Generic Inquiries and OData: General Information

In MYOB Acumatica, generic inquiries are used as the data source for third-party applications that track and analyze the data by supporting OData.

MYOB Acumatica supports OData Version 3.0 with some exceptions related to query options and query functions. For details about exceptions, see Generic Inquiries and OData: Preparation of an Inquiry for Exposure.

Tip:
We strongly recommend that you deploy your MYOB Acumatica instance (or instances) by using HTTPS, to pass the user credentials safely.

Learning Objectives

In this chapter, you will learn how to expose a generic inquiry form by using OData.

Applicable Scenarios

You may find the information in this chapter useful when you are a technical specialist with your company, you manage reports and inquiries, and your company has decided to use a third-party reporting tool that supports the OData protocol (in addition to using MYOB Acumatica reporting). You need to expose the requested generic inquiries and verify access to the exposed data by using Microsoft Excel.

Benefits from Exposing Data Through OData

Some MYOB Acumatica technology partners have built reporting solutions by using the ability of MYOB Acumatica to expose data through OData.

Multiple applications can use data exposed through the OData protocol, including Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Excel.

Microsoft Power BI offers advanced capabilities for creating charts. You can expose a generic inquiry through OData and access its data from Power BI. By using Power BI, you can create advanced charts based on data imported from MYOB Acumatica. An advanced Power BI chart can then be imported back to MYOB Acumatica and added to a dashboard as a widget. For example, you can create a visual display of your sales across the United States (as shown in the following screenshot). Due to the exposure of the inquiry with OData, the Power BI chart displays real-time data when you view it either in Power BI or on your dashboard in MYOB Acumatica.

Figure 1. Example of an advanced chart built with Power BI


Microsoft Excel offers the following capabilities to process data:

  • To make basic calculations, such as summing, multiplying, and finding the average, as well as advanced calculations, such as regression analysis and conversions
  • To create professional reports and dashboards with charts and visualizations