How to Access Live Anaplan Data in Power Automate Desktop via ODBC

The CData ODBC Driver for Anaplan enables you to access live Anaplan data in workflow automation tools like Power Automate. This article shows how to integrate Anaplan data into a simple workflow, moving Anaplan data into a CSV file.

Through optimized data processing, CData ODBC Drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live Anaplan data in Microsoft Power Automate. When you issue complex SQL queries from Power Automate to Anaplan, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Anaplan and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (e.g. SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connect to Anaplan as an ODBC Data Source

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.

Authenticating to Anaplan

The driver supports authenticating with Basic, Certificate, or OAuth. In every case, set Region to the region where your Anaplan account data is hosted (e.g., US1, which is the default).

Using Basic Authentication

Set AuthScheme to Basic, then supply your Anaplan User and Password. If your workspace uses single sign-on (SSO), you must be assigned as an Exception User to use Basic authentication.

Using Certificate Authentication

Set AuthScheme to Certificate, then supply the Certificate, CertificateType, and PrivateKey properties (and the matching CertificatePassword / PrivateKeyPassword if either is encrypted). The certificate must be a CA-issued X.509 certificate registered with your Anaplan tenant administrator.

Using OAuth Authentication

Register a custom OAuth application in Anaplan, then set the following properties:

• OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
• OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
• CallbackURL: The redirect URI defined when you registered your application.
• InitiateOAuth: Set to GETANDREFRESH to have the driver manage the OAuth token exchange and refresh automatically.

See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to creating a custom OAuth app and using OAuth.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing workflows.

Integrate Anaplan Data into Power Automate Workflows

After configuring the DSN for Anaplan, you are ready to integrate Anaplan 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 actions to connect to Anaplan, query Anaplan using SQL, and write the query results to a CSV document.

Add an Open SQL Connection Action

Add an "Open SQL connection" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

• Connection string: DSN=CData Anaplan Source

After configuring the action, click Save.

Add an Execute SQL Statement Action

Add an "Execute SQL statement" action (Actions -> 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 Sales

After configuring the action, click Save.

Add a Write to CSV File Action

Add a "Write to CSV file" action (Actions -> 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 action, click Save.

Add a Close SQL Connection Action

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

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

After configuring the action, click Save.

Save & Run the Flow

Once you have configured all the actions 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 move Anaplan data into a CSV file.

With the CData ODBC Driver for Anaplan, you get live connectivity to Anaplan data within your Microsoft Power Automate workflows.

Related Power Automate Articles

This article explains how to use the CData ODBC Driver for Anaplan with Power Automate Desktop. Check out our other articles for more ways to work with Power Automate (Desktop & Online):

• Anaplan Data in Power Automate Desktop using CData Connect