In addition to Blue10’s Standard Power BI dashboards, you can also create your own reports using data from your Blue10 environment. Via the Blue10 Odata API, you can use the data from Blue10 to create your own reports in Excel or to link to a Business Intelligence/reporting solution that is already in use within your organisation. This also makes it possible to combine data from Blue10 with data from other software applications, such as an ERP or accounting system.
Blue10 does not offer support for developing your own reports or dashboards in Power BI or any other BI or reporting solution. However, we will show you what you need and the first steps you need to take to connect Power BI or Excel to the OData API.
Technical documentation
Would you like to transfer data to a data warehouse yourself in order to create your own report? The technical documentation contains more information about, among other things, the tables that can be found in the reports. View the technical documentation here.
Step-by-step plan
Below you will find a step-by-step plan for connecting to Blue10’s OData API. Regardless of the programme you want to use to create the report, you will need two things:
1. The URL, which you use to indicate which database you want to connect to: https://odata.blue10.com/api/v1.0
2. An API Key. You use this to establish the connection between the Blue10 database and the programme you are using to create the report. You can generate the API key yourself in your Blue10 environment. For this functionality, the Blue10 Enterprise subscription must be activated and you must have the role of Administrator in Blue10. Not yet using the Blue10 – Enterprise subscription? Request it first using the form below.
To create the API key, follow these steps:
- Open Blue10 and go to Management > API Key Management.
- Click on New API key and enter the following information:
- – Name: choose a logical name for the API key
- – Description (optional): where will you use the key?
- – Expiry date: the expiry date may be no more than one year in the future
- Click on Next
- The API key will appear on the screen. Copy it and make sure it is stored in a safe place. The API key will only appear on the screen once!
- Click on Confirm. The API key will now appear in the overview and can be used.
Importing Blue10 database data
Depending on the programme you are working with, follow a number of steps to import the database data via the API key. We provide an example for Power BI and Excel. If you use a different reporting solution, you can connect via the OData API as you are accustomed to doing here. To do this, use the URL and OData API key that can be retrieved from your Blue10 environment, as described above.
Excel
1. Open a new document (blank workbook) in Excel
2. Go to Data > Get Data > From Other Sources > From OData Feed
3. A pop-up will appear. Select Basic and enter the following URL: https://odata.blue10.com/api/v1.0 Click OK.
4. Another pop-up will appear. There are various options on the left. Select Basic. For Username, enter a name of your choice, for example “ADMIN”.
For Password, enter the API Key. Click Connect.
4. A list of available tables will now appear. You can select everything or just the part you want to work with.
5. Now continue with compiling your report.
Power BI
1. Create a new Power BI report in Power BI Desktop.
2. Go to Get data > Blank query
3. Go to Advanced Editor (at the top of the menu)
4. Enter the following:
let
url = "https://odata.blue10.com/api/v1.0",
token=Text.Combine({"Bearer ", "enter your API key here"}),
Source=OData.Feed(url,null,[Headers=[Authorization=token]])
in Source
5. If the report asks for a privacy method, click on anonymous.
