How to Query Live Paylocity Data in Natural Language in Python using LlamaIndex

Start querying live data from Paylocity using the CData Python Connector for Paylocity. Leverage the power of AI with LlamaIndex and retrieve insights using simple English, eliminating the need for complex SQL queries. Benefit from real-time data access that enhances your decision-making process, while easily integrating with your existing Python applications.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Paylocity data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from Python, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Paylocity and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Whether you're analyzing trends, generating reports, or visualizing data, our Python connectors enable you to harness the full potential of your live data source with ease.

Overview

Here's how to query live data with CData's Python connector for Paylocity data using LlamaIndex:

• Import required Python, CData, and LlamaIndex modules for logging, database connectivity, and NLP.
• Retrieve your OpenAI API key for authenticating API requests from your application.
• Connect to live Paylocity data using the CData Python Connector.
• Initialize OpenAI and create instances of SQLDatabase and NLSQLTableQueryEngine for handling natural language queries.
• Create the query engine and specific database instance.
• Execute natural language queries (e.g., "Who are the top-earning employees?") to get structured responses from the database.
• Analyze retrieved data to gain insights and inform data-driven decisions.

Import Required Modules

Import the necessary modules CData, database connections, and natural language querying.

import os
import logging
import sys

# Configure logging
logging.basicConfig(stream=sys.stdout, level=logging.INFO, force=True)
logging.getLogger().addHandler(logging.StreamHandler(stream=sys.stdout))

# Import required modules for CData and LlamaIndex
import cdata.paylocity as mod
from sqlalchemy import create_engine
from llama_index.core.query_engine import NLSQLTableQueryEngine
from llama_index.core import SQLDatabase
from llama_index.llms.openai import OpenAI

Set Your OpenAI API Key

To use OpenAI's language model, you need to set your API key as an environment variable. Make sure you have your OpenAI API key available in your system's environment variables.

# Retrieve the OpenAI API key from the environment variables
OPENAI_API_KEY = os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"]

''as an alternative, you can also add your API key directly within your code (though this method is not recommended for production environments due to security risks):''

# Directly set the API key (not recommended for production use)
OPENAI_API_KEY = "your-api-key-here"

Create a Database Connection

Next, establish a connection to Paylocity using the CData connector using a connection string with the required connection 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.

Connecting to Paylocity

# Create a database engine using the CData Python Connector for Paylocity
engine = create_engine("cdata_paylocity_2:///?User=OAuthClientID=YourClientId;OAuthClientSecret=YourClientSecret;RSAPublicKey=YourRSAPubKey;Key=YourKey;IV=YourIV;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;")

Initialize the OpenAI Instance

Create an instance of the OpenAI language model. Here, you can specify parameters like temperature and the model version.

# Initialize the OpenAI language model instance
llm = OpenAI(temperature=0.0, model="gpt-3.5-turbo")

Set Up the Database and Query Engine

Now, set up the SQL database and the query engine. The NLSQLTableQueryEngine allows you to perform natural language queries against your SQL database.

# Create a SQL database instance
sql_db = SQLDatabase(engine) # This includes all tables

# Initialize the query engine for natural language SQL queries
query_engine = NLSQLTableQueryEngine(sql_database=sql_db)

Execute a Query

Now, you can execute a natural language query against your live data source. In this example, we will query for the top two earning employees.

# Define your query string
query_str = "Who are the top earning employees?"

# Get the response from the query engine
response = query_engine.query(query_str)

# Print the response
print(response)

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for Paylocity and start querying your live data seamlessly. Experience the power of natural language processing and unlock valuable insights from your data today.