Model Context Protocol (MCP) finally gives AI models a way to access the business data needed to make them really useful at work. CData MCP Servers have the depth and performance to make sure AI has access to all of the answers.
Try them now for free →
Access ServiceNow Data as OData Feeds in Tableau
Use the Tableau Desktop business intelligence tool to connect to ServiceNow data using the API Server.
The CData API Server, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for ServiceNow (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers), provides ServiceNow data as OData Web services. This article will explain how to use the API Server to provide the underlying connectivity to ServiceNow data in Tableau's business intelligence tool.
About ServiceNow Data Integration
CData simplifies access and integration of live ServiceNow data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:
- Get optimized performance since CData uses the REST API for data and the SOAP API for schema.
- Read, write, update, and delete ServiceNow objects like Schedules, Timelines, Questions, Syslogs and more.
- Use SQL stored procedures for actions like adding items to a cart, submitting orders, and downloading attachments.
- Securely authenticate with ServiceNow, including basic (username and password), OKTA, ADFS, OneLogin, and PingFederate authentication schemes.
Many users access live ServiceNow data from preferred analytics tools like Tableau, Power BI, and Excel, and use CData solutions to integrate ServiceNow data with their database or data warehouse.
Getting Started
Set Up the API Server
Follow the steps below to begin producing secure ServiceNow 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 ServiceNow
After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for ServiceNow, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to ServiceNow by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.
ServiceNow uses the OAuth 2.0 authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, register an OAuth app with ServiceNow to obtain the OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret connection properties. In addition to the OAuth values, specify the Instance, Username, and Password connection properties.
See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide on connecting to ServiceNow.
When you configure the connection, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.
You can then choose the ServiceNow entities you want to allow the API Server to access by clicking Settings -> Resources.
Additionally, click Settings -> Server and set the Default Format to XML (Atom) for compatibility with Tableau.
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.
Create Real-Time ServiceNow Data Visualizations
Follow the steps below to create data visualizations based on the remote ServiceNow data:
-
In Tableau, select 'Connect to data'. In the 'On a server' section, click OData.
-
In the resulting wizard, enter the URL of the OData endpoint for the API Server. Append the name of the table you want to access to the OData entry URL. For example:
https://your-server/api.rsc/incident -
Select the
'Use a Username and Password' option and enter the username and password of a user who has access to the API Server.
-
Tableau uses the table metadata exposed by the API Server to detect dimension and measure columns.
-
To view the ServiceNow data, right-click under the table name in the Data section of the dashboard and select the View Data option. The ServiceNow data will appear in Tableau.
