3 min read

Introducing public preview of the SAP OData connector

By Zankar Desai

April 22, 2024

We are happy to announce that the SAP OData connector is now available in public preview in all regions for Power Apps and Power Automate. During public preview, you can test the ability to create Power Automate cloud flows that access SAP data through the SAP OData connector, a premium connector, and provide feedback. The availability of the SAP OData connector opens access to scenarios across the SAP product portfolio.
To learn more about the SAP OData connector please go to Microsoft learn.
NOTE: There is a known issue with this preview within Logic Apps.

Authentication

Currently the SAP OData connector supports Basic, Anonymous, and API key authentication. We are working on additional authentication mechanisms to enhance the connector and expect to make this available as we approach general availability for the SAP OData connector this summer.
The SAP OData Connector supports adding API headers in the request and works well with API Management solutions like Azure API Management or SAP API Management on the SAP Business Technology Platform. If your APIs are protected with API-Keys, you can add these keys to the SAP OData Connector in your cloud flow so that a verification in the API Management solution can be performed. 
If you have the necessary SAP licenses in place, this allows you to create Single Sign-On end-to-end solutions even today to access your SAP system in a secure way. 

Leveraging the on-premises data gateway

In a lot of cases the SAP System (and the SAP OData services) are not accessible from the internet—and in turn are not accessible from Power Automate. To allow Power Automate to connect to these SAP OData services, you need to “proxy” / route them through the corporate firewall. Thanks to the on-premises data gateway you don’t need to make any changes to the firewall but can install the on-premises data gateway (see also, On-premises data gateway – Power BI | Microsoft Learn).
Note: Unlike with the SAP ERP Connector (SAP ERP – Connectors | Microsoft Learn), you do not need to download and install the SAP .Net Connector. Installing the on-premises data gateway is all you need (but make sure to install the latest version).
The steps needed are outlined below:

Download the On-premises data gateway from Install an on-premises data gateway | Microsoft Learn (The February 2024 release is needed)
When installing the on-premises gateway, make sure to install and configure it in the same region as your Power Automate environment.

Once the data gateway is installed, you should see it in your Power Automate Environment
Note: If you don’t see Gateways on the side panel, make sure to select on … More -> Discover all and pin Gateways to the side panel.

At this point you are ready to create a new flow connecting to your SAP system through the on-premises data gateway. Create a new flow (as mentioned above) with a trigger of your choice and add the SAP OData query action.

You will be asked to setup a connection to your SAP system. To connect to a system that is only available from within the company firewall (where the on-premises data gateway is installed), select your Data Gateway from the list:

Provide the required information (but using the OData Base URI L from your local SAP System), e.g., https://mylocal.sap.system:50000/sap/opu/odata/iwbep/GWSAMPLE_BASIC/
Note: You can test this URL first internally https://mylocal.sap.system:50000/sap/opu/odata/iwbep/GWSAMPLE_BASIC/ and verify (e.g., with your Mobile device) that this URL is not accessible from outside of the intranet.

You may now use the SAP OData Connector. Select the Entity that you are interested in, e.g., ProductSet, and run the flow as outlined below.

If you have feedback, please go to https://aka.ms/sapodatafeedback
SAP and Power Platform is an area of continued investment for Microsoft, to learn more, see these other useful resources:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/sapodata/