How to Access Live Microsoft Planner Data in Power Automate Desktop via ODBC

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

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

Connect to Microsoft Planner 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.

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.

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 Microsoft Planner Data into Power Automate Workflows

After configuring the DSN for Microsoft Planner, you are ready to integrate Microsoft Planner 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 Microsoft Planner, query Microsoft Planner 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 Microsoft Planner 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 Tasks

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 Microsoft Planner data into a CSV file.

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

Related Power Automate Articles

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

• Microsoft Planner Data in Power Automate Desktop using CData Connect
• Microsoft Planner Data in Power Automate (Online) using CData Connect