Connecting to web based CRM

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I am looking to connect PowerBI to a web-based CRM, I've spoken to the CRM tech people who have said they haven't been asked to do anything like this before and said the easiest way would be to download the data and refresh the report  (which I already knew).

I want to be able to see activity in real time and give Salespeople a real-time view of what is happening across the business as opposed to daily/weekly/monthly reports.

Am I missing a trick with one of the connection methods? Or has anyone created any e.g. Python script etc which can go into a CRM > export the report > put it into another method of connecting data to PBI in an 'almost real-time' way?

I'm an Analyst, not a Developer so excuse my limited thinking around this. Seeing as a human could do this (manually) I'm of the opinion it must be achievable.

[Greg_Deckler]

What is the CRM system?

Please see this post regarding How to Get Your Question Answered Quickly: https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Community-Blog/How-to-Get-Your-Question-Answered-Quickly/ba-p/38490

[Anonymous]

https://www.chameleoni.com/

[Greg_Deckler]

Hmm, so these guys have no idea of what a REST API or OData endpoint is then?

[Anonymous]

Maybe I haven't spoken to the right person yet.

So a Rest API is the way to go? How much work is that for them to set up?

[Greg_Deckler]

Yeah, if you had some sort of OData or other RESTful way of extracting data that returns JSON or XML, etc. then that is the way to go. For example, Dynamics CRM, Salesforce, they all have OData or other "end points" that allow you to point a web browser to a web address, authenticate and return information. 

In all honesty, anyone that claims to be a "cloud provider" should already have something like this for their system. It's how cloud services talk to one another and how customers get access to their data.