Integrate Live Azure Active Directory Data into Blue Prism for Intelligent Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Blue Prism is a robotic process automation (RPA) tool that helps businesses automate repetitive tasks, allowing employees to focus on more complex, value-added activities. Blue Prism's platform enables users to automate workflows using configurable "processes" and "objects." Its reusable Visual Business Objects (VBOs) offer templates and presets that simplify connections to applications, files, and services.

Some VBOs can connect to databases via ODBC, and when combined with the CData ODBC driver, they allow seamless integration with various data sources supported by CData. This article demonstrates how easily you can integrate Azure Active Directory with Blue Prism using the VBO for ODBC and the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Active Directory to create automated business workflows as needed.

Create an ODBC Data Source for Azure Active Directory

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Azure Active Directory uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, create an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties. See the OAuth section in the Help documentation for an authentication guide.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Connect with Azure Active Directory data and create an automation flow in Blue Prism

In this section, we'll go through the steps to connect live Azure Active Directory data and create an automation flow in Blue Prism to load the Azure Active Directory data into an Excel sheet.

Add VBOs for ODBC

To get started, download, and add the VBO for ODBC to Blue Prism by following these steps:

1. Download the Connector for ODBC Utility Blue Prism file from the provided URL. 👁 Download the ODBC connector from the Blue Prism Developer Community
   
2. A file named "Data - ODBC vx.x.x" with a ".bprelease" extension will be downloaded. Rename the file as "Data - ODBC". Make the necessary modifications and save the file with a ".bpobject" extension.
3. Open Blue Prism and navigate to File > Import > Process/Object. Click Browse, select the modified file as an object, and then click Next. 👁 Navigate in Blue Prism platform to import ODBC object recently downloaded
   👁 Choose the input file
   
4. Click on Next in the Process Logging Overview screen. The import is now successful. Click on Next again to complete the process. 👁 Click Next in Process Logging Overview screen
   👁 ODBC object successfully imported
   
5. Once the import is complete, "Data - ODBC" will be added to the object list as shown below. 👁 ODBC connector added in the object list in Blue Prism
   

Now, you can easily connect to the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Active Directory from Blue Prism and create the necessary automation workflows.

Create a new automation process

After configuring the CData ODBC driver and adding the VBO for ODBC to Blue Prism, we can create a new automation process or flow using the following steps:

1. Go to File > New. Select Process from the New Process or Business Object window and click Next. 👁 Select a new process
   
2. Enter a new process name in the New Process window. 👁 Add a process name
   
3. Specify a process description if you want and click Finish. 👁 Specify a process description
   
4. This will launch a process initialized as follows: 👁 New process is initialized
   

Add ODBC to the process

Processing the ODBC connection involves three main stages. While the middle stage handles the actual data operations, preparatory and concluding steps are also necessary to create a complete flow in Blue Prism.

• Open process: Establishes a new connection.
• Execute process (ExecuteNonQuery): Executes SQL commands or INSERT statements.
• Close process: Terminates the connection.

Add a process to open ODBC

First, add an open process for ODBC to use the connection already made on CData ODBC Driver for Azure Active Directory.

1. Place Action decision block on the Blue Prism canvas from the left panel and double-click on it to open the settings screen. 👁 Place a new action decision block
   
2. From the list of business objects, select the "Data - ODBC" object you just imported, then choose "Open" from the list of actions. 👁 Choose Data-ODBC from the list of business objects
   👁 Choose Open from the list of actions
   The Open action requires a Connection String as an input parameter in the Inputs tab. Enter the DSN name of the CData ODBC driver you configured, using the format: "DSN=CData AzureAD Source". 👁 Add the connection string from the CData ODBC driver configured earlier
   

   Note: Click the Expression Editor button on the right, then click Validate to check if the added expression is correct. Use the same method to check all the expressions used in this article.

3. Click on the Outputs tab and edit the output message as "ODBC Connection". Click OK to save the process. 👁 Name the output as ODBC Connection
   

Add a process to retrieve data via ODBC

Next, let's add a process to retrieve data from Azure Active Directory.

1. Place another Action block on the canvas below the previous one. 👁 Place another action on the Blue Prism canvas
   
2. Select "Data - ODBC" from the list of business objects, then choose "Execute" from the list of actions. By selecting "Execute", you can specify SQL commands to retrieve data.
3. In the Inputs tab, enter a SQL query within double quotes in the Query String section to retrieve data from Azure Active Directory. For example:

   SELECT * FROM [AzureAD].[Domains]

   👁 Select Execute from the list of actions and enter a SQL query in the Connection String
   

   NOTE: The information about the tables and columns used in the SELECT statement can be found in the "Tables" tab of the ODBC DSN.

   👁 Information about the Azure Active Directory tables and columns can be found in the ODBC DSN connected earlier
   
4. Additionally, the processing results are stored in variables to effectively manage the outcomes in Blue Prism. To create an output variable, click the Results variable icon in the Output tab and then click OK. 👁 Click Results as output
   

Add a process to close ODBC

Finally, add a close routine to terminate the ODBC processing and release the connection.

1. Place an Action block on the canvas again. 👁 Place a new action block
   
2. Select "Data - ODBC" from the list of business objects and "Close" from the list of actions. There are no specific parameters to configure for Close. 👁 Select Close from the list of actions
   
3. Finally, connect the "links" from the left panel to create a process like this: 👁 Add links to all the decision blocks to create an entire flow
   

Add a process to save live Azure Active Directory data to Excel

The processes demonstrated above do not retrieve the data independently, so let's proceed to write it into an Excel file. We will use the Excel VBO to create the next flow.

1. Download and add an Excel VBO object in Blue Prism by following a process similar to the one described in the article's Add VBOs for ODBC section.
2. In this process, place six Action blocks one after the other to complete all the follow-up steps for creating the MS Excel process flow.
3. In the first Action block, select "MS Excel VBO" from the list of business objects and "Create Instance" from the list of actions. This step is used to create a new instance of Microsoft Excel. 👁 Add a new action to start creating a new MS Excel flow to retrieve Azure Active Directory data
   👁 Select Create Instance from the list of actions
   

   In the Outputs tab, add a handle name.

   👁 Add a handle name
   
4. In the next block, select "MS Excel VBO" from the list of business objects and "Show" from the list of actions. This action makes the Excel application visible on the screen. 👁 Select Show from the list of actions
   

   In the Inputs tab, add "[handle]" as the handle value.

5. Again, select "MS Excel VBO" from the list of business objects and "Create Workbook" from the list of actions for the consecutive block. This creates a new workbook to store the incoming Azure Active Directory data. 👁 Select Create Workbook from the list of actions
   

   In the Inputs tab, enter handle value as "[handle]" and in the Outputs tab, set a new Workbook Name.

   👁 Enter the handle value and set a new workbook name
   
6. For the next action, select "MS Excel VBO" from the list of business objects and "Write Collection" from the list of actions. It writes the "Results" obtained via ODBC to the input parameter "Collection". Enter the following parameters in the Input tab:
   • handle: [handle]
   • Workbook Name: [Workbook Name]
   • Collection: [Results]
   • Worksheet Name: "Sheet1"
   • Cell Reference: "A1"
   • Include Column Names: True
   👁 Select Write Collection from the list of actions and enter the input parameters
   
7. Next, select "MS Excel VBO" from the list of business objects and "Save Workbook" from the list of actions to save the workbook. In the Inputs tab, assign the following values:
   • handle: [handle]
   • Workbook Name: [Workbook Name]
   👁 Select Save Workbook from the list of actions and enter the input parameters
   
8. In the final action, select "MS Excel VBO" from the list of business objects and "Exit" from the list of actions. This action will finally close the workbook. 👁 Select Exit from the list of actions
   
9. Connect the action blocks with the "links" to get the final Excel process flow. 👁 Link all the action decision blocks to create the final process flow
   

Run the process to check the operations

Once the process is complete, click the Run button to see it in action.

1. Click the Run button at the top left of the screen (as shown). 👁 Click on Run to start the process
   
2. If the Azure Active Directory data is finally written to an Excel file like the one below, consider the entire process to be working successfully. 👁 The Excel sheet will finally receive and save the intended Azure Active Directory data
   

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Active Directory and integrate Azure Active Directory data into Blue Prism to create automated business workflows.

Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.