Process & Analyze BambooHR Data in Databricks (AWS)

Databricks is a cloud-based service that provides data processing capabilities through Apache Spark. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver, customers can use Databricks to perform data engineering and data science on live BambooHR data. This article explains how to host the CData JDBC Driver in AWS, as well as connect to and process live BambooHR data in Databricks.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live BambooHR data. When you issue complex SQL queries to BambooHR, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to BambooHR and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze BambooHR data using native data types.

Install the CData JDBC Driver in Databricks

To work with live BambooHR data in Databricks, install the driver on your Databricks cluster.

1. Navigate to your Databricks administration screen and select the target cluster.
2. On the Libraries tab, click "Install New."
3. Select "Upload" as the Library Source and "Jar" as the Library Type.
4. Upload the JDBC JAR file (cdata.jdbc.api.jar) from the installation location (typically C:\Program Files\CData[product_name]\lib).

👁 Loading the JDBC JAR File into AWS

Access BambooHR Data in your Notebook: Python

With the JAR file installed, we are ready to work with live BambooHR data in Databricks. Start by creating a new notebook in your workspace. Name the notebook, select Python as the language (though Scala is available as well), and choose the cluster where you installed the JDBC driver. When the notebook launches, we can configure the connection, query BambooHR, and create a basic report.

Configure the Connection to BambooHR

Connect to BambooHR by referencing the JDBC Driver class and constructing a connection string to use in the JDBC URL. Additionally, you will need to set the property in the JDBC URL (unless you are using a Beta driver). You can view the licensing file included in the installation for information on how to set this property.

Step 1: Connection Information

driver = "cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver"
url = "jdbc:api:RTK=5246...;Profile=C:\profiles\BambooHR.apip;ProfileSettings='Domain=acmeinc;APIKey=your_api_key';"

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the BambooHR JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar

Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the BambooHR Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\bamboohr.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for BambooHR (see below).

BambooHR API Profile Settings

In order to authenticate to BambooHR, you'll need to provide your API Key. To generate an API key, log in and click your name in the upper right-hand corner of any page to get to the user context menu. If you have sufficient permissions, there will be an "API Keys" option in that menu to go to the page, where you can create a new API Key. Additionally, set the Domain, found in the domain name of your BambooHR account. For example if your BambooHR account is acmeinc.bamboohr.com, then the Domain should be 'acmeinc'. Set both the API Key and Domain in the ProfileSettings property to connect.

👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)

Load BambooHR Data

Once you configure the connection, you can load BambooHR data as a dataframe using the CData JDBC Driver and the connection information.

Step 2: Reading the data

remote_table = spark.read.format ( "jdbc" ) \
	.option ( "driver" , driver) \
	.option ( "url" , url) \
	.option ( "dbtable" , "Employees") \
	.load ()

Display BambooHR Data

Check the loaded BambooHR data by calling the display function.

Step 3: Checking the result

display (remote_table.select ("Id"))

👁 Displaying BambooHR Data

Analyze BambooHR Data in Databricks

If you want to process data with Databricks SparkSQL, register the loaded data as a Temp View.

Step 4: Create a view or table

remote_table.createOrReplaceTempView ( "SAMPLE_VIEW" )

With the Temp View created, you can use SparkSQL to retrieve the BambooHR data for reporting, visualization, and analysis.

% sql

SELECT Id, DisplayName FROM SAMPLE_VIEW ORDER BY DisplayName DESC LIMIT 5

👁 Displaying BambooHR Data

The data from BambooHR is only available in the target notebook. If you want to use it with other users, save it as a table.

remote_table.write.format ( "parquet" ) .saveAsTable ( "SAMPLE_TABLE" )

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for JDBC and start working with your live BambooHR data in Databricks. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.