How to Access Live Blackbaud FE NXT Data in Power Automate Desktop via ODBC



The CData ODBC Driver for Blackbaud FE NXT enables you to integrate Blackbaud FE NXT data into workflows built using Microsoft Power Automate Desktop.

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

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

Connect to Blackbaud FE NXT 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.

Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to create an app to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL connection properties.

See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

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 Blackbaud FE NXT Data into Power Automate Workflows

After configuring the DSN for Blackbaud FE NXT, you are ready to integrate Blackbaud FE NXT 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 Blackbaud FE NXT, query Blackbaud FE NXT 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 Blackbaud FE NXT 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 Accounts

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 Blackbaud FE NXT data into a CSV file.

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

Related Power Automate Articles

This article walks through using the CData ODBC Driver for Blackbaud FE NXT with Power Automate Desktop. Check out our other articles for more ways to work with Power Automate (Desktop & Online):

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Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT Icon Blackbaud FE NXT ODBC Driver

The Blackbaud FE NXT ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT account data, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Blackbaud FE NXT data like you would a database and access data from Accounts, Budgets, Projects, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.