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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/sharepoint-cloud-acl-analytics.rst

⇱ Connect to SharePoint Data in ACL Analytics

Connect to SharePoint Data in ACL Analytics

👁 Stanley Liu
Stanley Liu
Associate Technical Product Marketer
Connect to SharePoint data via CData Connect AI in ACL Analytics to run your data analysis workflows with real-time access to SharePoint data.

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 SharePoint, enabling analytics directly from live SharePoint 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 SharePoint. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly deliver the requested SharePoint data.

About SharePoint Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from SharePoint has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

  • Access data from a wide range of SharePoint versions, including Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and above, and SharePoint Online.
  • Access all of SharePoint thanks to support for Hidden and Lookup columns.
  • Recursively scan folders to create a relational model of all SharePoint data.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to upload and download documents and attachments.

Most customers rely on CData solutions to integrate SharePoint data into their database or data warehouse, while others integrate their SharePoint data with preferred data tools, like Power BI, Tableau, or Excel.

For more information on how customers are solving problems with CData's SharePoint solutions, refer to our blog: Drivers in Focus: Collaboration Tools.


Getting Started


Configure SharePoint Connectivity for ACL Analytics

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

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
    2. 👁 Adding a Connection
  2. Select "SharePoint" from the Add Connection panel
    3. 👁 Selecting a data source
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SharePoint. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SharePoint.

    Set the URL property to the base SharePoint site or to a sub-site. This allows you to query any lists and other SharePoint entities defined for the site or sub-site.

    The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SharePoint user credentials when using SharePoint On-Premise.

    If you are connecting to SharePoint Online, set the SharePointEdition to SHAREPOINTONLINE along with the User and Password connection string properties. For more details on connecting to SharePoint Online, see the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation

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

Connect to SharePoint from ACL Analytics

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from ACL Analytics to create a new SharePoint 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 SharePoint connection, for example, SharePoint1
    👁 Connecting to Connect AI
  4. Click "Test Connection"
  5. Click "OK"
  6. You are now ready to work with your SharePoint data in ACL Analytics! 👁 See your data in ACL Analytics

Live connections to SharePoint data from your applications

ACL Analytics can now connect to live SharePoint data directly through Connect AI, allowing you to analyze SharePoint 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!