Visualize Live BambooHR Data in Tableau

Tableau is a visual analytics platform transforming the way businesses use data to solve problems. When paired with the CData API Driver for Tableau, you can easily get access to live BambooHR data within Tableau. This article shows how to connect to BambooHR in Tableau and build a simple chart.

The CData Tableau Connectors enable high-speed access to live BambooHR data in Tableau. Once you install the connector, you simply authenticate with BambooHR and you can immediately start building responsive, dynamic visualizations and dashboards. By surfacing BambooHR data using native Tableau data types and handling complex filters, aggregations, & other operations automatically, CData Tableau Connectors grant seamless access to BambooHR data.

NOTE: The CData Tableau Connectors require Tableau 2020.3 or higher. If you are using an older version of Tableau, you will need to use the CData JDBC Driver.

Connect to BambooHR in Tableau

Open Tableau and click More under Connect -> To a Server. Select "BambooHR by CData," then configure the connection and click "Sign In."

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.

Discover Schemas and Query Data

1. Select CData from the Database pull-down menu.
2. Select API from the Schema pull-down menu.
3. Drag the tables and views you wish to visualize onto the join area. You can include multiple tables. 👁 Selecting table(s)
   
4. Select Update Now or Automatically Update. Update Now lets you preview the first 10,000 rows of the data source (or enter the number of rows you want to see in the Rows text box). Automatically Update automatically reflects the changes in the preview area.
5. Click the tab for your worksheet. Columns are listed as Dimensions and Measures, depending on the data type. The CData Tableau Connector discovers data types automatically, allowing you to leverage the powerful data processing and visualization features of Tableau.
6. Drag a field from the Dimensions or Measures area to Rows or Columns. Tableau creates column or row headers.
7. Select one of the chart types from the Show Me tab. Tableau displays the chart type that you selected.
👁 Visualizing live BambooHR data

Using the CData API Driver for Tableau with Tableau, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on BambooHR data. Download a free, 30-day trial and get started today.