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Use the API Server and Avalara AvaTax ADO.NET Provider to Access Avalara AvaTax Data in Microsoft PowerPivot
Use the API Server to connect to live Avalara AvaTax data in the PowerPivot business intelligence tool.
This article will explain how to use the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Avalara AvaTax (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers) to provide Avalara AvaTax data as OData services and then consume the data in Microsoft Excel's PowerPivot business intelligence tool. Follow the steps below to retrieve and edit Avalara AvaTax data in Power Pivot.
Set Up the API Server
Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Avalara AvaTax OData services:
Deploy
The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.
The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.
Connect to Avalara AvaTax
After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Avalara AvaTax, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Avalara AvaTax by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.
The primary method for performing basic authentication is to provide your login credentials, as follows:
- User: Set this to your username.
- Password: Set this to your password.
Optionally, if you are making use of a sandbox environment, set the following:
- UseSandbox: Set this to true if you are authenticating with a sandbox account.
Authenticating Using Account Number and License Key
Alternatively, you can authenticate using your account number and license key. Connect to data using the following:
- AccountId: Set this to your Account Id. The Account Id is listed in the upper right hand corner of the admin console.
- LicenseKey: Set this to your Avalara Avatax license key. You can generate a license key by logging into Avalara Avatax as an account administrator and navigating to Settings -> Reset License Key.
You can then choose the Avalara AvaTax entities you want to allow the API Server access to by clicking Settings -> Resources.
Additionally, click Settings -> Server and set the Default Format to XML (Atom) for compatibility with Excel.
Authorize API Server Users
After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address; by default, only connections to the local machine are allowed. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.
Import Avalara AvaTax Tables in Power Pivot
Follow the steps below to import tables that can be refreshed on demand:
- In Excel, click the PowerPivot Window icon in the PowerPivot tab to open PowerPivot.
- Click Home -> Get External Data -> From Data Service -> From OData Data Feed.
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Add authentication parameters. Click Advanced and set the Integrated Security option to Basic. You will need to enter the User Id and Password of a user who has access to the CData API Server. Set the password to the user's authtoken.
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In the Base URL box, enter the OData URL of the CData API Server. For example, http://localhost:8032/api.rsc.
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Select which tables you want to import and click Finish.
You can now work with Avalara AvaTax data in Power Pivot.
