Build Automated Workflows with Live Excel Online Data in Workato

Workato is a cloud-based automation platform that helps businesses integrate applications and automate workflows. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Excel Online data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Excel Online and build workflows with live Excel Online data in Workato.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for Excel Online, allowing you to easily build visualizations from live Excel Online data in Workato. As you build automations, Workato generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Excel Online, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Excel Online data.

Configure Excel Online Connectivity for Workato

Connectivity to Excel Online from Workato is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Excel Online data from Workato, we start by creating and configuring a Excel Online connection.

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

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

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Excel Online.

   You can connect to a workbook by providing authentication to Excel Online and then setting the following properties:

   • : Set this to the name or Id of the workbook.

     If you want to view a list of information about the available workbooks, execute a query to the Workbooks view after you authenticate.

   • : Set this to true if you are connecting to a workbook in a sandbox account. Otherwise, leave this blank to connect to a production account.

   You use the OAuth authentication standard to authenticate to Excel Online. See the Getting Started section in the help documentation for a guide. Getting Started also guides you through executing SQL to worksheets and ranges.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Excel Online 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 Excel Online data from Workato.

Automate Excel Online Data Workflows in Workato

To establish a connection from Workato to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server, follow these steps.

1. Log into Workato.
2. In the navigation bar, click Projects.
3. In your new (or existing) project, click Create > Connection. 👁 Creating a new Connection.
   
4. In the search bar, enter "SQL Server" and open the Connect to SQL Server screen.
5. In Connect to SQL Server, enter the connection name and the following connecting settings:
   • Location: enter the name of the project.
   • Connection type: select Cloud.
   • Host: enter tds.cdata.com
   • Port: enter 14333
   • Username: enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected].
   • Password: enter the PAT you previously generated page.
   • Database: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, ExcelOnline1).
   👁 Configuring the connection to CData Connect AI.
   
6. Click Connect to see the Connection established message.
7. Next, set up your recipe. In your project, click Create > Recipe. 👁 Creating a new Recipe.
   
8. In Set up your recipe, enter the name and location of your recipe.
9. Select Run on a schedule.
10. Select the action to occur on the schedule.
11. Select a table from your Connect AI connection and any applicable filters. 👁 Selecting tables for the Recipe (Jira is shown).
    
12. Click Save to save the recipe.
13. Click Test Jobs to test you recipe.

Real-Time Access to Excel Online Data from Cloud Applications

At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Excel Online data from Workato for workflows and automations. For more information on gaining live access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources from cloud applications like Workato, refer to our Connect AI page.