Create Informatica Mappings From/To a JDBC Data Source for Avalara AvaTax

Informatica provides a powerful, elegant means of transporting and transforming your data. By utilizing the CData JDBC Driver for Avalara AvaTax, you are gaining access to a driver based on industry-proven standards that integrates seamlessly with Informatica's powerful data transportation and manipulation features. This tutorial shows how to transfer and browse Avalara AvaTax data in Informatica PowerCenter.

Deploy the Driver

To deploy the driver to the Informatica PowerCenter server, copy the CData JAR and .lic file, located in the lib subfolder in the installation directory, to the following folder: Informatica-installation-directory\services\shared\jars\thirdparty.

To work with Avalara AvaTax data in the Developer tool, you will need to copy the CData JAR and .lic file, located in the lib subfolder in the installation directory, into the following folders:

• Informatica-installation-directory\client\externaljdbcjars
• Informatica-installation-directory\externaljdbcjars

Create the JDBC Connection

Follow the steps below to connect from Informatica Developer:

1. In the Connection Explorer pane, right-click your domain and click Create a Connection.
2. In the New Database Connection wizard that is displayed, enter a name and Id for the connection and in the Type menu select JDBC.
3. In the JDBC Driver Class Name property, enter:

   cdata.jdbc.avalaraavatax.AvalaraAvataxDriver

4. In the Connection String property, enter the JDBC URL, using the connection properties for 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.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Avalara AvaTax JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.avalaraavatax.jar
   

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
   

   A typical connection string is below:

   jdbc:avalaraavatax:User=MyUser;Password=MyPassword;

Browse Avalara AvaTax Tables

After you have added the driver JAR to the classpath and created a JDBC connection, you can now access Avalara AvaTax entities in Informatica. Follow the steps below to connect to Avalara AvaTax and browse Avalara AvaTax tables:

1. Connect to your repository.
2. In the Connection Explorer, right-click the connection and click Connect.
3. Clear the Show Default Schema Only option. 👁 The driver models Avalara AvaTax entities as relational tables. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

You can now browse Avalara AvaTax tables in the Data Viewer: Right-click the node for the table and then click Open. On the Data Viewer view, click Run.

Create Avalara AvaTax Data Objects

Follow the steps below to add Avalara AvaTax tables to your project:

1. Select tables in Avalara AvaTax, then right-click a table in Avalara AvaTax, and click Add to Project.
2. In the resulting dialog, select the option to create a data object for each resource.
3. In the Select Location dialog, select your project.

   Create a Mapping

   Follow the steps below to add the Avalara AvaTax source to a mapping:

   1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Mapping.
   2. Expand the node for the Avalara AvaTax connection and then drag the data object for the table onto the editor.
   3. In the dialog that appears, select the Read option.
   👁 The source Avalara AvaTax table in the mapping. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

   Follow the steps below to map Avalara AvaTax columns to a flat file:

   1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Data Object.
   2. Select Flat File Data Object -> Create as Empty -> Fixed Width.
   3. In the properties for the Avalara AvaTax object, select the rows you want, right-click, and then click copy. Paste the rows into the flat file properties.
   4. Drag the flat file data object onto the mapping. In the dialog that appears, select the Write option.
   5. Click and drag to connect columns.

   To transfer Avalara AvaTax data, right-click in the workspace and then click Run Mapping.

   👁 The completed mapping. (Salesforce is shown.)