How do I connect Tableau to Visma AccountView in 5 minutes?
Execute the following steps to connect Tableau to Visma AccountView. You only need knowledge of Tableau and your own business.
Visma AccountView is on-premises accounting software used in the Netherlands. Despite it's age, still very large volumes of companies are managed using AccountView by accountants and entrepreneurs. AccountView is based on data stored in FoxPro-tables and managed by the AccountView metadata.
No technical knowledge is needed nor knowledge on the Visma AccountView APIs to connect Visma AccountView to Tableau. This step-by-step plan will tell you exactly which steps you need to go through on Invantive Cloud to create your own Azure data warehouse with data from Visma AccountView.
The steps to connect Tableau to Visma AccountView are:
- Register an Invantive Cloud account.
- Create a Visma AccountView database.
- Make the Visma AccountView database available through the Tableau OData connector.
- Connect Tableau to Visma AccountView through the connector.
- Load data from Visma AccountView into Tableau.
Invantive Cloud offers a Visma AccountView connector to download data from Visma AccountView into Tableau, but there are over 75 other connectors available also for SQL, Power BI, Power Query, Tableau and Azure Data Factory.
Do you have a large environment? For effective downloads, you can of course also filter the data.
When you are having questions, please check the forums for Visma AccountView.
Register Account on Invantive Cloud
Skip this step when you already have an account on Invantive Cloud. Otherwise execute the following steps one time to register an account on Invantive Cloud:
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Go to Invantive Cloud start page.
Select the Log on-button.
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Select the Next-button.
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Select the Next-button.
Enter your password and repeat the provided password.
You will receive a six-digit verification code by email within 2 minutes.
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Select the Sign Up-button.
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Make sure you have an authentication app installed on your phone. Select the Next-button.
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Add the displayed QR code to the authentication app, enter the current verification code, and choose "Finish".
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The Invantive Cloud dashboard will be shown.
You now have a login code on Invantive Cloud with which you can set up the connection with Visma AccountView and numerous other platforms. You will use the same Invantive login code and workflow for all other platforms.
Create Visma AccountView database
In this step, we set up a database with data from Visma AccountView. The database is "virtual" because it is not a traditional database, but is fed real-time from Visma AccountView. Invantive Cloud provides Tableau with a real-time link to Visma AccountView. The database will be used for all your Visma AccountView reporting with Tableau. So you only need to perform these steps once.
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Click the Add Database button.
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Please fill out the form with login information for Visma AccountView.
Select the OK-button.
Congratulations! You can now process data from Visma AccountView within the Invantive Cloud website. You can do this for example with the interactive SQL editor.
Grant connection from Tableau access to Visma AccountView
To retrieve the data from Tableau we create a link via Invantive Bridge Online. This creates a "bridge" between the cloud of Invantive and the standard OData connector that is available in every version of Tableau. You do not need to install anything locally: no connector, no ado.NET provider and no Tableau add-on neither.
Execute the following steps to safely use the data from Visma AccountView outside of Invantive Cloud:
Next to the database you will find an orange text requesting you to allow access from your current location (IP address). Select the nearby orange button.
You can completely disable IP address checking by entering an asterisk ("*").
You are now ready to import the Visma AccountView data into Tableau.
Configure Tableau connector for Visma AccountView
You will now pull in Tableau data from Visma AccountView through the established link.
Please note again that Invantive Cloud under the hood handles all complexity such as setting up credentials such as a refresh token, acquiring an access token, optimizing and parallelizing access, accessing an API within the rate limits, scopes and security restrictions. There is absolutely no need for knowledge on complex technical topics such as OAuth access tokens or API.
Execute the following steps:
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Start Tableau and choose "More..." from the "To a Server" menu on the left menu "Connect".
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Enter in the window the Bridge Online URL of the Tableau database. This URL containing the data can be found in the Database-form of Invantive Cloud. Choose authentication type "Username and Password". Enter the Invantive Cloud user name and password.
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The list of available Visma AccountView tables appears. Select the desired tables and construct your Tableau dashboard.