Visualize Your PLM Data with Aras InnovatorEdge and Power BI
One of the most common questions we hear from customers is how to expose specific portions of PLM data to external services and tools using Aras InnovatorEdge. InnovatorEdge lets you use your favorite programs and tools with all of the necessary context that you define. Power BI allows you to create and share powerful reports with live data from Aras Innovator®. This blog assumes that you know the basics of InnovatorEdge, and how to create and work with custom APIs. If not, please read our previous blogs before jumping into this! Setup We’re going to skip the steps for creating your API. In this example, I’ll be using a very simple API that includes Parts, Part BOM Relationships, and related Documents. Here’s what the end result will look like: We’ll also have an API key configured and saved for use in Power BI. With those things configured in Edge, let’s jump into Power BI. Power BI To use your Aras data in Power BI, we’ll need to create some data references. Each data reference will map to a query through Edge. So, you’ll build a table based on Parts, for example, and a separate one for documents. Here are the steps for creating individual tables. Open Power BI and generate a new report In the Get Data tab, select web source: Click advanced and input your Edge URL for a specific query. That should look like this: https://edge.aras.cloud/ams/api/{YOUR_INSTANCE}/{YOUR_API}/{ITEMTYPE/QUERY} Under HTTP Request header parameters, add a header titled Authorization. The value should be apikey {YOUR_API_KEY} You should now see all the data your request serviced: Repeat the previous steps for any other requests you’d like to make. For the example document, I’ll be adding Documents, Part BOM, and Part Document. Connecting the data Once you have created your tables, you can then press the Model View button: to open up the following view: Now all you have to do is click the Manage Relationships button in the toolbar, and you’ll see the following dialog. From here, you can manually create the connections between your data. Make sure you create connections between relationships, as well as any Item Properties you’ve included. Once you’ve created your connections, your model view should look something like this: To include your InnovatorEdge data in a visual, open the Report View, and on the right-hand side, you should see the following pane: This allows you to select the type of visual you’d like to include and the data you want displayed. In this instance, I've created a simple table. Conclusion From this point on, you can use your live Innovator data to create powerful, useful visuals. This is just one example of how you can use an InnovatorEdge API to enable external tools. Let us know if there are other use cases you’d like to see on our blog! Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments below or use the community forums to ask questions or share results!
