Integrate Avalara AvaTax Data in Your Informatica Cloud Instance

Informatica Cloud allows you to perform extract, transform, and load (ETL) tasks in the cloud. With the Cloud Secure Agent and the CData JDBC Driver for Avalara, you get live access to Avalara AvaTax data, directly within Informatica Cloud. In this article, we will walk through downloading and registering the Cloud Secure Agent, connecting to Avalara AvaTax through the JDBC Driver and generating a mapping that can be used in any Informatica Cloud process.

Informatica Cloud Secure Agent

To work with the Avalara AvaTax data through the JDBC Driver, install the Cloud Secure Agent.

1. Navigate to the Administrator page in Informatica Cloud
2. Select the Runtime Environments tab
3. Click "Download Secure Agent"
4. Make note of the Install Token
5. Run the installer on the client machine and register the Cloud Secure Agent with your username and install token

NOTE: It may take some time for all of the Cloud Secure Agent services to get up and running.

Connecting to the Avalara AvaTax JDBC Driver

With the Cloud Secure Agent installed and running, you are ready to connect to Avalara AvaTax through the JDBC Driver.

Adding the JDBC Driver to the Secure Agent Machine

1. Navigate to the following directory on the Secure Agent machine:
   %Secure Agent installation directory%/ext/connectors/thirdparty/
2. Create a folder and add the driver JAR file (cdata.jdbc.avalaraavatax.jar) based on the type of mapping that you want to configure.

   For mappings, create the following folder and add the driver JAR file:

   informatica.jdbc_v2/common

   For mappings in advanced mode, also create the following folder and add the driver JAR file:

   informatica.jdbc_v2/spark
3. Restart the Secure Agent.

Connecting to Avalara AvaTax in Informatica Cloud

• Connection Name: Name your connection (i.e.: CData Avalara AvaTax Connection)
• Type: Select "JDBC_V2"
• Runtime Environment: Select the runtime environment where you installed the Secure Agent
• JDBC Driver Class Name: The name of the JDBC driver class: cdata.jdbc.avalaraavatax.AvalaraAvataxDriver
• JDBC Connection URL: Set this to the JDBC URL for Avalara AvaTax. Your URL will look similar to the following:
  
  jdbc:avalaraavatax:User=MyUser;Password=MyPassword;

  The primary method for performing basic authentication is to provide your login credentials, as follows:

  • User: Set this to your username.
  • Password: Set this to your password.

  Optionally, if you are making use of a sandbox environment, set the following:

  • UseSandbox: Set this to true if you are authenticating with a sandbox account.

  Authenticating Using Account Number and License Key

  Alternatively, you can authenticate using your account number and license key. Connect to data using the following:

  • AccountId: Set this to your Account Id. The Account Id is listed in the upper right hand corner of the admin console.
  • LicenseKey: Set this to your Avalara Avatax license key. You can generate a license key by logging into Avalara Avatax as an account administrator and navigating to Settings -> Reset License Key.

  Built-In Connection String Designer

  For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Avalara AvaTax JDBC Driver. Either double-click the .jar file or execute the .jar file from the command-line.

  java -jar cdata.jdbc.avalaraavatax.jar

  Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

• Username: Set this to the username for Avalara AvaTax
• Password: Set this to the password for Avalara AvaTax

Create a Mapping for Avalara AvaTax Data

With the connection to Avalara AvaTax configured, we can now access Avalara AvaTax data in any Informatica process. The steps below walk through creating a mapping for Avalara AvaTax to another data target.

1. Navigate to the Data Integration page
2. Click New.. and select Mapping from the Mappings tab
3. Click the Source Object and in the Source tab, select the Connection and set the Source Type
4. Click "Select" to choose the table to map
5. In the Fields tab, select the fields from the Avalara AvaTax table to map
6. Click the Target object and configure the Target source, table and fields. In the Field Mapping tab, map the source fields to the target fields.

With the mapping configured, you are ready to start integrating live Avalara AvaTax data with any of the supported connections in Informatica Cloud. Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Avalara and start working with your live Avalara AvaTax data in Informatica Cloud today.