Use the API Server and Jira ADO.NET Provider to Access Jira Data in Microsoft PowerPivot



Use the API Server to connect to live Jira data in the PowerPivot business intelligence tool.

This article will explain how to use the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Jira (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers) to provide Jira data as OData services and then consume the data in Microsoft Excel's PowerPivot business intelligence tool. Follow the steps below to retrieve Jira data in Power Pivot.

About Jira Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Jira data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Gain bi-directional access to their Jira objects like issues, projects, and workflows.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to perform functional actions like changing issues status, creating custom fields, download or uploading an attachment, modifying or retrieving time tracking settings, and more.
  • Authenticate securely using a variety of methods, including username and password, OAuth, personal access token, API token, Crowd or OKTA SSO, LDAP, and more.

Most users leverage CData solutions to integrate Jira data with their database or data warehouse, whether that's using CData Sync directly or relying on CData's compatibility with platforms like SSIS or Azure Data Factory. Others are looking to get analytics and reporting on live Jira data from preferred analytics tools like Tableau and Power BI.

Learn more about how customers are seamlessly connecting to their Jira data to solve business problems from our blog: Drivers in Focus: Collaboration Tools.


Getting Started


Set Up the API Server

Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Jira OData services:

Deploy

The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.

The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.

Connect to Jira

After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Jira, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Jira by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.

To connect to JIRA, provide the User and Password. Additionally, provide the Url; for example, https://yoursitename.atlassian.net.

You can then choose the Jira entities you want to allow the API Server access to by clicking Settings -> Resources.

Additionally, click Settings -> Server and set the Default Format to XML (Atom) for compatibility with Excel.

Authorize API Server Users

After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address; by default, only connections to the local machine are allowed. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.

Import Jira Tables in Power Pivot

Follow the steps below to import tables that can be refreshed on demand:

  1. In Excel, click the PowerPivot Window icon in the PowerPivot tab to open PowerPivot.
  2. Click Home -> Get External Data -> From Data Service -> From OData Data Feed.
  3. Add authentication parameters. Click Advanced and set the Integrated Security option to Basic. You will need to enter the User Id and Password of a user who has access to the CData API Server. Set the password to the user's authtoken.

  4. In the Base URL box, enter the OData URL of the CData API Server. For example, http://localhost:8032/api.rsc.

  5. Select which tables you want to import and click Finish.

  6. You can now work with Jira data in Power Pivot.

Ready to get started?

Learn more or sign up for a free trial:

CData API Server