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The Act CRM ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Act CRM, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Act CRM like you would a database - query Companies, Contact, Groups, Opportunities, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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Create Informatica Mappings From/To an ODBC Data Source for Act CRM


Create an ODBC connection to Act CRM in Informatica and browse and transfer Act CRM data.

Informatica provides a powerful, elegant means of transporting and transforming your data. By utilizing the CData ODBC Driver for Act CRM, you are gaining access to a driver based on industry-proven standards that integrates seamlessly with Informatica's powerful data transportation and manipulation features. This tutorial shows how to transfer and browse Act CRM data in Informatica PowerCenter.

Connect to Act CRM as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Act CRM follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

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.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Act CRM in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData ActCRM Source] Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Act CRM Description = My Description URL = https://myActCRMserver.com User = myUser Password = myPassword ActDatabase = MyDB

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Create a Linked Table to Activities Data

Follow the steps below to create a linked table, which enables you to access live Activities data.

Create the ODBC Connection

Follow the steps below to connect to Act CRM in Informatica PowerCenter:

  1. In the Informatica Developer tool connect to your repository and create a project.
  2. In the Connection Explorer pane, right-click and click Create a Connection.
  3. In the New Database Connection wizard that is displayed, enter a name and Id for the connection and in the Type menu select ODBC.
  4. In the Connection String property, enter the DSN.

NOTE: If you are working in a Linux operating system, set the Driver Manager for Linux property to unixODBC 2.3.x.

Create the Act CRM Data Object

After you have created an ODBC connection to Act CRM, you can now access Act CRM entities in Informatica. Follow the steps below to add Activities entities to your project.

  1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Data Object.
  2. In the wizard that is displayed, select the Relational Data Object option.
  3. Click the Browse button next to the Connection box and select the ODBC connection you created in the previous step.
  4. Select the option to create a data object from an existing resource and click the Browse button next to the Resource box.
  5. In the dialog that is displayed, clear the Show Default Schema Only option and expand the node for the ODBC connection. Select the entity that you want.

You can now browse the table in the Data Viewer: Right-click the node for the table and then click Open. On the Data Viewer view, click Run.

Create the Mapping

Follow the steps below to add the Act CRM source to a mapping:

  1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Mapping.
  2. Expand the node for the Act CRM connection and then drag the data object for the table onto the editor.
  3. In the dialog that appears, select the Read option.

Follow the steps below to map Act CRM columns to a flat file:

  1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Data Object.
  2. Select Flat File Data Object -> Create as Empty -> Fixed Width.
  3. In the properties for the Act CRM object, select the rows you want, right-click, and then click copy. Paste the rows into the flat file properties.
  4. Drag the flat file data object onto the mapping. In the dialog that appears, select the Write option.
  5. Click and drag to connect columns.

To transfer Act CRM data, right-click in the workspace and then click Run Mapping.