Connect to Avalara AvaTax Data in RunMyProcess through Connect AI

Akorbi Digital RunMyProcess makes it easy to create applications for complex business applications, such as budget application and contract management. CData Connect AI creates a live connection to Avalara AvaTax and can be used to generate an OData API (natively supported in RunMyProcess) for Avalara AvaTax. By pairing RunMyProcess with CData Connect AI, you get true cloud-to-cloud connectivity to all your SaaS and cloud-based Big Data and NoSQL sources - no need to migrate your data or write your own integrations. Simply connect to Connect AI from RunMyProcess as you would any other REST service and get instant, live access to your Avalara AvaTax data.

In this article, we walk through connecting to Avalara AvaTax from CData Connect AI and accessing Avalara AvaTax data through an OData feed in RunMyProcess.

Connect to Avalara AvaTax from RunMyProcess

To work with live Avalara AvaTax data in RunMyProcess, we need to connect to Avalara AvaTax from Connect AI, provide user access to the connection, and create a Workspace for the Avalara AvaTax data.

Connect to Avalara AvaTax from Connect AI

CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

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

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

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Avalara AvaTax.

   The primary method for performing basic authentication is to provide your login credentials, as follows:

   • User: Set this to your username.
   • Password: Set this to your password.

   Optionally, if you are making use of a sandbox environment, set the following:

   • UseSandbox: Set this to true if you are authenticating with a sandbox account.

   Authenticating Using Account Number and License Key

   Alternatively, you can authenticate using your account number and license key. Connect to data using the following:

   • AccountId: Set this to your Account Id. The Account Id is listed in the upper right hand corner of the admin console.
   • LicenseKey: Set this to your Avalara Avatax license key. You can generate a license key by logging into Avalara Avatax as an account administrator and navigating to Settings -> Reset License Key.
   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Avalara AvaTax 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.

Configure Avalara AvaTax Endpoints for RunMyProcess

After connecting to Avalara AvaTax, create a workspace for your desired table(s).

1. Navigate to the Workspaces page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace). 👁 The Workspaces page.
   👁 Adding a new Workspace.
   
2. Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
3. Select the Avalara AvaTax connection (e.g. AvalaraAvatax1) and click Next. 👁 Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
   
4. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm. 👁 Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
   
5. Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}

With the connection, PAT, and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Avalara AvaTax data from RunMyProcess.

Retrieve Avalara AvaTax Data from RunMyProcess DigitalSuite Studio

With the connection to Avalara AvaTax and OData endpoints created, we are ready to add Avalara AvaTax data to RunMyProcess for Retrieval.

Create a Provider

1. Log into RunMyProcess and open DigitalSuite Studio.
2. Click Resources to bring up the Resources page, then select then the CONNECTORS tab. 👁 Connectors page
   
3. Click the + (New Provider) button to create a new provider, choose the account to use, then click Confirm. 👁 Create a new provider
   
4. In the provider settings page, configure the following properties.
   • URL: Set the OData endpoint in the Connect AI OData page: https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}.
   • Authentication Schema: Select Login/Password.
   • Login: Specify a CData Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected]).
   • Password: Specify the PAT of the Connect AI user.
   👁 Selecting a connector
   
5. Fill in the same properties in the ACCEPTANCE and TEST tabs. Note: You can copy the configured settings by clicking 'Copy this configuration button,' then pasting the content in the new tab by clicking 'Paste previously copied configuration.'
6. Click Save to save the properties.

Retrieve Avalara AvaTax Data by Creating a Connector

1. In the CONNECTORS tab, click the button with three dots to create the provider, then select Add connector from the menu.
2. In the following page, set Connector URL to the OData endpoint configured in Connect AI (e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}) 👁 Connector settings page
   
3. Click Save then Launch to test the connector execution. Click Launch test to execute. The process is successful if you get the JSON response of your configured table information. 👁 Execution test page
   

More Information & Free Trial

Now, you have created a provider and connector to retrieve Avalara AvaTax data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Avalara AvaTax (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Avalara AvaTax data in RunMyProcess.