How can I make external data accessible in SalesLogix?

Question:
We have an extensive set of external data which we regularly link with SLX from our reporting system. This data contains information such as customer purchase history, customer product data, estimates, etc, which all comes from our financial back end. This external data is hosted on SQL and includes an AccountID column, so joining to SalesLogix data from our reporting system is a breeze. Having said that, my team needs to be able to build groups, run queries, etc, from WITHIN the SalesLogix  UI. (an example query is below) What is the best way to make this data accessible to these users?

Example query that we can run in SQL management studio – but instead, our sales reps need to build and run from within SLX:
select a.account, a.type, h.purchaseamt, h.lastpurchasedate
from saleslogix.sysdba.account a
inner join financials.dbo.customer_history h
on a.accountid = h.accountid
where a.type = ‘Customer’
and h.purchaseamt > 10000

Answer:
Build a suitable view in your SLX database (owner sysdba):

create view sysdba.Financials
as
select a.account, a.type, h.purchaseamt, h.lastpurchasedate
from saleslogix.sysdba.account a
inner join financials.dbo.customer_history h
on a.accountid = h.accountid
where a.type = ‘Customer’
and h.purchaseamt > 10000

Now go into DB Manager and you will see the new ‘Financials’ view. ‘Enable’ it and it’s ready to go. Won’t work for remotes, of course.