Connect to Act CRM Data in RunMyProcess through Connect Cloud

Akorbi Digital RunMyProcess makes it easy to create applications for complex business applications, such as budget application and contract management. CData Connect Cloud creates a live connection to Act CRM and can be used to generate an OData API (natively supported in RunMyProcess) for Act CRM. By pairing RunMyProcess with CData Connect Cloud, you get true cloud-to-cloud connectivity to all your SaaS and cloud-based Big Data and NoSQL sources - no need to migrate your data or write your own integrations. Simply connect to Connect Cloud from RunMyProcess as you would any other REST service and get instant, live access to your Act CRM data.

In this article, we walk through connecting to Act CRM from CData Connect Cloud and accessing Act CRM data through an OData feed in RunMyProcess.

Connect to Act CRM from RunMyProcess

To work with live Act CRM data in RunMyProcess, we need to connect to Act CRM from Connect Cloud, provide user access to the connection, and create OData endpoints for the Act CRM data.

(Optional) Add a New Connect Cloud User

As needed, create Users to connect to Act CRM through Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the Users page and click Invite Users
2. Enter the new user's email address and click Send to invite the user
3. You can review and edit users from the Users page

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Connect to Act CRM from Connect Cloud

CData Connect Cloud uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Act CRM" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Act CRM.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Act! user credentials. In addition to the authentication values, see the following:

   • Connecting to Act! Premium

     In addition to the authentication values, the URL to Act! is also required; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/.

     Additionally, you must specify the ActDatabase you will connect to. This is found by going to the About Act! Premium menu of your account, at the top right of the page, in the ? menu. Use the Database Name in the window that appears.

   • Connecting to Act! Premium Cloud

     To connect to your Act! Premium Cloud account, you also need to specify the ActCloudName property. This property is found in the URL address of the Cloud account; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/ActCloudName/.

   Note that retrieving ActCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you set the CacheMetadata property to store the metadata locally.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Act CRM Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add Act CRM OData Endpoints in Connect Cloud

After connecting to Act CRM, create OData Endpoints for the desired table(s).

1. Navigate to the OData page and click Add to create new OData endpoints
2. Select the Act CRM connection (e.g. ActCRM1) and click Next
3. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm

Sample URLs for OData Feeds

Once you have configured a connection to Act CRM, created a user, and created OData endpoints in Connect Cloud, you can access OData feeds for Act CRM data. Below, you will see the URLs to access tables and the list of tables. For information on accessing the tables, you can navigate to the OData page for Connect Cloud. For the URLs, you will need the URL of Connect Cloud: https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/service.

As with standard OData feeds, if you wish to limit the fields returned, you can add a $select parameter to the query, along with other standard OData URL parameters, such as $filter, $orderby, $skip, and $top. See the help documentation for more information on supported OData queries.

With the connection and OData endpoints configured, you are ready to connect to Act CRM data from RunMyProcess.

Retrieve Act CRM Data from RunMyProcess DigitalSuite Studio

With the connection to Act CRM and OData endpoints created, we are ready to add Act CRM data to RunMyProcess for Retrieval.

Create a Provider

1. Log into RunMyProcess and open DigitalSuite Studio.
2. Click Resources to bring up the Resources page, then select then the CONNECTORS tab.
3. Click the + (New Provider) button to create a new provider, choose the account to use, then click Confirm.
4. In the provider settings page, configure the following properties.
   • URL: Set the OData endpoint in the Connect Cloud OData page: https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/service.
   • Authentication Schema: Select Login/Password.
   • Login: Specify a CData Connect Cloud username (e.g. user@mydomain.com).
   • Password: Specify the PAT of the Connect Cloud user.
5. Fill in the same properties in the ACCEPTANCE and TEST tabs. Note: You can copy the configured settings by clicking 'Copy this configuration button,' then pasting the content in the new tab by clicking 'Paste previously copied configuration.'
6. Click Save to save the properties.

Retrieve Act CRM Data by Creating a Connector

1. In the CONNECTORS tab, click the button with three dots to create the provider, then select Add connector from the menu.
2. In the following page, set Connector URL to the OData endpoint configured in Connect Cloud (e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/service)
3. Click Save then Launch to test the connector execution. Click Launch test to execute. The process is successful if you get the JSON response of your configured table information.

More Information & Free Trial

Now, you have created a provider and connector to retrieve Act CRM data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Act CRM (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Act CRM data in RunMyProcess.