Import ADP Data into the Power BI Service for Visualizations

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get access to ADP data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to ADP in CData Connect AI, publish a dataset from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI Service and then create reports on ADP data in the Power BI service.

Configure ADP Connectivity for Power BI Service

Connectivity to ADP from Power BI Service is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with ADP data from Power BI Service, 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
   

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to ADP data from the Power BI service.

Publish a Dataset from Power BI Desktop

Once you connect to ADP in Connect AI, you can create a dataset in Power BI desktop and publish the dataset to the Power BI service.

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect AI and click "Connect"
2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect AI account 👁 Authenticating with Connect AI
   
3. After signing in, click "Connect" 👁 Connecting to Connect AI
   
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog 👁 The available tables. (Salesforce tables are shown)
   
5. Click Load to establish the connection to your ADP data from Power BI
6. Define any relationships between the selected entities on the Relationships tab.
7. Click Publish (from the Home menu) and select a Workspace.

Build Reports and Dashboards on ADP Data in the Power BI Service

Now that you have published a dataset to the Power BI service, you can create new reports and dashboards based on the published data:

1. Log in to PowerBI.com.
2. Click Workspaces and select a workspace.
3. Click Create and select Report.
4. Select the published dataset for the report. 👁 Select a dataset
   
5. Choose fields and visualizations to add to your report. 👁 Visualizing ADP data in the Power BI service
   

Live Access to ADP Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live ADP data from the Power BI service. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating ADP data.

To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect AI.