How to integrate Metabase with ADP Data

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect AI, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live ADP data. This article describes how to connect to ADP and build a simple visualization using ADP data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for ADP, allowing you to easily integrate with live ADP data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to ADP, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return ADP data.

Configure ADP Connectivity for Metabase

Connectivity to ADP from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with ADP data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a ADP connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection

2. Select "ADP" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to ADP.

   Connect to ADP by specifying the following properties:

   • OAuthClientId: The client Id of the custom OAuth application you obtained from ADP.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The custom OAuth application's client secret.
   • SSLClientCert: Set this to the certificate provided during registration.
   • SSLClientCertPassword: Set this to the password of the certificate.
   • UseUAT: The connector makes requests to the production environment by default. If using a developer account, set UseUAT = true.
   • RowScanDepth: The maximum number of rows to scan for the custom fields columns available in the table. The default value will be set to 100. Setting a high value may decrease performance.

   The connector uses OAuth to authenticate with ADP. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with ADP using the browser. OAuth access can be configured in ADP through ADP API Central. For more information, refer ADP's API Central Quick Start Guide and the OAuth section in CData's Help documentation.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add ADP Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
   
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to ADP data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect AI from Metabase

After creating the connection in Connect AI, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect AI.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab 👁 Adding a new database connection to Metabase.
   
2. Configure the connection to Connect AI and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "ADP (Connect AI)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. ADP1)
   • Username: A Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Password: The PAT previously created
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)
   👁 Configuring the connection to Connect AI.
   

Execute ADP Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect AI, you can query ADP and build visualizations.

1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the ADP data 👁 Click the 'Write SQL' button.
   
2. Write a SQL query based on the ADP connection in CData Connect AI, e.g.
   
   

   SELECT AssociateOID, WorkerID FROM Workers WHERE AssociateOID = 'G3349PZGBADQY8H8'

   👁 Collected data (Salesforce is shown).
   
3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization 👁 Collected data (Salesforce is shown).
   

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have built a simple visualization from ADP data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live ADP data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to ADP (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live ADP data in Metabase today.