Basic Functionality

An OData service can be created in apps that have reporting enabled (e.g. Scrum). The OData service contains the definition of the object classes and properties that are exposed via the OData API.

Depending on where you create the OData service, various source objects can be used. For example, in order to gain access to your contracts, create an OData service inside your Contract Manager app.

Having created an OData service, you receive a URL which can then be used to access the data via a client like Microsoft Power BI. The OData protocol is a standardized protocol which is understood by any client - even a web browser.

Aside from the OData URL, you require the “Access for Applications” password for authentication.

Creating an OData Service

Once reporting has been enabled in the app of your choice, you need to create the OData service in the context where your data is stored so that it can be queried.

To create an OData service, proceed as follows:

1. Navigate into the desired app configuration or app room, then into the “Reports and OData Services” area.
2. Click the “Create OData Service” action.
3. Define the following settings and click “Next”.
   • Name
     The name of the OData service.
   • Language
     Multilingual strings are provided in the defined language in the data source.
   • Use Programming Name
     If enabled, object classes and properties will not be translated and the programming names are used instead.
   • Cache Duration
     Defines how long the data is cached. Defining longer time intervals will increase performance during subsequent calls.
4. Choose the object class of which you want to add properties to the model for the OData service and click “Next”.
5. Select the desired properties and click “Next”.
   Note: You need to consider that adding a great number of properties will require additional resources to load. It is recommended to add the minimum required number of classes and properties.
6. Click “Next”.
7. If needed, you can add further properties of other object classes by clicking “Add Entry”.
8. Click “Next”.
9. Copy the provided link to the OData service and click “Next”.
   Note: You will be able to copy this link later as well by clicking on the generated OData service.

Creating a Password for Applications

You need a password for applications to access your OData service. Create a password by opening the account menu (your user name) and clicking “Advanced Settings” > “Access for Applications”. Create a password valid for “Open Data Protocol (OData)”.

Licensing

OData licenses are available in 10M and 100M versions.

OData volume licenses are checked when

• the table overview for an OData service is retrieved.
• actual rows for a certain entity are retrieved.

The overview does not lower the number of available objects but the overview is not shown if there is no amount of any OData volume left.

When retrieving rows for a certain entity the OData volume is lowered by the number of rows retrieved. That means you are charged exactly by the number of rows retrieved no matter which filters are applied and how many data rows there are in original.