Salesforce is one of the best CRM platforms available. It helps companies manage sales efficiently, letting them smoothly perform customer interactions and boost many other business tasks. However, the real value of connecting Salesforce to analytics tools is an increased ability to analyze sales data for making data-driven decisions.
Salesforce data can be very important for accurate reporting and advanced analytics, and its seamless integration can turn out to be a game-changer for business. This article will help you explore different methods for extracting Salesforce data and will instruct you on how to connect Salesforce to analytics tools like Power BI and Tableau.
To understand more about how Salesforce helps businesses grow, check our article on what is Salesforce and how can businesses benefit from it.
Follow this guide to make your Salesforce data work for you.
Table of contents
- Why exporting Salesforce data is essential
- Methods to export data from Salesforce
- Exporting Salesforce data using Devart ODBC drivers
- Connecting through the Salesforce API
- Connecting Salesforce data to popular analytics & data visualization tools
- Using BigQuery for advanced analytics
- Conclusion
Why exporting Salesforce data is essential
Exporting Salesforce data is essential for different reasons, which are backed by business success. Let’s overview them.
- Data backup and security. Salesforce stores a significant amount of business data. Backing it up regularly will ensure you have copies in case you lose your data accidentally or your system crashes down.
- Analytics and reporting. Salesforce provides reporting, but it might not be advanced enough for deep analysis. Companies can export data and utilize Salesforce reporting tools such as Tableau and Power BI to identify trends, visualize opportunities, and empower better decision-making.
- Integration. Salesforce data exporting allows seamless Salesforce integration with many other platforms that are currently used, such as ERP systems and big data analytical solutions. It facilitates the ability to view the overall business performance in an easy way.
- Limitations. Salesforce data limitations include inflexible data visualizations, restricted access to historical data, and export of Salesforce data to external tools.
Methods to export data from Salesforce
There are various Salesforce export options available for different use cases. Below are the main export Salesforce data methods that involve built-in and third-party Salesforce data tools.
- Salesforce data export service
- Salesforce data loader
- Salesforce reports export
- Exporting Salesforce data using Devart ODBC Drivers
- Salesforce APIs
Salesforce data export service
The Salesforce CSV export feature offers built-in functionality for exporting data in CSV format. The native Salesforce tools allow users to create backups regularly through large-scale exports. Exporting often includes extensive volumes of data for analysis, migration, and integration with other systems.
Limitations. Updates are infrequent in the Salesforce data export service, making it unusable for real-time analytics. Furthermore, the exported files can become vast and complex to manage.
Salesforce data loader
Salesforce data loader is a bulk import and export client tool that is used to read data from CSV files for imports and write data for exports to CSV files. It processes the data in the form of groups for bulk operation. By configuring the tool, users can map fields and select operations they want to perform (insert, update, delete, and export) to process data. This approach is quite helpful for managing advanced datasets.
Prerequisites for using Salesforce data loader include downloading and installing the application, which requires a compatible Java Runtime Environment, obtaining Salesforce credentials like username, password, and security token, and preparing data in CSV files formatted correctly for bulk data export Salesforce and import.
Salesforce report export
Let’s learn how to create and export Salesforce reports to Excel or into CSV files for small, precise datasets or manual database updates.
For more information on using Excel for data manipulation, including mass updates, see our detailed article on Salesforce recodrs mass update using Excel Add-ins.
While easy to use, this method has limitations in scalability for extensive datasets. The process lacks efficiency, and you may encounter data limits while exporting massive datasets.
Creating custom reports in Salesforce and exporting them to Excel or in CSV files involves several simple steps. Let’s check them out.
- In Salesforce, go to the Reports, and navigate to New Report.
- Select the correct report type (e.g., Accounts).
- Customize the Report Fields. Drag fields to add columns.
- Apply filters to narrow down the data.
- Group data by specific fields to organize and summarize it.
- Summarize numerical data. This is regularly used in aggregation with grouping.
- Add a chart to visualize the data.
- Choose a format, such as Tabular, Summary, Matrix, or Joined.
- Click Run and Save to save the report.
- Click Export, navigate to CSV or Excel, and hit Export to export the data.
Exporting Salesforce data using Devart ODBC drivers
Devart ODBC Salesforce drivers provide everything one needs for seamless Salesforce ODBC data export and connecting Salesforce to ODBC-compatible applications. Using them, you can easily retrieve Salesforce data. Moreover, these drivers make it easy to connect Salesforce to ODBC-compliant platforms, like Power BI and Tableau. By choosing them, you can save time by automating data exports and syncing with external databases. This opens up a lot of possibilities for data integration and analysis.
Configuring the Devart ODBC driver for Salesforce
- Download and install the Devart ODBC Driver for Salesforce.
- Open ODBC data source administrator.
- Create a new system DSN to store connection details.
- Configure the DSN by adding the Salesforce credentials like username and password. Click Test the connection.
- After configuring DSN, you can connect to Salesforce data from any ODBC-compliant applications, such as Power BI and Tableau, using the DSN name.
Advantages of using Devart ODBC Drivers
- SQL-based querying. SQL syntax is used to retrieve and manipulate Salesforce data.
- Real-time data access: Access the most up-to-date Salesforce data directly from your applications.
- Integration with popular tools: Seamlessly integrate Salesforce data with analytical tools like Excel, Power BI, and Tableau.
Connecting through the Salesforce API
Developers use Salesforce REST API and Salesforce SOAP API to query information via SOQL/SOSL. Developers request information via an API and then transform it to pass it to other systems. Such custom exporting solutions can be used to synchronize real-time data and deal with more complex scenarios.
Real-time, programmatic Salesforce exports enable integration with external systems, automatic backing up of information, data warehousing, and generating custom links such as with ERP or marketing automation.
Salesforce exports via APIs require significant technical expertise in API concepts, and knowledge of programming languages like Python.
For more information on connecting Salesforce data to applications using Python, read this guide.
You are also required to understand JSON, XML, and security rules. Developers must also have experience authenticating and managing API limits, as well as debugging connectivity issues.
Connecting Salesforce data to popular analytics & data visualization tools
To unlock more profound insights from Salesforce data connectivity, let’s overview how to set up the connection between it and the most popular tools for analytics and data visualization. Keep reading to explore all the intricacies.
Integrating with Tableau
In order to start, you are required to have some practical experience working with Tableau and Salesforce, as well as Tableau installed on the host workstation. Also, ensure you have a Salesforce account access with all the permissions required.
- Open your Tableau Desktop application. To connect to Salesforce, go to the Connect pane, click More under the To a Server menu, and choose Salesforce. Click sign in.
- A new dialog box will open. To connect to Tableau, enter your Salesforce credentials (username and password) to log in to your Salesforce account and import data to Tableau.
- After you’ve signed in successfully, you’ll be asked to grant Tableau access to your Salesforce account and data. Click the Allow button to permit the import of your Salesforce data into Tableau.
- Once connected, select the objects or tables you need. Your data in Salesforce will now be accessible in Tableau as Measures and Dimensions. Start creating charts and dashboards to visualize the data.
- Click Sheet to visualize data by adding fields into the rows and columns. Tableau will extract your data source within a few moments (the speed depends on the size of the files).
- Once satisfied with your customized dashboard, publish it to your Tableau server by signing in to your Tableau Online Server and selecting Publish Workbook.
Benefits of live connections vs. static data imports
Live connection
- Always see the most current Salesforce data.
- Changes in Salesforce are immediately reflected in Tableau.
- Best for dashboards and up-to-the-minute reporting.
Static data import
- Analyze data even without an internet connection.
- It can improve performance compared to live connections with very large datasets.
- Data in Tableau becomes outdated, and you need to refresh it to see the latest changes.
Connecting to Power BI
Now, let’s explore how to integrate Salesforce data to Power BI. Let’s assume that you have downloaded and installed Power BI Desktop and launched the application. Now, let’s explore how to integrate Salesforce data to Power BI.
- Download and install Power BI Desktop and launch the application.
- Go to Home tab on the Power BI Desktop ribbon. Click the Get Data button to see available data sources, and click More to view extra options.
- In the search bar, type Salesforce and choose either:
- Salesforce Objects for raw data from tables
- Salesforce Reports for pre-built reports
Click Connect.
- A new page called Salesforce Object will open up. Select the URL type, such as Production or Custom URL, and click OK to proceed.
- Click Sign In to connect with the Salesforce account and input the Salesforce login credentials in the corresponding window.
- Enter your Salesforce login credentials (username and password associated with your Salesforce account) and click Login.
- Click on Connect.
Once you’ve connected, the Navigator window will show you available Salesforce reports or objects. You have to select the actual reports or tables that you wish to import into Power BI, and click Load to import data into Power BI.
- After loading the data into Power BI, it will appear in the Field pane on the right side of the screen. From there, you can easily visualize by dragging charts and graphs onto the canvas.
To successfully export Salesforce to Power BI for insightful reporting and dashboards, users can leverage either the direct Salesforce connector or more powerful middleware solutions. The Salesforce data for Power BI uses a direct connector for regular data imports and middleware for advanced transformations.
Using BigQuery for advanced analytics
For large-scale Salesforce data analysis, it’s possible to use BigQuery. To do this, choose the export methods like Data Export Service, API, or set up an ETL tool to extract the data, store it temporarily, load it into BigQuery, and then transform it as needed.
After that, you’ll be able to analyze it using SQL. This process is used to automate regular updates.
Also, BigQuery’s scalability handles massive datasets and allows advanced Salesforce analytics beyond Salesforce’s limits.
Conclusion
Exporting Salesforce data is essential for reporting and analysis. This Salesforce data export guide has explored several popular data export methods featuring Data Export Service, Data Loader, Devart ODBC drivers, and API integration. Choosing one of them depends on one’s business objectives, so feel free to use the one that fits you most.
Integrating and connecting Salesforce with analytics tools unlocks powerful insights for companies to make data-driven decisions. Get to know more about the benefits of using the Devart ODBC driver for Salesforce to export its data to ODBC-compliant platforms.
