Last week we built a very simple dashboard in Excel by connecting Acumatica data to Excel using OData. This week I have been super busy so I wasn't able to put together a video post. However, I did find a couple of helpful links that demonstrate the power of Microsoft Excel Dashboards in Acumatica ERP: … [Read more...]
Building a simple Dashboard in Excel using Acumatica ERP OData
Easy to Use and Massive Community There is a reason that Microsoft Excel is the world's most popular BI reporting tool. It's easy to use and you can find tons how-to information online. If you aren't sure how to do something in Excel, just type your question into Google and the chances are that you will find an answer. Excel formulas are very powerful and there are myriads of ways that you can combine them together to create powerful calculations. … [Read more...]
Connecting to Acumatica data from Microsoft Excel
Update February 5th, 2017: Alas, the TryAcumatica.com links don't work anymore since that site has been taken down. So, I removed the links. Last Week Last week we took a look at how to build a simple Generic Inquiry screen in Acumatica. Then, at the very end, we checked a box to enable it for OData. Checking that box allows us to connect to the data in our Generic Inquiry screen using other applications, including the world’s most popular business intelligence application: Microsoft Excel. … [Read more...]
Creating an OData Connection by building a Generic Inquiry screen in Acumatica ERP
Two weeks ago I posted about why it’s such a big deal that Acumatica has connected to Microsoft Excel and Power BI via OData. But how do we tap into this new magic “power”? Everything begins with building a Generic Inquiry screen in Acumatica. In order to use an OData connection in Acumatica, you first have to build a Generic Inquiry screen. In this post, I’d like to walk through building a simple Generic Inquiry screen and enabling it for OData. … [Read more...]
Acumatica Reports – Report Designer (5%) and Excel / Power BI (95%)
Last week I mentioned the recent announcement by Acumatica which connects Acumatica to Microsoft Excel, Power BI, Power Pivot, and Power Query. Then I made my case for why I think that Excel and the “Power” tools are a big deal. What about Report Designer? But where does the Report Designer in Acumatica fit into all of this? … [Read more...]
Acumatica Connects to Microsoft Excel and Power BI with OData
Update June 4th, 2015 - Checkout my guest post over at PowerPivotPro.com Update May 6th, 2015 - Checkout my guest post over at OData.org Hold onto your seats, the world’s fastest growing Cloud ERP software (Acumatica) is about to collide with the world’s most popular Reporting and Business Intelligence software (Microsoft Excel). Acumatica made the announcement this morning May 01, 2015 (click here) at Microsoft Build, the annual conference aimed at developers who use Microsoft’s next … [Read more...]
Lesson Learned: Don’t Abandon the Acumatica Data Access Classes (DAC)
Ok, I give up. Exactly one month ago (click here) I attempted to abandon the Acumatica Data Access Classes. Now, at the time I wasn’t sure if it would work out, but I thought I’d at least try it temporarily. One month later and I’ve given up. I feel like I need to go to a chalkboard and write “Don’t abandon the Acumatica Data Access Classes” over and over again. … [Read more...]
Temporarily Abandoning the Acumatica Data Access Classes
I still have a lot of hope for learning how the Data Access Classes in Acumatica can contribute to better reporting. As far as I can tell, I think the Data Access Classes function like the Acumatica Reporting??? side of the picture below. However, I think that I'm going to revert to my comfort zone for a little while to see how well I can create reports directly against the Acumatica database like in the Traditional Reporting side of the picture below. In more traditional ERP systems, your only … [Read more...]
Acumatica, Power Query, and Power Pivot
I wasn't able to spend much time on direct Acumatica learning this week, but I did get to entertain an Excel reporting idea that I think would be very powerful if I can get it to work. First, a word about Power Pivot. I began using Power Pivot early last year and have become a big fan. At my company, we now do a lot of our reporting in Power Pivot. Recently, over the past few months, I have been attending the Cleveland Excel User Group which focusses on Power Pivot and is organized by a guy … [Read more...]