Connect to Paylocity in SpagoBI

The CData JDBC Driver for Paylocity enables you to connect to live Paylocity data from business intelligence and data mining tools that support the JDBC standard. This article shows how to integrate Paylocity data into a report in SpagoBI Studio and host it on SpagoBI Server.

• Deploy the Driver in SpagoBI Server
• Create a Report in SpagoBI Studio
• Host Paylocity Reports on SpagoBI Server

Deploy the JDBC Driver in SpagoBI Server

Follow the steps to create a JDBC data source for Paylocity in SpagoBI Server.

1. Copy the driver JAR into %CATALINA_BASE%/lib. These files are located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.

2. Add a Paylocity driver resource to the context. The following resource definition can be added to the GlobalNamingResources element in server.xml:

   <Resource name="jdbc/paylocity" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource" driverclassname="cdata.jdbc.paylocity.PaylocityDriver" factory="org.apache.tomcat.jdbc.pool.DataSourceFactory" maxactive="20" maxidle="10" maxwait="-1"/>

3. Add the following resource link to give access to Web applications. For this article, add the following line to META-INF\context.xml for SpagoBI.

   <ResourceLink global="jdbc/paylocity" name="jdbc/paylocity" type="javax.sql.DataSource"/>
   

4. Restart the server.

After adding the driver to the resources for the SpagoBI server, add the data source: In SpagoBI, click Resources -> Data Source -> Add and enter the following information:

• Label: Enter a unique identifier for the driver.
• Description: Enter a description for the driver.
• Dialect: Select Default Dialect.
• Read Only: Select the read-only option. This option determines whether the data source is the default database to save datasets created by the end user.
• Type: Select JDBC.
• URL: Enter the JDBC URL using the required connection string properties:

  Set the following to establish a connection to Paylocity:

  • RSAPublicKey: Set this to the RSA Key associated with your Paylocity, if the RSA Encryption is enabled in the Paylocity account.

    This property is required for executing Insert and Update statements, and it is not required if the feature is disabled.

  • UseSandbox: Set to true if you are using sandbox account.
  • CustomFieldsCategory: Set this to the Customfields category. This is required when IncludeCustomFields is set to true. The default value for this property is PayrollAndHR.
  • Key: The AES symmetric key(base 64 encoded) encrypted with the Paylocity Public Key. It is the key used to encrypt the content.

    Paylocity will decrypt the AES key using RSA decryption.
    It is an optional property if the IV value not provided, The driver will generate a key internally.

  • IV: The AES IV (base 64 encoded) used when encrypting the content. It is an optional property if the Key value not provided, The driver will generate an IV internally.

  Connect Using OAuth Authentication

  You must use OAuth to authenticate with Paylocity. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with Paylocity using the browser. For more information, refer to the OAuth section in the Help documentation.

  The Pay Entry API

  The Pay Entry API is completely separate from the rest of the Paylocity API. It uses a separate Client ID and Secret, and must be explicitly requested from Paylocity for access to be granted for an account. The Pay Entry API allows you to automatically submit payroll information for individual employees, and little else. Due to the extremely limited nature of what is offered by the Pay Entry API, we have elected not to give it a separate schema, but it may be enabled via the UsePayEntryAPI connection property.

  Please be aware that when setting UsePayEntryAPI to true, you may only use the CreatePayEntryImportBatch & MergePayEntryImportBatchgtable stored procedures, the InputTimeEntry table, and the OAuth stored procedures. Attempts to use other features of the product will result in an error. You must also store your OAuthAccessToken separately, which often means setting a different OAuthSettingsLocation when using this connection property.

  Built-in Connection String Designer

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

  java -jar cdata.jdbc.paylocity.jar
  

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

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

  A typical JDBC URL is below:

  jdbc:paylocity:OAuthClientID=YourClientId;OAuthClientSecret=YourClientSecret;RSAPublicKey=YourRSAPubKey;Key=YourKey;IV=YourIV;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;
  

• Driver: Enter the class name for the driver: cdata.jdbc.paylocity.PaylocityDriver

👁 The configuration for the Paylocity JDBC data source. (Salesforce is shown.)

Create Reports in SpagoBI Studio

Follow the steps below to populate reports based on Paylocity data in SpagoBI Studio. You will create a dataset that populates a chart with the results of an SQL query. In the next section, you will host this report on SpagoBI Server.

First, you will need to connect to Paylocity data from a report in SpagoBI Studio:

1. In SpagoBI Studio, click File -> New -> Project and select Report Project in the Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools folder.
2. Click File -> New -> Report and select Blank Report.
3. In the Data Explorer view, right-click Data Sources and click New Data Source.
4. Select JDBC Data Source and enter a name for the data source.
5. Click Manage Drivers and click Add to add the driver JAR, cdata.jdbc.paylocity.jar. The driver JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
6. In the Driver Class menu, select the driver class, cdata.jdbc.paylocity.PaylocityDriver.
7. In the Database URL box, enter the JDBC URL. A typical JDBC URL is below:

   jdbc:paylocity:OAuthClientID=YourClientId;OAuthClientSecret=YourClientSecret;RSAPublicKey=YourRSAPubKey;Key=YourKey;IV=YourIV;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;
   

   See the "Getting Started" chapter of the driver help for a guide to obtaining the required connection properties. 👁 The JDBC data source. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

After you have connected to Paylocity data, create a dataset that contains the results of an SQL query:

1. Right-click the DataSet folder and click New Data Set. Select the JDBC data source for Paylocity and enter a name for the dataset.
2. Build the SQL query. In this example, this query will be used to add a chart to the dashboard. For example:

   SELECT FirstName, LastName FROM Employee WHERE EmployeeId = '1234'
   

   👁 The query to be used to populate a chart. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

You can use the dataset to populate report objects. Follow the steps below to create a chart.

1. In the Palette view, drag a chart onto the canvas.
2. In the Select Chart Type tab, select a bar chart.
3. In the Select Data tab, click the Use Data From option and select the Paylocity data set from the menu.
4. Drag FirstName from the table to the series for the x-axis.
5. Drag LastName from the table to the series for the y-axis. 👁 Columns in the dataset defined as the x- and y-axes for the chart. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

Host Paylocity Reports on SpagoBI Server

Follow the steps below to host documents based on live Paylocity data on SpagoBI Server. You will use the report you created in the previous section as a template. To enable report users to access the live data, create placeholder parameters to be replaced by the Paylocity JDBC data source on the server:

1. If you have not already done so, open the Report Design perspective in SpagoBI Studio.
2. In the Data Explorer view, right-click the Report Parameters folder and click New Parameter. Add the url parameter and assign an empty value to it. This parameter is a placeholder for the JDBC data source on the SpagoBI Server.
3. Right-click the Paylocity data source and click Edit.

4. In the Property Binding node, set the JDBC Driver URL binding property to the url parameter: Click the box for the property. In the Category section, select Report Parameters. Select All in the Subcategory section and double-click the parameter.

   You can also enter the following in the JavaScript syntax:

   params["url"].value
   

   👁 Placeholder values in the report for the JDBC data source on the server.
   

Next, create a new document for the report on SpagoBI Server.

1. In SpagoBI Server, click Documents Development -> Create Document -> Generic Document. The Document Details page is displayed.
2. To create the document, enter the following:
   • Label: Enter a unique identifier for the document.
   • Name: Enter a user-friendly name for the document.
   • Type: Select Report from the menu.
   • Engine: Select BIRT Report Engine.
   • Data Source: Select the Paylocity Data Source you created in Create a JDBC Data Source for Paylocity in SpagoBI Server.
3. In the Show Document Templates section, select the folder where you want the document to be stored.

4. In the Template section, click Choose File. Navigate to the folder containing your report project. Select the .rptdesign file.

   Note: You can find the path to the project in the project properties.

5. Click the Save button.

👁 The document using the report as a template. (Salesforce is shown.)

When you run the report on the server, the placeholder url parameter is replaced with the JDBC URL defined on the server.

👁 The chart running on the SpagoBI Server. (Salesforce is shown.)