Epicor ERP Cloud Production Environment Copy for Read-Only Data Access

Kinetic ERP
1

We are looking into this read-only data access to help support reporting and data sharing with our parent company (they are on JDE). Has anyone used this product yet as I have been looking around and I don’t see a thread on it.

If you have used it what has been your experience?

Thank you

2

In short, it works very well, and the data is nearly real-time. We were one of the first customers to order the read-only DB, and while there were some bumps at the beginning, we’ve never regretted purchasing it. A few things to keep in mind:

  • Not all tables are available for SQL access. Pretty much everything you would want to query should be there, but some system tables (and a few that may contain PII) are locked down. The list of available tables has increased since we started.
  • Unless this has changed recently, you get one (or maybe two) accounts. You can’t just create users on your own. If the password is allowed to expire, you’re down.
  • You will need to supply a list of approved IP addresses from which you can connect. In my case, that means that if I’m working from home, I need to VPN to the office before I can connect through Azure Data Studio.
  • We have occasionally experienced connection problems after receiving ERP updates. The cases have been resolved fairly quickly, but everything that relied on the RODB was down until it was fixed.

On the whole, the read-only database has been a great addition to our environment and it greatly helped to cushion the transition from our old on-premise system to the Epicor cloud. I hope this helps!

-Todd

3

Todd

Thank you.

  • Makes sense about the PII information and there is not much there that I would probable need
  • Can you use the RODB as a linked server from another SQL Server?
  • Are you connecting directly to it create reports or are you connecting to pull data out?
  • Is it only the data tables that come across of the BAQ’s also? I suspect its the tables only.

I am looking at this for access the data to feed our data warehouse and get rid of the exporting that I am doing now. Last night I was looking at some power automate scripts that should be able to pull data from and write to our data warehouse but this is something I am new at and have to do some more reading on .

4

John,

We are using a linked server on our on-premise MSSQL instance to power some SSRS reports that we ported from our old system and it’s working well.

We are launching the SSRS designer from the on-premise SSRS server and creating the reports there. We pull data from the RODB through the linked server.

As far as I can tell, you can’t call the BAQs directly through the RODB, but the SQL that the BAQ editor shows on the General tab usually provides the same result.

-Todd

5

Todd

Thank you and I will share my results. I sorta like the linked server concept and creating the BAQ (in this case SQL) to limit access. Keep you updated and might have some questions as I move forward.

1 Like
6

John, bringing this post back from the depths of time. Can you create SQL views on the Read Only Database?

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Not that I can see. I am wondering if you can link to it if you have a SQL server on premise or cloud and than create the views there. I have not tried it as I just pull data to feed the data warehouse. I would have discontinued it but for my parent company it is easier to use.