Zendesk Connector for SSAS Zendesk Connector can be used to integrate Zendesk REST API in your App / BI Tools. You can read/write data about Tickets, Activity, Users, Organizations and more. In this article you will learn how to quickly and efficiently integrate Zendesk data in SSAS without coding. We will use high-performance Zendesk Connector to easily connect to Zendesk and then access the data inside SSAS. Let's follow the steps below to see how we can accomplish that! Download Documentation Zendesk Connector for SSAS is based on ZappySys API Driver which is part of ODBC PowerPack. It is a collection of high-performance ODBC drivers that enable you to integrate data in SQL Server, SSIS, a programming language, or any other ODBC-compatible application. ODBC PowerPack supports various file formats, sources and destinations, including REST/SOAP API, SFTP/FTP, storage services, and plain files, to mention a few.

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Create Data Source in ZappySys Data Gateway based on API Driver

1. Download and install ODBC PowerPack.

2. Search for gateway in start menu and Open ZappySys Data Gateway:
   

3. Go to Users Tab to add our first Gateway user. Click Add; we will give it a name tdsuser and enter password you like to give. Check Admin option and click OK to save. We will use these details later when we create linked server:
   

4. Now we are ready to add a data source. Click Add, give data source a name (Copy this name somewhere, we will need it later) and then select Native - ZappySys API Driver. Finally, click OK. And it will create the Data Set for it and open the ZS driver UI.

   ZendeskDSN

   
   

5. When the Configuration window appears give your data source a name if you haven't done that already, then select "Zendesk" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "Zendesk" is not present in the list, then click "Search Online" and download it. Then set the path to the location where you downloaded it. Finally, click Continue >> to proceed with configuring the DSN:

   ZendeskDSN

   Zendesk

   

6. Now it's time to configure the Connection Manager. Select Authentication Type, e.g. Token Authentication. Then select API Base URL (in most cases, the default one is the right one). More info is available in the Authentication section.

    Token Authentication [Http]

   Authenticate using Static Token instead of userid / password ([Token Access] option must be enabled under Admin Console > Channel > API > Settings and then Click [ADD API Token] to generate new token. These settings typically found here https://YOUR-SUB-DOMAIN.zendesk.com/agent/admin/api/settings [API reference]

   Please refer to below API reference (external site) link for Token Authentication [Http]

   https://developer.zendesk.com/rest_api/docs/support/introduction#api-token

   Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:

   ZendeskDSN

   Zendesk

   Token Authentication [Http]

   https://[$Domain$].zendesk.com/api/v2

   Required Parameters
   Sub Domain (e.g. mycompany)	Fill-in the parameter...
   UserId	Fill-in the parameter...
   Token	Fill-in the parameter...
   Optional Parameters
   RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
   RetryStatusCodeList	429
   RetryCountMax	5
   RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

   

    OAuth Authentication [OAuth]

   OAuth App must be created under Admin Console > Channel > API > Settings. These settings typically found here https://YOUR-SUB-DOMAIN.zendesk.com/agent/admin/api/oauth_clients [API reference]

   Please refer to below API reference (external site) link for OAuth Authentication [OAuth]

   https://developer.zendesk.com/rest_api/docs/support/introduction#oauth-access-token

   Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:

   ZendeskDSN

   Zendesk

   OAuth Authentication [OAuth]

   https://[$Domain$].zendesk.com/api/v2

   Required Parameters
   Sub Domain (e.g. mycompany)	Fill-in the parameter...
   ClientId	Fill-in the parameter...
   ClientSecret	Fill-in the parameter...
   Permissions	Fill-in the parameter...
   RedirectUrl	Fill-in the parameter...
   Optional Parameters
   RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
   RetryStatusCodeList	429
   RetryCountMax	5
   RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

   

    UserID/Password Authentication (2FA must be OFF) [Http]

   Authenticate using your userid / password (2FA must be OFF and [Password Access] option must be enabled under Admin Console > Channel > API > Settings. These settings typically found here https://YOUR-SUB-DOMAIN.zendesk.com/agent/admin/api/settings [API reference]

   Please refer to below API reference (external site) link for UserID/Password Authentication (2FA must be OFF) [Http]

   https://developer.zendesk.com/rest_api/docs/support/introduction#basic-authentication.

   Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:

   ZendeskDSN

   Zendesk

   UserID/Password Authentication (2FA must be OFF) [Http]

   https://[$Domain$].zendesk.com/api/v2

   Required Parameters
   Sub Domain (e.g. mycompany)	Fill-in the parameter...
   UserName (2FA Must be OFF)	Fill-in the parameter...
   Password	Fill-in the parameter...
   Optional Parameters
   RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
   RetryStatusCodeList	429
   RetryCountMax	5
   RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

   

7. Once the data source connection has been configured, it's time to configure the SQL query. Select the Preview tab and then click Query Builder button to configure the SQL query:

   

   ZappySys API Driver - Zendesk

   Zendesk Connector can be used to integrate Zendesk REST API in your App / BI Tools. You can read/write data about Tickets, Activity, Users, Organizations and more.

   ZendeskDSN

   

8. Start by selecting the Table or Endpoint you are interested in and then configure the parameters. This will generate a query that we will use in SSAS to retrieve data from Zendesk. Hit OK button to use this query in the next step.

   SELECT * FROM Tickets

   
   Some parameters configured in this window will be passed to the Zendesk API, e.g. filtering parameters. It means that filtering will be done on the server side (instead of the client side), enabling you to get only the meaningful data much faster.

9. Now hit Preview Data button to preview the data using the generated SQL query. If you are satisfied with the result, use this query in SSAS:

   

   ZappySys API Driver - Zendesk

   Zendesk Connector can be used to integrate Zendesk REST API in your App / BI Tools. You can read/write data about Tickets, Activity, Users, Organizations and more.

   ZendeskDSN

   SELECT * FROM Tickets

   
   You can also access data quickly from the tables dropdown by selecting <Select table>.
   A WHERE clause, LIMIT keyword will be performed on the client side, meaning that the whole result set will be retrieved from the Zendesk API first, and only then the filtering will be applied to the data. If possible, it is recommended to use parameters in Query Builder to filter the data on the server side (in Zendesk servers).

10. Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Read Zendesk data in SSAS cube

With the data source created in the Data Gateway (previous step), we're now ready to read Zendesk data in an SSAS cube. Before we dive in, open Visual Studio and create a new Analysis Services project. Then, you're all set!

Create data source based on ZappySys Data Gateway

Let's start by creating a data source for a cube, based on the Data Gateway's data source we created earlier. So, what are we waiting for? Let's do it!

1. Create a new data source:
2. Once a window opens, select Create a data source based on an existing or new connection option and click New...:
3. Here things become a little complicated, but do not despair, it's only for a little while. Just perform these little steps:
   • Select Native OLE DB\SQL Server Native Client 11.0 as provider.
   • Enter your Server name (or IP address) and Port, separated by a comma.
   • Select SQL Server Authentication option for authentication.
   • Input User name which has admin permissions in the ZappySys Data Gateway.
   • In Database name field enter the same data source name you use in the ZappySys Data Gateway.
   • Hopefully, our hard work is done, when we Test Connection.
   ZendeskDSN

   ZendeskDSN

   
   If SQL Server Native Client 11.0 is not listed as Native OLE DB provider, try using these:

   • Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server
   • Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server
4. Indeed, life is easy again:

Add data source view

We have data source in place, it's now time to add a data source view. Let's not waste a single second and get on to it!

1. Start by right-clicking on Data Source Views and then choosing New Data Source View...:
2. Select the previously created data source and click Next:
3. Ignore the Name Matching window and click Next.
4. Add the tables you will use in your SSAS cube:
   For cube dimensions, consider creating a Virtual Table in the Data Gateway's data source. Use the DISTINCT keyword in the SELECT statement to get unique values from the facts table, like this:

   SELECT DISTINCT Country FROM Customers

   For demonstration purposes we are using sample tables which may not be available in Zendesk.
5. Review your data source view and click Finish:
6. Add the missing table relationships and you're done!

Create cube

We have a data source view ready to be used by our cube. Let's create one!

1. Start by right-clicking on Cubes and selecting New Cube... menu item:
2. Select tables you will use for the measures:
3. And then select the measures themselves:
4. Don't stop and select the dimensions too:
5. Move along and click Finish before the final steps:
6. Review your cube before processing it:
7. It's time for the grand finale! Hit Process... to create the cube:
8. A splendid success!

Execute MDX query

The cube is created and processed. It's time to reap what we sow! Just execute an MDX query and get Zendesk data in your SSAS cube:

Actions supported by Zendesk Connector

Learn how to perform common Zendesk actions directly in SSAS with these how-to guides:

• Create Organization
• Create Ticket (Single)
• Create Tickets (Bulk)
• Create User
• Delete Attachment
• Delete Organization
• Delete Ticket
• Delete Tickets (Bulk)
• Delete Upload Session
• Delete User
• Read Attachment
• Read Brands
• Read Current User Info
• Read Groups
• Read Macros
• Read Organization Count
• Read Organization Fields
• Read Organization(s) by ID
• Read Organizations (All)
• Read Organizations (Incremental) changed after a specified date
• Read Requests
• Read Requests Search
• Read Sessions
• Read Tags
• Read Ticket ActivityStream
• Read Ticket ActivityStream Details
• Read Ticket Attachments
• Read Ticket Comments
• Read Ticket Events (Incremental) changed after a specified date
• Read Ticket Fields
• Read Ticket Forms
• Read Ticket Metric Events (Incremental) changed after a specified date
• Read Ticket Metrics
• Read Ticket(s) by ID
• Read Tickets (All)
• Read Tickets (Incremental) changed after a specified date
• Read Tickets (Recent)
• Read Tickets Count (All)
• Read Tickets Count (for Organization)
• Read Tickets for Organization
• Read Tickets for User (Assigned)
• Read Tickets for User (CCed)
• Read Tickets for User (Requested)
• Read User Fields
• Read User Sessions
• Read User(s) by ID
• Read Users (All)
• Read Users (Incremental) changed after a specified date
• Read Views
• Search Records - NO Sorting (Allows more than 1000 rows)
• Search Records - WITH Sorting and Extra Columns (Max 1000 rows)
• Update Organization
• Update Ticket (Single)
• Update Tickets (Bulk)
• Update User
• Upload Attachment (Single file)
• Upsert Organization - Create or Update
• Upsert User - Create or Update
• Upsert Users (Bulk) - Create or Update
• Generic Request
• Generic Request (Bulk Write)

Conclusion

In this article we showed you how to connect to Zendesk in SSAS and integrate data without any coding, saving you time and effort. It's worth noting that ZappySys API Driver allows you to connect not only to Zendesk, but to any Java application that supports JDBC (just use a different JDBC driver and configure it appropriately).

We encourage you to download Zendesk Connector for SSAS and see how easy it is to use it for yourself or your team.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact ZappySys support team. You can also open a live chat immediately by clicking on the chat icon below.

Download Zendesk Connector for SSAS Documentation

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