Extract, Transform, and Load Outlook Data in Informatica PowerCenter

Informatica provides a powerful, elegant means of transporting and transforming your data. By utilizing the CData API Driver for ODBC, 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 create a simple Workflow in Informatica PowerCenter to extract Outlook data and load it into a flat file.

Add Outlook as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, install the driver on the PowerCenter server and client machines. On both machines, specify the 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.

Using OAuth Authentication

Microsoft Graph API uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication. You must register an application in the Microsoft Azure Portal to obtain OAuth credentials (Client ID and Client Secret).

Obtaining OAuth Credentials

1. Log in to the Azure Portal.
2. Navigate to Azure Active Directory > App registrations.
3. Click New registration to create a new application.
4. Enter an application name and select the appropriate account types.
5. Set the Redirect URI to your application's callback URL (e.g., http://localhost:33333 for desktop apps).
6. Click Register to create the application.
7. On the application overview page, copy the Application (client) ID - this is your OAuthClientId.
8. Navigate to Certificates & secrets and create a new client secret.
9. Copy the client secret value - this is your OAuthClientSecret.
10. Navigate to API permissions and add the required Microsoft Graph API permissions:
    • Mail.Read - For accessing email messages
    • Contacts.Read - For accessing contacts
    • Calendars.Read - For accessing calendar events
    • Tasks.Read - For accessing To Do tasks
    • offline_access - For obtaining refresh tokens
11. Click Grant admin consent to grant these permissions.

Connecting with OAuth

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. The CData API Profile for Outlook will automatically walk through the OAuth process in order to obtain the access token.
• OAuthClientId: Set this to the Application (client) ID from Azure Portal.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client secret value from Azure Portal.
• TenantId: Set this to your Azure AD tenant identifier (GUID or domain name like 'contoso.onmicrosoft.com').
• CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app registration (e.g., http://localhost:33333 for desktop apps).

Example connection string

Profile=C:\profiles\Outlook.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;TenantId=your_tenant_id;CallbackUrl=http://localhost:33333;

Create an ETL Workflow in PowerCenter

Follow the steps below to create a workflow in PowerCenter to pull Outlook data and push it into a flat file.

Create a Source Using the ODBC Driver

1. In PowerCenter Workflow Manager, add a new ODBC relational connection by going to Connections -> Relational, and in the first window select the ODBC type and click New.
2. In the Relational Connection Editor, set the name of the newly created connection and set the User Name and Password based on the credentials utilized to connect to your Repository. Under the Connection String input your System DSN, which by default is called 'CData API Sys'.
3. In PowerCenter Designer, connect to your repository and open your folder. If you do not already have a folder created, you will need to manually create a folder for your repository. To create a folder, open Informatica PowerCenter Repository Manager, connect to your Repository Service and go to Folder -> Create to create a new folder.
4. Select the Source Analyzer, click the sources menu, and select Import from Database...
5. In the drop-down menu for ODBC data source, select the DSN you previously configured (CData API Sys).
6. Click connect and select the tables and views to include.
7. Click OK.

Create a Flat File Target Based on the Source

1. Select the Target Designer and drag and drop the previously created source onto the workspace. Using the existing source copies the columns into the target.
2. Right-click the new target, click edit, and change the database type to flat file.

Create a Mapping to Between Outlook Data and a Flat File

1. Click on the Mapping Designer.
2. Drag the source and target to the workspace (name the new mapping, if prompted).
3. Right-click on the workspace and select Autolink by Name.
4. Drag the columns from the source qualifier to the target definition.
5. Save the folder (Ctrl + S).

Create Workflow Based on the Mapping

With the source, target, and mapping created and saved, you are now ready to create the workflow.

1. Right-click the mapping and select generate workflow to open the Workflow Generation wizard.
2. Create a workflow with a non-reusable session.
3. Ensure that you have properly configured the connection object and set the prefixes. If you have not already done so, you will need to create an Integration Service. To create an Integration Service, open your Administrator site, and under Domain, create a new PowerCenter Integration Service. Under the PowerCenter Repository Service, select the Repository you are referring to, and as Username and Password, use your Administrator login information.
4. Configure the Connection as needed.
5. Review the Workflow and click Finish.

With a workflow created, you can open the PowerCenter Workflow Manager to access and start the workflow, quickly transferring Outlook data into a flat file. With the CData API Driver for ODBC, you can configure sources and targets in PowerCenter to integrate Outlook data into any of the elegant and powerful features in Informatica PowerCenter.