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

⇱ Build Automated Workflows with Live SharePoint Data in Workato

Build Automated Workflows with Live SharePoint Data in Workato

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use CData Connect AI to connect to live SharePoint data and build automated workflows 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 SharePoint data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to SharePoint and build workflows with live SharePoint data in Workato.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for SharePoint, allowing you to easily build visualizations from live SharePoint 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 SharePoint, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return 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 Workato

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

  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.

    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 Workato.

Automate SharePoint 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, SharePoint1).
    👁 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 SharePoint Data from Cloud Applications

At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live SharePoint 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.