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

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

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

Connect to Microsoft Project 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.

The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Microsoft Project user credentials. In addition, you will need to specify a URL to a valid Microsoft Project server organization root or Microsoft Project services file.

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 Project Data into Power Automate Workflows

After configuring the DSN for Microsoft Project, you are ready to integrate Microsoft Project 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 Project, query Microsoft Project 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 Project 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 Projects

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 Project data into a CSV file.

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

Related Power Automate Articles

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

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