After Installing the Connector you can connect and create a Data Source for data in SAP SuccessFactors.

Setting Up a Data Source

Complete the following steps to connect to the data:

1. Under Connect | To a Server, click More....
2. Select the data source called SAP SuccessFactors by CData.
3. Enter the information required for the connection.
4. Click Sign In.
5. If necessary, select a Database and Schema to discover what tables and views are available.

Using the Connection Builder

The connector makes the most common connection properties available directly in Tableau. However, it can be difficult to use if you need to use more advanced settings or need to troubleshoot connection issues. The connector includes a separate connection builder that allows you to create and test connections outside of Tableau.

There are two ways to access the connection builder:

• On Windows, use a shortcut called Connection Builder in the Start menu, under the CData Tableau Connector for SAP SuccessFactors folder.
• You can also start the connection builder by going to the driver install directory and running the .jar file in the lib directory.

In the connection builder, you can set values for connection properties and click Test Connection to validate that they work. You can also use the Copy to Clipboard button to save the connection string. This connection string can be given to the Connection String option included in the connector connection window in Tableau.

Connecting to SAPSuccessFactors

The CData Tableau Connector for SAP SuccessFactors communicates to SAP SuccessFactors over the OData API, which is enabled by default. If you need to provide additional permissions, please follow the steps from SAP laid out in their support site.

You can authenticate to SAP SuccessFactors using either Basic authentication or OAuth with SAML assertion.

Basic

In order to use Basic authentication, you must set a number of connection properties and you must grant access to the API.

Required Connection Properties

• AuthScheme = BASIC.
• Url = the url of the server hosting Success Factors. Some of the servers are listed here.
• User = the username of your account.
• Password = the password of your account.
• CompanyId = your company's unique identifier.

Be aware that in Basic authentication, SAP SuccessFactors uses cookies to reuse the session after your first request to connect. This means that your credentials are only used the first time you connect to SAP SuccessFactors. After that, authentication is accomplished using cookies returned from SAP SuccessFactors.

Granting Access to the API

Once OData is enabled, you must grant access to the API to activate Basic Auth for a given user.

For an RBP System:

1. Navigate to Administrator Permissions > Manage Integration Tools.
2. Assign Allow Admin to Access OData API through Basic Authentication to the user.

For a User-Based System:

1. Navigate to Administrative Privileges > Integration Tools.
2. Assign Allow Admin to Access OData API Through Basic Authentication to the user.
3. Navigate to the Managing Administrative Privilege page.
4. Assign Employee Export and Employee Import to the user.

OAuth

SAP SuccessFactors supports OAuth authentication only. To enable this authentication from all OAuth flows, you must set AuthScheme to OAuth, and you must create a custom OAuth application.

The following subsections describe how to authenticate to SAP SuccessFactors from three common authentication flows:

• Desktop: a connection to a server on the user's local machine, frequently used for testing and prototyping.
• Web: access to data via a shared website.
• Headless Server: a dedicated computer that provides services to other computers and their users, which is configured to operate without a monitor and keyboard.

For information about how to create a custom OAuth application, see Creating a Custom OAuth Application. For a complete list of connection string properties available in SAP SuccessFactors, see Connection.

Desktop Applications

To authenticate with the credentials for a custom OAuth application, you must get and refresh the OAuth access token. After you do that, you are ready to connect.

Get and refresh the OAuth access token:

• InitiateOAuth = GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
• OAuthClientId = the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
• OAuthClientSecret = the client secret that was assigned when you registered your application.
• CallbackURL = the redirect URI that was defined when you registered your application.

When you connect, the connector opens SAP SuccessFactors's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

After you grant permissions to the application, the connector then completes the OAuth process:

1. The connector obtains an access token from SAP SuccessFactors and uses it to request data.
2. The OAuth values are saved in the path specified in OAuthSettingsLocation. These values persist across connections.

When the access token expires, the connector refreshes it automatically.

Automatic refresh of the OAuth access token:

To have the connector automatically refresh the OAuth access token, do the following:

1. Before connecting to data for the first time, set the following connection parameters:
   • InitiateOAuth = REFRESH.
   • OAuthClientId = the client Id in your application settings.
   • OAuthClientSecret = the client secret in your application settings.
   • OAuthAccessToken = the access token returned by GetOAuthAccessToken.
   • OAuthSettingsLocation = the path where you want the connector to save the OAuth values, which persist across connections.
2. On subsequent data connections, set the following:
   • InitiateOAuth
   • OAuthSettingsLocation

Next Step

See Using the Connector to create data visualizations.