Integrate Act CRM Data into Power Automate Desktop using CData Connect

CData Connect enables you to access live Act CRM data in workflow automation tools like Power Automate. This article shows how to integrate Act CRM data into a simple workflow, saving Act CRM data into a CSV file.

CData Connect provides a live interface for Act CRM, allowing you to integrate with live Act CRM data in Power Automate — without replicating the data. Connect uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Act CRM, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Act CRM data.

Configure Act CRM Connectivity for Power Automate

Connectivity to Act CRM from Power Automate is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Act CRM data from Power Automate, we start by creating and configuring a Act CRM connection.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Act CRM" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Act CRM.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Act! user credentials. In addition to the authentication values, see the following:

   • Connecting to Act! Premium

     In addition to the authentication values, the URL to Act! is also required; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/.

     Additionally, you must specify the ActDatabase you will connect to. This is found by going to the About Act! Premium menu of your account, at the top right of the page, in the ? menu. Use the Database Name in the window that appears.

   • Connecting to Act! Premium Cloud

     To connect to your Act! Premium Cloud account, you also need to specify the ActCloudName property. This property is found in the URL address of the Cloud account; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/ActCloudName/.

   Note that retrieving ActCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you set the CacheMetadata property to store the metadata locally.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Act CRM Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
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, you are ready to connect to Act CRM data from Power Automate Desktop.

Integrate Act CRM Data into Power Automate Workflows

After configuring CData Connect with Act CRM, you are ready to integrate Act CRM data into your Power Automate workflows. Open Microsoft Power Automate, add a new flow, and name the flow.

In the flow editor, you can add the options to connect to Act CRM, query Act CRM using SQL, and write the query results to a CSV document.

Add an Open SQL Connection Action

Add an "Open SQL connection" action (Action -> Database) and click the option to build the Connection string. In the Data Link Properties wizard:

1. On the Provider tab: select Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server
2. On the Connection tab:
   1. Select or enter a server name: set to tds.cdata.com,14333
   2. Enter information to lag onto the server: select "Use a specific username and password"
      • Set User name to your CData Connect Cloud user name (e.g. user@mydomain.com)
      • Set Password to your PAT
      • Select the database: use the database configured above (e.g. ActCRM1)
3. Click "Test Connection" to ensure the connection is configured properly
4. Click "OK"

After building the connection string in the Data Link Properties wizard, save the action.

Add an Execute SQL Statement Action

Add an "Execute SQL statement" action (Action -> Database) and configure the properties.

• Get connection by: SQL connection variable
• SQL connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)
• SQL statement: SELECT * FROM Activities

After configuring the properties, save the action.

Add a Write to CSV File Action

Add a "Write to CSV file" action (Action -> File) and configure the properties.

• Variable to write to: %QueryResult% (the variable from the "Execute SQL statement" action above)
• File path: set to a file on disk
• Configure Advanced settings as needed.

After configuring the properties, save the action.

Add a Close SQL Connection Action

Add a "Close SQL connection" action (Action -> Database) and configure the properties.

• SQL Connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)

After configuring the properties, save the action.

Save & Run the Flow

Once you have configured all the options for the flow, click the disk icon to save the flow. Click the play icon to run the flow.

Now you have a workflow to save Act CRM data into a CSV file.

With CData Connect Cloud, you get live connectivity to Act CRM data within your Microsoft Power Automate workflows.

SQL Access to Act CRM Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Act CRM data from Power Automate tasks. You can create more connections and workflows to drive business — all without replicating Act CRM data.

To get SQL data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect Cloud.

Related Power Automate Articles

This article walks through using CData Connect Cloud with Power Automate Desktop. Check out our other articles for more ways to work with Power Automate (Desktop & Online):

• Act CRM Data in Power Automate Desktop via ODBC
• Act CRM Data in Power Automate (Online) using CData Connect Cloud