Use Microsoft PowerPivot to Access Salesforce.com Through the OData Connector

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Published on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:04:06 GMT Indexed on 2012/09/21 15:38 UTC
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This article will explain how to connect to any of our OData Connectors with Microsoft Excel's PowerPivot business intelligence tool. While the example will use the Salesforce Connector, the same process can be followed for any of the RSSBus OData Connectors.

  • Step 1: Download and install both the Salesforce Connector from RSSBus and PowerPivot for Excel from Microsoft.
  • Step 2: Next you will want to configure the Salesforce Connector to connect with your Salesforce account. If you browse to the Help tab in the Salesforce Connector application, there is a link to the Getting Started Guide which will walk you through setting up the Salesforce Connector.
  • Step 3: Once you have successfully configured the Salesforce Connector application, you will want to open Excel and select the PowerPivot tab at the top of the window.
  • Step 4: Here you will click on the button labeled PowerPivot Window at the top left.
  • Step 5: A new pop up will appear. Now select the option "From Data Feeds".
  • Step 6: In the resulting Table Import Wizard you will enter the OData URL of the Salesforce Connector. You can find this by clicking on the Settings tab of the Salesforce Connector. It will look something like this: http://localhost:8181/sfconnector/data/conn/odata.rsc. You will also need to add authentication options in this step. To do this, click on the Advanced button and scroll down to the Security section of the resulting pop up window. Change the Integrated Security option to "Basic". You will also need to enter the User ID and Password of the user who has access to the Salesforce Connector.
  • Step 7: When the connection to the Salesforce Connector is successful, click the Next button at the bottom of the window.
  • Step 8: A table listing of the available tables will appear in the next window of the wizard. Here you will select which tables you want to import and click Finish.
  • Step 9: If the import was successful, click Close and you are done! Your data is now in PowerPivot.

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