Prepare, Blend, and Analyze Microsoft Planner Data in Alteryx Designer



Build workflows to access live Microsoft Planner data for self-service data analytics.

Alteryx is a software platform that allows people to work with data more easily. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, Alteryx provides instant access to Microsoft Planner data from your data automation processes. This article demonstrates how to connect to Microsoft Planner using Connect Cloud and work with Microsoft Planner data in Alteryx.

CData Connect Cloud offers a dedicated SQL Server interface for Microsoft Planner, facilitating data querying without the need for data replication to a native database. With built-in optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect Cloud efficiently directs all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, straight to Microsoft Planner. This harnesses server-side processing to rapidly retrieve the desired Microsoft Planner data.

Configure Microsoft Planner Connectivity for Alteryx

Connectivity to Microsoft Planner from Alteryx is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Microsoft Planner data from Alteryx, we start by creating and configuring a Microsoft Planner connection.

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

    You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. Below are the minimum connection properties required to connect.

    • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
    • Tenant (optional): Set this if you wish to authenticate to a different tenant than your default. This is required to work with an organization not on your default Tenant.

    When you connect the Driver opens the MS Planner OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the Driver. The Driver then completes the OAuth process.

    1. Extracts the access token from the callback URL and authenticates requests.
    2. Obtains a new access token when the old one expires.
    3. Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.
  4. Click Create & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Microsoft Planner Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Connect to Microsoft Planner from Alteryx

Once you establish a connection to Microsoft Planner in Connect Cloud, you are ready to work with Microsoft Planner data in Alteryx. To begin, download the ODBC Driver for CData Connect.

  1. In the ODBC Driver for CData Connect, select OAuth and click Test Connection. Then enter your CData Connect Cloud Credentials and Sign in.
  2. Open Alteryx Designer and create a new workflow.
  3. Drag and drop a new input data tool onto the workflow.
  4. Click the drop down under Connect a File or Database and select the Data sources tab.
  5. Navigate to the end of the page and click on ODBC under Generic connection.
  6. Select the DSN that you configured for use in Alteryx.
  7. In the wizard that opens, drag and drop the table to be queried in the Query Builder box. Select the fields by checking the boxes that you wish to include in your query. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to your data source, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL engine embedded in the connector.

To further customize the dataset, you can open the SQL Editor and modify the query manually, adding clauses, aggregations, and other operations to ensure that you are retrieving exactly the data desired.

With the query defined, you are ready to work with your data in Alteryx Designer.

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