Connect to SAP SuccessFactors Data in RapidMiner

This article shows how you can easily integrate the CData JDBC driver for SAP SuccessFactors into your processes in RapidMiner. This article uses the CData JDBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors to transfer SAP SuccessFactors data to a process in RapidMiner.

Connect to SAP SuccessFactors in RapidMiner as a JDBC Data Source

You can follow the procedure below to establish a JDBC connection to SAP SuccessFactors:

1. Add a new database driver for SAP SuccessFactors: Click Connections -> Manage Database Drivers.
2. In the resulting wizard, click the Add button and enter a name for the connection.
3. Enter the prefix for the JDBC URL:

   jdbc:sapsuccessfactors:
   

4. Enter the path to the cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactors.jar file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
5. Enter the driver class:

   cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactors.SAPSuccessFactorsDriver
   

   👁 The JDBC driver configuration. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
6. Create a new SAP SuccessFactors connection: Click Connections -> Manage Database Connections.
7. Enter a name for your connection.
8. For Database System, select the SAP SuccessFactors driver you configured previously.
9. Enter your connection string in the Host box.

   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.)
   

   A typical connection string is below:

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

10. Enter your username and password if necessary. 👁 The connection to the JDBC data source. (Salesforce is shown.)
    

You can now use your SAP SuccessFactors connection with the various RapidMiner operators in your process. To retrieve SAP SuccessFactors data, drag the Retrieve operator from the Operators view. 👁 A Retrieve operation to select data. (Salesforce is shown.)
With the Retrieve operator selected, you can then define which table to retrieve in the Parameters view by clicking the folder icon next to the "repository entry." In the resulting Repository Browser, you can expand your connection node to select the desired example set.

Finally, wire the output to the Retrieve process to a result, and run the process to see the SAP SuccessFactors data.