Build Avalara AvaTax Visualizations in Tableau Cloud

Tableau Cloud is an analytics platform fully hosted in the cloud. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Avalara AvaTax data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Avalara AvaTax and build visualizations from Avalara AvaTax data in Tableau Cloud.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for Avalara AvaTax, allowing you to easily build visualizations from live Avalara AvaTax data in Tableau Cloud without installing connectors or publishing worksheets and data sources from Tableau Desktop. As you build visualizations, Tableau Cloud generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Avalara AvaTax, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Avalara AvaTax data.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for Avalara AvaTax Data

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

1. Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
2. Select "Avalara AvaTax" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Avalara AvaTax.

   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.
4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

With the virtual database created, you are ready to build visualizations in Tableau Cloud.

Visualize Live Avalara AvaTax Data in Tableau Cloud

The steps below outline creating a new data source in Tableau Cloud based on the virtual Avalara AvaTax database in Connect Server and building a simple visualization from the data.

1. Log into Tableau Cloud, select a project, and create a new workbook.
2. In the new workbook, choose the Microsoft SQL Server Connector from the data wizard and fill in the values for your Connect Server instance.
   NOTE: Be sure to check the "Require SSL" checkbox.
3. Select your newly created database and the table(s) you wish to visualize (defining relationships for JOINed tables as needed).
4. Select Dimensions and Measures and configure your visualization.

SQL Access to Avalara AvaTax Data from Applications

At this point, you have a direct connection to live Avalara AvaTax data from your Tableau Cloud workbook. You can create new visualizations, build dashboards, and more, with no need to publish data sources and workbooks from Tableau Desktop. For more information on gaining SQL access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources from cloud applications like Tableau Cloud, refer to our Connect Server page.