Visualize Live SAP SuccessFactors Data in Power BI (via CData Connect AI)

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get access to SAP SuccessFactors data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to use CData Connect to create a live connection to SAP SuccessFactors, connect to SAP SuccessFactors data from Power BI and then create reports on SAP SuccessFactors data in Power BI.

Configure SAP SuccessFactors Connectivity for Power BI

Connectivity to SAP SuccessFactors from Power BI is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with SAP SuccessFactors data from Power BI, we start by creating and configuring a SAP SuccessFactors connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection

2. Select "SAP SuccessFactors" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAP SuccessFactors.

   You can authenticate to SAP Success Factors using Basic authentication or OAuth with SAML assertion.

   Basic Authentication

   You must provide values for the following properties to successfully authenticate to SAP Success Factors. Note that the provider will reuse the session opened by SAP Success Factors using cookies. Which means that your credentials will be used only on the first request to open the session. After that, cookies returned from SAP Success Factors will be used for authentication.

   • Url: set this to the URL of the server hosting Success Factors. Some of the servers are listed in the SAP support documentation (external link).
   • User: set this to the username of your account.
   • Password: set this to the password of your account.
   • CompanyId: set this to the unique identifier of your company.

   OAuth Authentication

   You must provide values for the following properties, which will be used to get the access token.

   • Url: set this to the URL of the server hosting Success Factors. Some of the servers are listed in the SAP support documentation (external link).
   • User: set this to the username of your account.
   • CompanyId: set this to the unique identifier of your company.
   • OAuthClientId: set this to the API Key that was generated in API Center.
   • OAuthClientSecret: the X.509 private key used to sign SAML assertion. The private key can be found in the certificate you downloaded in Registering your OAuth Client Application.
   • InitiateOAuth: set this to GETANDREFRESH.
   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SAP SuccessFactors Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to SAP SuccessFactors data from Power BI.

Query SAP SuccessFactors Tables

Follow the steps below to build a query to pull SAP SuccessFactors data into the report:

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect AI and click "Connect"
2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect AI account 👁 Authenticating with Connect AI
   
3. After signing in, click "Connect" 👁 Connecting to Connect AI
   
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog 👁 The available tables. (Salesforce tables are shown)
   
5. Click Load to establish the connection to your SAP SuccessFactors data from Power BI

Create SAP SuccessFactors Data Visualizations

After connecting to the data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view by dragging fields from the Fields pane onto the canvas. Select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize along with the chart type.

Click Refresh to synchronize your report with any changes to the data.

Live Access to SAP SuccessFactors Data from Data Applications

With CData Connect AI you have a direct connection to SAP SuccessFactors data from Power BI. You can import more data, create new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating SAP SuccessFactors data.

To get SQL data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including SAP SuccessFactors) directly from your on-premise BI, reporting, ETL and other data applications, visit the CData Connect AI page and start a free trial.