Excel Services

Setup Guide

Follow these steps to connect Excel Services to your Connect AI account:

1. Open the Sources page of the Connect AI navigation menu.

2. Click + Add Connection in the upper-right corner.

3. Type Excel Services into the search field, then click the data source name.

4. On the Basic Settings tab of the new connection, enter a connection name or keep the default name.

5. Enter the URL for the SharePoint site or site collection the provider connects to, for example, http://server/SharePoint/.

6. Enter the File name of the Excel file to connect to, including the .xlsx extension.

7. Select the Share Point Version that matches the SharePoint server you are connecting to. Supported values are SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint 2010. The default value is SharePoint 2013.

8. (Optional) Enter the Folder path within the document library where the file specified in the File field is located.

9. (Optional) Enter the Library name of the SharePoint document library that contains the Excel file you want to connect to. The Shared Documents library is used by default.

10. (Optional) Set Use RESTAPI to specify whether the provider uses the SharePoint REST API instead of the OData API to retrieve data. The default value is True.

11. Select an Auth Scheme and follow the relevant instructions below.

Authentication Methods

NTLM

1. Enter the User name for the account used to authenticate to the SharePoint server.

2. Enter the Password for that account.

3. At the top of the Connect AI Add Connection page, click Save & Test.

   • If the connection test succeeds, a Connection successfully saved message appears, indicating that your connection has been created. The Status on the Edit Connection page also changes to Authenticated. View the data model of your successful connection in the right pane of the Edit Connection page, in the Data Model tab.
   • If the connection test fails, ensure that you entered your login information correctly with no stray spaces or other characters. Connect AI displays error messages under the required fields with missing data. Some data sources require that you sign in directly to the source website. If you did not, an error message appears under the Sign in button. Correct the errors and try again.
   • Unsuccessful connections are saved as drafts and have a Status of Not Authenticated. You can return to the connection and authenticate it later.

Basic

1. Enter the User name for the account used to authenticate to the SharePoint server.

2. Enter the Password for that account.

3. At the top of the Connect AI Add Connection page, click Save & Test.

   • If the connection test succeeds, a Connection successfully saved message appears, indicating that your connection has been created. The Status on the Edit Connection page also changes to Authenticated. View the data model of your successful connection in the right pane of the Edit Connection page, in the Data Model tab.
   • If the connection test fails, ensure that you entered your login information correctly with no stray spaces or other characters. Connect AI displays error messages under the required fields with missing data. Some data sources require that you sign in directly to the source website. If you did not, an error message appears under the Sign in button. Correct the errors and try again.
   • Unsuccessful connections are saved as drafts and have a Status of Not Authenticated. You can return to the connection and authenticate it later.

Digest

1. Enter the User name for the account used to authenticate to the SharePoint server.

2. Enter the Password for that account.

3. At the top of the Connect AI Add Connection page, click Save & Test.

   • If the connection test succeeds, a Connection successfully saved message appears, indicating that your connection has been created. The Status on the Edit Connection page also changes to Authenticated. View the data model of your successful connection in the right pane of the Edit Connection page, in the Data Model tab.
   • If the connection test fails, ensure that you entered your login information correctly with no stray spaces or other characters. Connect AI displays error messages under the required fields with missing data. Some data sources require that you sign in directly to the source website. If you did not, an error message appears under the Sign in button. Correct the errors and try again.
   • Unsuccessful connections are saved as drafts and have a Status of Not Authenticated. You can return to the connection and authenticate it later.

Forms

1. Enter the User name for the account used to authenticate to the SharePoint server.

2. Enter the Password for that account.

3. At the top of the Connect AI Add Connection page, click Save & Test.

   • If the connection test succeeds, a Connection successfully saved message appears, indicating that your connection has been created. The Status on the Edit Connection page also changes to Authenticated. View the data model of your successful connection in the right pane of the Edit Connection page, in the Data Model tab.
   • If the connection test fails, ensure that you entered your login information correctly with no stray spaces or other characters. Connect AI displays error messages under the required fields with missing data. Some data sources require that you sign in directly to the source website. If you did not, an error message appears under the Sign in button. Correct the errors and try again.
   • Unsuccessful connections are saved as drafts and have a Status of Not Authenticated. You can return to the connection and authenticate it later.

None

1. No additional settings are required for this authentication method.
2. At the top of the Connect AI Add Connection page, click Save & Test.

   • If the connection test succeeds, a Connection successfully saved message appears, indicating that your connection has been created. The Status on the Edit Connection page also changes to Authenticated. View the data model of your successful connection in the right pane of the Edit Connection page, in the Data Model tab.
   • If the connection test fails, ensure that you entered your login information correctly with no stray spaces or other characters. Connect AI displays error messages under the required fields with missing data. Some data sources require that you sign in directly to the source website. If you did not, an error message appears under the Sign in button. Correct the errors and try again.
   • Unsuccessful connections are saved as drafts and have a Status of Not Authenticated. You can return to the connection and authenticate it later.

Negotiate

1. Enter the User name for the account used to authenticate to the SharePoint server.

2. Enter the Password for that account.

3. At the top of the Connect AI Add Connection page, click Save & Test.

   • If the connection test succeeds, a Connection successfully saved message appears, indicating that your connection has been created. The Status on the Edit Connection page also changes to Authenticated. View the data model of your successful connection in the right pane of the Edit Connection page, in the Data Model tab.
   • If the connection test fails, ensure that you entered your login information correctly with no stray spaces or other characters. Connect AI displays error messages under the required fields with missing data. Some data sources require that you sign in directly to the source website. If you did not, an error message appears under the Sign in button. Correct the errors and try again.
   • Unsuccessful connections are saved as drafts and have a Status of Not Authenticated. You can return to the connection and authenticate it later.

ADFS

1. Enter the ADFS User name used to authenticate.

2. Enter the Password for that account.

3. Enter the STSURL, the URL of the security token service (STS) used for single sign-on (SSO) with ADFS.

4. Enter the SSO Login URL for the identity provider.

5. Enter the SSO Domain associated with the user account.

6. (Optional) Enter the SSO Properties required to connect to the identity provider, formatted as a semicolon-separated list (for example, SSOProperty1=value1;SSOProperty2=value2;).

7. At the top of the Connect AI Add Connection page, click Save & Test.

   • If the connection test succeeds, a Connection successfully saved message appears, indicating that your connection has been created. The Status on the Edit Connection page also changes to Authenticated. View the data model of your successful connection in the right pane of the Edit Connection page, in the Data Model tab.
   • If the connection test fails, ensure that you entered your login information correctly with no stray spaces or other characters. Connect AI displays error messages under the required fields with missing data. Some data sources require that you sign in directly to the source website. If you did not, an error message appears under the Sign in button. Correct the errors and try again.
   • Unsuccessful connections are saved as drafts and have a Status of Not Authenticated. You can return to the connection and authenticate it later.

More Information

For more information about interactions between Connect AI and Excel Services, see this information page.