Use the CData ODBC Driver for SAP Ariba Procurement in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for SAP Ariba Procurement, you gain database-like access to live SAP Ariba Procurement data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding SAP Ariba Procurement as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of SAP Ariba Procurement data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live SAP Ariba Procurement data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to SAP Ariba Procurement, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SAP Ariba Procurement and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze SAP Ariba Procurement data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to SAP Ariba Procurement as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to SAP Ariba Procurement follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

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.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for SAP Ariba Procurement in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize SAP Ariba Procurement Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting SAP Ariba Procurement in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to SAP Ariba Procurement in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add SAP Ariba Procurement data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of SAP Ariba Procurement data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData SAPAribaProcurement Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the SAP Ariba Procurement data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query. SELECT * FROM Orders NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of SAP Ariba Procurement data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to SAP Ariba Procurement, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver.
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for SAP Ariba Procurement in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on SAP Ariba Procurement data. Read our other articles on connecting to SAP Ariba Procurement in MicroStrategy and connecting to SAP Ariba Procurement in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.