and then create reports on SAP Ariba Procurement data in Power BI.

Create a Virtual SQL Database for SAP Ariba Procurement 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 "SAP Ariba Procurement" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAP Ariba Procurement.

   In order to connect with SAP Ariba Procurement, set the following:

   • ANID: Your Ariba Network ID.
   • ANID: Specify which API you would like the provider to retrieve SAP Ariba data from. Select the Buyer or Supplier API based on your business role (possible values are PurchaseOrdersBuyerAPIV1 or PurchaseOrdersSupplierAPIV1).
   • Environment: Indicate whether you are connecting to a test or production environment (possible values are TEST or PRODUCTION).

   Authenticating with OAuth

   After setting connection properties, you need to configure OAuth connectivity to authenticate.

   • Set AuthScheme to OAuthClient.
   • Register an application with the service to obtain the APIKey, OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret.

     For more information on creating an OAuth application, refer to the Help documentation.

   Automatic OAuth

   After setting the following, you are ready to connect:

   APIKey: The Application key in your app settings. OAuthClientId: The OAuth Client Id in your app settings. OAuthClientSecret: The OAuth Secret in your app settings.

   When you connect, the provider automatically completes the OAuth process:

   1. The provider obtains an access token from SAP Ariba and uses it to request data.
   2. The provider refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.
   3. The OAuth values are saved in memory relative to the location specified in OAuthSettingsLocation.
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 and visualize SAP Ariba Procurement from Power BI.

Query SAP Ariba Procurement Tables

Follow the steps below to build a query to pull SAP Ariba Procurement data into the report:

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Other -> SQL Server and click "Connect"
2. Set Server to the address and port of your CData Connect instance (localhost:8033 by default) and set Database to the name of the virtual database you just created (SAPAribaProcurement1)
3. Use "Database" authentication, enter the credentials for a CData Connect user and click "Connect"
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog
5. Click Load to import the data into Power BI

Create SAP Ariba Procurement Data Visualizations

After connecting to the data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view by dragging fields from the Fields pane onto the canvas. Select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize along with the chart type.

Click Refresh to synchronize your report with any changes to the data.

SQL Access to SAP Ariba Procurement Data from Data Applications

With CData Connect you have a direct connection to SAP Ariba Procurement data from Power BI. You can import more data, create new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating SAP Ariba Procurement data.

To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including SAP Ariba Procurement) directly from your on-premise BI, reporting, ETL and other data applications, visit the CData Connect page and download a free trial.