Connect to Asana Data in ACL Analytics

ACL Analytics, part of Diligent HighBond, is a powerful data analysis software primarily used for audit, risk management, and compliance. It enables professionals to examine and analyze large volumes of data to identify anomalies, trends, and potential risks or fraudulent activities.

CData Connect AI offers a dedicated cloud-to-cloud interface for Asana, enabling analytics directly from live Asana data within ACL Analytics, all without the need for data replication to a native database. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, directly to Asana. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly deliver the requested Asana data.

Configure Asana Connectivity for ACL Analytics

Connectivity to Asana from ACL Analytics is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Asana data from ACL Analytics, we start by creating and configuring a Asana connection in CData Connect AI.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection

2. Select "Asana" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Asana. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Asana.

   You can optionally set the following to refine the data returned from Asana.

   • WorkspaceId: Set this to the globally unique identifier (gid) associated with your Asana Workspace to only return projects from the specified workspace. To get your workspace id, navigate to https://app.asana.com/api/1.0/workspaces while logged into Asana. This displays a JSON object containing your workspace name and Id.
   • ProjectId: Set this to the globally unique identifier (gid) associated with your Asana Project to only return data mapped under the specified project. Project IDs can be found in the URL of your project's Overview page. This will be the numbers directly after /0/.

   Connect Using OAuth Authentication

   You must use OAuth to authenticate with Asana. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with Asana using the browser. See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Asana Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
   
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Asana data from ACL Analytics.

Connect to Asana from ACL Analytics

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from ACL Analytics to create a new Asana data source. The CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server allows you to establish a connection to your data from integration tools that support connections to SQL servers. The Virtual SQL Server mimics the behavior of a traditional SQL server, and it supports a range of query options.

1. With your Analytics File open, select 'Import' --> 'Database and application' 👁 Creating a new data source
   
2. Create a new connection
3. Set the connection information
   • Server: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Auth Scheme: Password
   • Username: a Connect AI user, for example, [email protected]
   • Password: the PAT for the above Connect AI user
   • Database: the name of your Asana connection, for example, Asana1
   👁 Connecting to Connect AI
   
4. Click "Test Connection"
5. Click "OK"
6. You are now ready to work with your Asana data in ACL Analytics! 👁 See your data in ACL Analytics
   

Live connections to Asana data from your applications

ACL Analytics can now connect to live Asana data directly through Connect AI, allowing you to analyze Asana data without duplicating it.

To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, try CData Connect AI today!