Model Context Protocol (MCP) finally gives AI models a way to access the business data needed to make them really useful at work. CData MCP Servers have the depth and performance to make sure AI has access to all of the answers.
Try them now for free →
Access Avalara AvaTax Data as OData Feeds in Tableau
Use the Tableau Desktop business intelligence tool to connect to Avalara AvaTax data using the API Server.
The CData API Server, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for Avalara AvaTax (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers), provides Avalara AvaTax data as OData Web services. This article will explain how to use the API Server to provide the underlying connectivity to Avalara AvaTax data in Tableau's business intelligence tool.
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.
When you configure the connection, 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 reports and visualizations.
You can then choose the Avalara AvaTax entities you want to allow the API Server to access by clicking Settings -> Resources.
Additionally, click Settings -> Server and set the Default Format to XML (Atom) for compatibility with Tableau.
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.
Create Real-Time Avalara AvaTax Data Visualizations
Follow the steps below to create data visualizations based on the remote Avalara AvaTax data:
-
In Tableau, select 'Connect to data'. In the 'On a server' section, click OData.
-
In the resulting wizard, enter the URL of the OData endpoint for the API Server. Append the name of the table you want to access to the OData entry URL. For example:
https://your-server/api.rsc/Transactions -
Select the
'Use a Username and Password' option and enter the username and password of a user who has access to the API Server.
-
Tableau uses the table metadata exposed by the API Server to detect dimension and measure columns.
-
To view the Avalara AvaTax data, right-click under the table name in the Data section of the dashboard and select the View Data option. The Avalara AvaTax data will appear in Tableau.
