The Data Connection uses OData (Open Data Protocol) to help your financial reporting go further by letting you connect our system with powerful third-party reporting tools.

About the Data Connection

The Data Connection can be enabled in as many entities as required. In your chosen reporting tool, you can extract datasets from single entities or combine data from multiple entities by pulling in data using credentials from each entity. The most common reporting tools used are Excel and Power BI.

Each entity can have multiple Connections. This lets you create Connections for different purposes, such as for various reports, reporting tools, or used by different roles in your organisation. Having multiple Connections also allows them to be revoked on an individual basis.

Permissions

An admin user must set the following profile permissions in Maintain User Profile against the relevant profiles:

• Menus tab: 
  • Company Details & Settings for the admin user who will enable the Data Connection.
  • Data Connection Setup for any users who will generate Connections.
• OData tab: 
  • Configure the datasets that should be available for each user profile. 

In addition, only an admin user can enable or disable the Data Connection.

See Create & Manage Users for more details on managing permissions.

Next Steps

Next, enable the Data Connection. Then the relevant users can generate their credentials and connect to Excel or Power BI.

See:

▶️ OData Connector Set up (23.1) - AIQ Academy

▶️ Generate OData User Credentials (23.2) - AIQ Academy

▶️ Use OData Connector with Power BI (23.3) - AIQ Academy

▶️ Using OData connector with Excel (23.4) - AIQ Academy

📗 OData with Excel

📗 OData & Excel Advanced Report Building Guide

📗 OData & Excel Troubleshooting

Enable the Data Connection

If you have a group, the Data Connection needs to be enabled in each required entity.

1. Go to Setup > Company Details & Settings.
   
2. In the Integration tab, click Enable. You will receive confirmation that the Data Connection was enabled.

Disable the Data Connection

Disabling a Data Connection in an entity has no impact on the Data Connection status of other entities.

Clicking Disable will cut off all access to the data, meaning no users will be able to access the data. You will receive confirmation that the Data Connection was disabled. Any Connections that were created no longer be available.

See:

▶️ OData Connector Set up (23.1) - AIQ Academy

 Each user needs to create their own set of user credentials to access data. 

To use a Connection with reporting tools, you will need the following:

• Connection URL: Available in the Data Connections screen. Each entity has its own unique URL that includes the version of the Data Connection used.
• Username: Available in the Data Connections screen. The Username is the same as your account User Name.
• Password: Created by you and unique to this Connection. If you create multiple Connections, you will have multiple passwords.

To generate user credentials: 

1. Go to Setup > Data Connections.
   
2. To generate the Connection password, click Create New Password.
3.  Click I understand to accept the disclaimer that the password can only be used to connect to system data using the Connection and that it can be revoked at any time.
4. Provide a name for the Connection. This will help you keep track of your Connections. Click Verify Identity.
5.  Verify your identity with the OTP that was sent to your email. Click Submit. 
   
6. You will then be presented with your Connection password. Copy the password before you close this window. Once you close this window, you will no longer have access to this password so keep it in a safe place, such as a password manager.

Next Step: Connect to a Reporting Tool

You can now use your credentials to access AIQ data from within a reporting tool such as Excel or Power BI. 

For more on Excel, see OData with Excel, OData & Excel Advanced Report Building Guide, and OData & Excel Troubleshooting.

See:

▶️ Generate OData User Credentials (23.2) - AIQ Academy

View or Revoke Connections

Users with access to the Data Connections screen can view all current Connections. 

If required, admin users can revoke individual Connections by clicking on Revoke. This action cannot be undone and if the user wants to use a Connection, they will need to click Create New Password. Users will also need to update the password in their reporting tool, as reports using the revoked password will stop refreshing until they do.

When is System Data Refreshed?

• When consolidation is run.
• When a report or dashboard requires refreshing before it can be run.
• When the refresh button is clicked in the GL Explorer.
• When the refresh button is clicked in the GL listing grid.
• Prior to period / year closing.

In your reporting tool, refresh your Connection to ensure you are getting the most up-to-date data. With Excel, you can Refresh All to update your reports. See OData with Excel.

To support the future development of our datasets, the Data Connection supports versioning. This enables us to deliver changes to the Data Connection and datasets without impacting existing reports. If a query is no longer available within a report, you can still opt to continue using an older Data Connection version rather than re-developing the report.

1. In Setup > Data Connections, click on Need an older version?
2.  Select the required version. This will update the Connection URL in your credentials.

We provide a link to a sample Power BI report pack on the Data Connections screen. This is provided as an example of how a Connection can be used within a Power BI report. It is provided without warranty and is not a supported component of our product. 

See:

▶️ Use OData Connector with Power BI (23.3) - AIQ Academy