SAFARI ODBC OVERVIEW Safari ODBC provides end-user data management and reporting capabilities by allowing access to your district s data via Excel. The product was purchased by the Ohio Department of Education for use by all OECN State Software users. Using Safari, users can extract data when and how they want, create labels, mail merges, etc. Safari for USAS users: Create vendor reports, chart of accounts reports, etc. to obtain information not easily accessible with the current software reports available. Safari for USPS users: Create deduction reports, retirement eligibility reports, etc. to obtain information not easily accessible with the current software reports available. Safari ODBC can be used with many different programs but the most typical is Excel. All examples in this handout are using Excel 2002. If you use a different version of Excel, the screens may look slightly different but should still work the same. SAFARI DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS Access a web browser such as Chrome, Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. Go to: http://www.neonet.org/content/fiscal-application-documentation Click on Documentation, located in the grey box on the middle of the page, shown below: Scroll down the page to locate the area labeled: ODBC/Safari Software Click on the ODBC/Safari Installation link.
Enter your NEOnet/Reflections User Name and Password in the window, shown below: Complete the following form as shown below, and then click on Go to your desktop. Create a new folder and name it Safari. (To create a new folder, right click on a blank area of your screen and under New, select Folder. To rename a folder, right click on the folder and select Rename). On this screen (shown below), click on the Safari ODBC link and save the file to your PC (preferably to your desktop). Then, click on Microsoft ODBC Drivers link and save this file to your PC (preferably to your desktop).
Cut and Paste from the Downloads Folder to the Safari Folder on your Desktop. To extract the information contained in each zip file, double click on one of the files. A window will pop up on your screen, shown below:
Click the button to bring up another pop up window, shown on the next page. Select the folder named Safari by clicking on it and then click
Click to unzip the contents of the file into the Safari folder, shown below: Follow the same steps to unzip the contents of the other zip file. The contents of the Safari folder should now contain the following files: Double click on the icon to start the installation.
Enter your Name, District Name, License Key, and then click License Key is: SB-43714-1066 License key is case sensitive, so use Caps for the first two characters of the license key. Click the button, shown below:
Connection Name: Enter a name (of your choice) that refers to the data you want to query. Server Name: neonet.k12.oh.us User Name: The username used to log in to NEOnet/Reflections Password: Leave the password field blank **very important** Click after entering a Connection Name, Server Name, and your User Name. The Advanced Setup screen looks like: The Path Name will point to that particular area in the system. The Path Name should correspond to the Connection Name you entered. Examples: For USAS data, enter the following in the Path Name field: oecn$:safari usas For USPS data, enter the following in the Path Name field: oecn$:safari usps For EIS data, enter the following in the Path Name field: oecn$:safari eis Click when finished to close the Advanced Setup window. Click to close the Safari infoserver Setup window. At the Server Connect window, notice the newly created connection listed. You can add additional connections now or later. After you have completed adding the connections you want, click Next for the next few screens and click the Finish button to complete the installation. It is recommended that you restart your PC before using Safari ODBC.
USING SAFARI WITH EXCEL All examples in this handout are using Excel 2013/2016. If you use a different version of Excel, the screens may look slightly different but should still work the same. IMPORTANT: Safari will only work with 32-bit versions of Excel. To check what version you are running, click on the File tab and select Account and click on the About Excel Button. The Excel version will appear at the top of the window that appears.
Once you have verified the version of Excel and have it running on your screen, using your mouse go to Data, From Other Sources, From Microsoft Query. You will get a screen that looks like this: Click on the desired Database you want to use for this query and click
Enter your NEOnet/Reflections password in the Password field (shown below) then click NOTE: If a username other than yours appears, you can just change it and enter your password. The program will then bring up all the files within the database that you have access to. A window like this will appear: Using the arrows to the right of the file names, scroll up and down till you find the file you wish to query. Click on the next to the desired file. A list of fields within that table will appear. You must then select the fields you wish to include in your spreadsheet. You can either double click on the field or highlight the field and click on the in the center of the window.
Here is an example with a few of the fields selected: Click to move to the next screen of options. Note: You can only select fields from one file per query.
A screen for filtering data will appear, shown below: You do not need to use this screen if you do not have anything you want filtered. You do not have to have anything selected. You can just click to move on. If you wish to use a filter, first select a field from the list on the left. Then, click on the drop down menu (middle box) to select your comparison choices. Select one and enter a value in the right-hand box. If you have more than one criterion you can select another field and use the boxes in the next row down. When you have finished, click to move on. Example: If you wanted STATE that is equal to Ohio, you could select the column you want to filter by clicking on it. On the drop down menu, select equals. In the field to the right of that, enter OH. This will only show vendor information for vendors with OH listed in the STATE field.
The next screen that will appear is to sort the data. This is optional just like the filtering. You can determine how the data is to be sorted by selecting the fields and whether it is to be sorted in ascending or descending order. Here is an example of sorting the NAME_1 field in Ascending order: Click to move on.
The next screen is the Finish screen. Keep the Return Data to Microsoft Office Excel checked. Click on The next screen will look like: **IMPORTANT: You should click on at this point! A window will appear like this:
Remove the check mark next to Save password (if there is one there). If you fail to do this, your password will be saved with your spreadsheet and could cause a security problem. Click to return to the Import Data screen. Back at the Import Data window, click to return the results of the query in Excel. It will take a minute or two for the data to be pulled from the system. Here is the resulting data: Now you can format the data for display, reports, labels, or in any way you wish. When you save the spreadsheet, the query will also be saved. You can open the spreadsheet at a later time and refresh the data to get the most up to date information. To update the data in Excel, click on Data, Refresh Data.