Load SAP SuccessFactors Data to a Database Using Embulk

Embulk is an open source bulk data loader. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors, Embulk easily loads data from SAP SuccessFactors to any supported destination. In this article, we explain how to use the CData JDBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors in Embulk to load SAP SuccessFactors data to a MySQL dtabase.

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

Configure a JDBC Connection to SAP SuccessFactors Data

Before creating a bulk load job in Embulk, note the installation location for the JAR file for the JDBC Driver (typically C:\Program Files\CData\CData JDBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors\lib).

Embulk supports JDBC connectivity, so you can easily connect to SAP SuccessFactors and execute SQL queries. Before creating a bulk load job, create a JDBC URL for authenticating with 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.

Built-in Connection String Designer

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

java -jar cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactors.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.)

Below is a typical JDBC connection string for SAP SuccessFactors:

jdbc:sapsuccessfactors:User=username;Password=password;CompanyId=CompanyId;Url=https://api4.successfactors.com;

Load SAP SuccessFactors Data in Embulk

After installing the CData JDBC Driver and creating a JDBC connection string, install the required Embulk plugins.

Install Embulk Input & Output Plugins

1. Install the JDBC Input Plugin in Embulk.
   https://github.com/embulk/embulk-input-jdbc/tree/master/embulk-input-jdbc

embulk gem install embulk-input-jdbc

2. In this article, we use MySQL as the destination database. You can also choose SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or Google BigQuery as the destination using the output Plugins.
   https://github.com/embulk/embulk-output-jdbc/tree/master/embulk-output-mysql

   embulk gem install embulk-output-mysql
   

With the input and output plugins installed, we are ready to load SAP SuccessFactors data into MySQL using Embulk.

Create a Job to Load SAP SuccessFactors Data

Start by creating a config file in Embulk, using a name like sapsuccessfactors-mysql.yml.

1. For the input plugin options, use the CData JDBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors, including the path to the driver JAR file, the driver class (e.g. cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactors.SAPSuccessFactorsDriver), and the JDBC URL from above
2. For the output plugin options, use the values and credentials for the MySQL database

Sample Config File (sapsuccessfactors-mysql.yml)

in:
	type: jdbc
	driver_path: C:\Program Files\CData[product_name] 20xx\lib\cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactors.jar
	driver_class: cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactors.SAPSuccessFactorsDriver
	url: jdbc:sapsuccessfactors:User=username;Password=password;CompanyId=CompanyId;Url=https://api4.successfactors.com;
	table: "ExtAddressInfo"
out: 
	type: mysql
	host: localhost
	database: DatabaseName
	user: UserId
	password: UserPassword
	table: "ExtAddressInfo"
	mode: insert

After creating the file, run the Embulk job.

embulk run sapsuccessfactors-mysql.yml

After running the the Embulk job, find the Salesforce data in the MySQL table.

Load Filtered SAP SuccessFactors Data

In addition to loading data directly from a table, you can use a custom SQL query to have more granular control of the data loaded. You can also perform increment loads by setting a last updated column in a SQL WHERE clause in the query field.

in:
	type: jdbc
	driver_path: C:\Program Files\CData[product_name] 20xx\lib\cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactors.jar
	driver_class: cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactors.SAPSuccessFactorsDriver
	url: jdbc:sapsuccessfactors:User=username;Password=password;CompanyId=CompanyId;Url=https://api4.successfactors.com;
	query: "SELECT address1, zipCode FROM ExtAddressInfo WHERE [RecordId] = 1"
out: 
	type: mysql
	host: localhost
	database: DatabaseName
	user: UserId
	password: UserPassword
	table: "ExtAddressInfo"
	mode: insert

More Information & Free Trial

By using CData JDBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors as a connector, Embulk can integrate SAP SuccessFactors data into your data load jobs. And with drivers for more than 200+ other enterprise sources, you can integrate any enterprise SaaS, big data, or NoSQL source as well. Download a 30-day free trial and get started today.