Tableau Connector for SAP SuccessFactors

Build 25.0.9434

Configuring a Connection

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 SAP SuccessFactors

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, see this SAP Support Site article.

You can authenticate to SAP SuccessFactors using Basic authentication (deprecated), Azure AD authentication, SAP IAS authentication or OAuth authentication (preferred).

Important: Basic Authentication is deprecated by SAP and will be permanently removed after November 13, 2026. It is recommended to migrate to OAuth, SAP IAS, or Azure AD authentication as soon as possible.

Required Connection Properties

Regardless of the selected AuthScheme, the following connection properties must be set to identify your SAP SuccessFactors environment:

  • URL: The URL of the server hosting Success Factors. Some of the servers are listed here.
  • CompanyId: The unique identifier assigned to your SAP SuccessFactors tenant. This value is required for API authentication and is specific to your organization.

These values ensure the driver connects to the correct environment and authenticates against the appropriate tenant.

Basic (Deprecated)

To use Basic authentication, you must set the below connection properties and you must grant access to the API.

Be aware that in Basic authentication, after your first request to connect, SAP SuccessFactors uses cookies to reuse the session. For all subsequent connection requests, authentication is accomplished using cookies returned from SAP SuccessFactors.

Deprecation Notice: SAP has announced the deprecation of Basic Authentication for API access. This method will no longer be supported after November 13, 2026. It is strongly recommended to transition to OAuth, SAP IAS, or Azure AD to ensure future compatibility.

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.

Azure AD

Azure AD is Microsoft’s multi-tenant, cloud-based directory and identity management service. It is user-based authentication that requires that you set AuthScheme to AzureAD.

Desktop Applications

CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies connection to Azure AD from a Desktop application.

You can also authenticate from a desktop application using a custom OAuth application. (For further information, see Creating an Entra ID (Azure AD) Application.) To authenticate via Azure AD, set these parameters:

  • AuthScheme: AzureAD.
  • Custom applications only:
    • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
    • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
    • CallbackURL: The redirect URI you defined when you registered your custom OAuth application.

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

The connector completes the OAuth process, obtaining an access token from SAP SuccessFactors and using it to request data. 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.

Headless Machines

To configure the connector with a user account on a headless machine, you must authenticate on another device that has an internet browser.

You can do this by installing the connector on another machine as described below. After you authenticate via the usual browser-based flow, transfer the OAuth authentication values.

Before you can connect via a headless machine, you must create and install a connection with the connector on a device that supports an internet browser. Set the connection properties as described above, in Desktop Applications.

After you complete the instructions in Desktop Applications, the resulting authentication values are encrypted and written to the location specified by OAuthSettingsLocation. The default filename is OAuthSettings.txt.

Once you have successfully tested the connection, copy the OAuth settings file to your headless machine.

At the headless machine, set these properties:

  • AuthScheme: AzureAD.
  • InitiateOAuth: REFRESH.
  • OAuthSettingsLocation: The location of your OAuth settings file. Make sure this location gives read and write permissions to the connector to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.
  • Custom applications only:
    • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your application.
    • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your application.

OAuth

SAP SuccessFactors supports OAuth authentication with two grant types:

  • Client grant type for SAP SAP SuccessFactors LMS instances
  • SAML-2 Bearer grant type
To enable OAuth authentication from all OAuth flows, you must create a custom OAuth application as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application, and you must set the appropriate properties.

Note: SAP SuccessFactors does not retrieve a refresh token as part of the API response, therefore it is not surfaced. Instead, the provider uses the expiration time of the access token to detect when to initiate the process of obtaining a new token.

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

Set the following properties:

  • InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
  • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your application.
  • CallbackURL: The redirect URI that was defined when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  • OAuthClientSecret (Client grant type only): The client secret that was assigned when you registered your application.
  • PrivateKey (SAML-2 Bearer grant type only): The path of the Private Key certificate you downloaded during the creation of your custom OAuth application OR the base64-encoded content of that certificate.

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 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 these connection parameters:
    • InitiateOAuth: REFRESH.
    • OAuthClientId: The client Id in your custom OAuth 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.
    • OAuthClientSecret (Client grant type only): The client secret in your custom OAuth application settings.
    • PrivateKey (SAML-2 Bearer grant type only): The path of the Private Key certificate you downloaded during the creation of your custom OAuth application OR the base64-encoded content of that certificate.
  2. On subsequent data connections, set:

Headless Machines

If you need to log in to a resource that resides on a headless machine, you must authenticate on another device that has an internet browser. You can do this in either of the following ways:

  • Option 1: Obtain the OAuthVerifier value.
  • Option 2: Install the connector on a machine with an internet browser and transfer the OAuth authentication values after you authenticate through the usual browser-based flow.

After you execute either Option 1 or Option 2, configure the connector to automatically refresh the access token on the headless machine.

Option 1: Obtaining and Exchanging a Verifier Code

To obtain a verifier code, you must authenticate at the OAuth authorization URL as follows:

  1. Authenticate from the machine with an internet browser, and obtain the OAuthVerifier connection property. Set these properties:
    • InitiateOAuth: OFF.
    • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
    • OAuthClientSecret (Client grant type only): The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
    • PrivateKey (SAML-2 Bearer grant type only): The path of the Private Key certificate you downloaded during the creation of your custom OAuth application OR the base64-encoded content of that certificate.

  2. Get the CallbackURL you established when you registered the custom OAuth application. (See Creating a Custom OAuth Application.)

    Copy this URL and paste it into a new browser tab.

  3. Log in and grant permissions to the connector. The OAuth application redirects you the redirect URI, with a parameter called code appended. Note the value of this parameter; you will need it later, to configure the OAuthVerifier connection property.

  4. Exchange the OAuth verifier code for OAuth refresh and access tokens.

    On the headless machine, to obtain the OAuth authentication values, set these properties:

    • InitiateOAuth: REFRESH.
    • OAuthVerifier: The noted verifier code (the value of the code parameter in the redirect URI).
    • OAuthSettingsLocation: Persist the encrypted OAuth authentication values to the specified file.
    • OAuthClientId: The client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
    • OAuthClientSecret (Client grant type only): The client secret in the custom OAuth application settings.
    • PrivateKey (SAML-2 Bearer grant type only): The path of the Private Key certificate you downloaded during the creation of your custom OAuth application OR the base64-encoded content of that certificate.

  5. Test the connection to generate the OAuth settings file.

  6. You are ready to connect after you re-set these properties:

    • InitiateOAuth: REFRESH.
    • OAuthSettingsLocation: The file containing the encrypted OAuth authentication values. To enable the automatic refreshing of the access token, be sure that this file gives read and write permissions to the connector.
    • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custo OAuth application.
    • OAuthClientSecret (Client grant type only): The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
    • PrivateKey (SAML-2 Bearer grant type only): The path of the Private Key certificate you downloaded during the creation of your custom OAuth application OR the base64-encoded content of that certificate.

Option 2: Transferring OAuth Settings

Prior to connecting on a headless machine, you must install and create a connection with the connector on a device that supports an internet browser. Set the connection properties as described above in "Desktop Applications".

After completing the instructions in "Desktop Applications", the resulting authentication values are encrypted and written to the path specified by OAuthSettingsLocation. The default filename is OAuthSettings.txt.

Test the connection to generate the OAuth settings file, then copy the OAuth settings file to your headless machine.

To connect to data via the headless machine, set these connection properties:

  • InitiateOAuth: REFRESH
  • OAuthSettingsLocation: The path to the OAuth settings file you copied from the machine with the browser. To enable automatic refreshing of the access token, ensure that this file gives read and write permissions to the connector.
  • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  • OAuthClientSecret (Client grant type only): The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  • PrivateKey (SAML-2 Bearer grant type only): The path of the Private Key certificate you downloaded during the creation of your custom OAuth application OR the base64-encoded content of that certificate.

SAP IAS

SAP IAS (SAP Identity Authentication Service) is SAP's cloud-based identity provider that enables secure user authentication across SAP and third-party applications. It is a user-based authentication mechanism and requires you to set AuthScheme to SAPIAS or to SAPIASPassword.

To enable SAP IAS authentication, you must first register and configure a custom SAP IAS application as described in SAP IAS SAML App Configuration guide.

Desktop Applications

You can authenticate from a desktop application using a custom IAS application registered in SAP Identity Authentication Service (IAS).

To authenticate via SAP IAS, set the following connection properties:

  • AuthScheme: SAPIAS.
  • InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH.
  • OAuthClientId: The API Key of your SAP SuccessFactors OAuth2 client application.
  • SAPIASBaseURL: The base URL of the SAP Identity Authentication Service (IAS) tenant.
  • SSOProperties: A semicolon separated list of key-value pairs containing:
    • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned to your custom SAP IAS application.
    • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned to your custom SAP IAS application.
    (e.g. OAuthClientId=793cf9b4;OAuthClientSecret=K77FErG5S8B;)
  • CallbackURL: The redirect URI you defined when you registered your custom IAS application.

When you connect, the connector opens the SAP IAS OAuth authorization endpoint in your default browser. Log in and authorize the application.

The connector completes the OAuth flow by obtaining an SAML assertion from SAP IAS and exchanging it for an SAP SuccessFactors access token. This token is then used to authenticate API requests to SAP SuccessFactors. The OAuth credentials are saved to the location specified by the OAuthSettingsLocation. property and persist across connections.

When the access token expires, the connector automatically refreshes it using the refresh token provided by SAP IAS.

Headless Machines

To configure the connector with a user account on a headless machine, you must first complete authentication on a separate device that has a web browser.

Install the connector on a machine with browser access and perform the standard browser-based authentication flow, as described in the Desktop Applications section above. After successfully authenticating, the connector will store the resulting OAuth values in the file specified by the OAuthSettingsLocation property. By default, this file is named OAuthSettings.txt.

Once you’ve verified that the connection works, copy the OAuthSettings.txt file to your headless machine.

On the headless machine, configure the following connection properties:

  • AuthScheme: SAPIAS.
  • InitiateOAuth: REFRESH.
  • OAuthClientId: The API Key of your SAP SuccessFactors OAuth2 client application.
  • SAPIASBaseURL: The base URL of the SAP Identity Authentication Service (IAS) tenant.
  • OAuthSettingsLocation: The location of your OAuth settings file. Make sure this location gives read and write permissions to the connector to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.
  • SSOProperties: A semicolon separated list of key-value pairs containing:
    • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned to your custom SAP IAS application.
    • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned to your custom SAP IAS application.
    (e.g. OAuthClientId=793cf9b4;OAuthClientSecret=K77FErG5S8B;)

Alternative: Password Grant Flow (No Browser Prompt)

As an alternative to the interactive Code Grant flow, you can use the OAuth Password Grant flow, which allows the application to authenticate without prompting the user in a browser. This flow is ideal for headless, background, or automated server-side applications.

To use the Password Grant flow, set the following connection properties:

  • AuthScheme: SAPIASPassword.
  • OAuthClientId: The API Key of your SAP SuccessFactors OAuth2 client application.
  • SAPIASBaseURL: The base URL of the SAP Identity Authentication Service (IAS) tenant.
  • SSOProperties: A semicolon separated list of key-value pairs containing:
    • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned to your custom SAP IAS application.
    • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned to your custom SAP IAS application.
    (e.g. OAuthClientId=793cf9b4;OAuthClientSecret=K77FErG5S8B;)
  • User: The IAS username to authenticate with.
  • Password: The corresponding password for the specified user.

Connecting to SAP SuccessFactors LMS

When connecting to a SAP SuccessFactors LMS instance using OAuthSAML2, or an SSO-based AuthScheme, you may need to set the LMSTokenURL connection property.

LMS can be hosted under a different subdomain than the main SAP SuccessFactors instance, which handles authentication. In such cases, the Access Token request must be sent to the main instance's OAuth Access Token endpoint. If LMSTokenURL is not set, the connector tries to resolve the OAuth Access Token token URL from the URL property, which may not work for separately hosted LMS environments.

Next Step

See Using the Connector to create data visualizations.

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Build 25.0.9434