Use the CData ODBC Driver for ADP in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for ADP, you gain database-like access to live ADP data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding ADP as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of ADP data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live ADP data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to ADP, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to ADP and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze ADP data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to ADP as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to ADP follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

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.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for ADP in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData ADP Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for ADP
Description = My Description
OAuthClientId = YourClientId
OAuthClientSecret = YourClientSecret
SSLClientCert = 'c:\cert.pfx'
SSLClientCertPassword = 'admin@123'
InitiateOAuth = GETANDREFRESH

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize ADP Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting ADP in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to ADP in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add ADP data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of ADP data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData ADP Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
👁 Creating a new data source for ADP.

6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the ADP data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM Workers
   

   👁 Querying ADP for data.
   NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of ADP data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to ADP, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver. 👁 Visualize ADP data.
   
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for ADP in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on ADP data. Read our other articles on connecting to ADP in MicroStrategy and connecting to ADP in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.