Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 was released in May, and for the last few months we have been going over the dozens of new features it delivers, first as introductions, and now in more detail. In our last three blog entries for Microsoft Dynamics GP, we have been taking a closer look at another new feature that we have previously introduced, the new OData service that you can deploy to democratize your Microsoft Dynamics GP data. The OData service enables you to manage access to your Microsoft Dynamics GP data for GP users so that they can build rich interactive reports in Power BI and Excel.
We have now covered the deployment of the OData service, setting up users and security for the service, and the new setup menu items for OData (Tools > Setup > Systems > OData). Today we’re going to take a look at actually using the OData service.
In Microsoft Excel, under the Data tab, select From Other Sources, then select From OData Feed. In the Data Connection Wizard, type in the URL for your OData feed, and then enter your user name and password. Select the tables you want to pull data from to build a report, and you are good to go. Power BI works similarly. In Power BI, select Get Data, then select OData Feed. Type in the URL, and then sign in with your credentials. When it connects and authenticates you, you will get a list of objects available for building reports.
