Use the CData ODBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors, you gain database-like access to live SAP SuccessFactors data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding SAP SuccessFactors as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of SAP SuccessFactors data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live SAP SuccessFactors data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy 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 (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze SAP SuccessFactors data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to SAP SuccessFactors as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to SAP SuccessFactors follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

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.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData SAPSuccessFactors Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors
Description = My Description
User = username
Password = password
CompanyId = CompanyId
Url = https://api4.successfactors.com

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize SAP SuccessFactors Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting SAP SuccessFactors in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to SAP SuccessFactors in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add SAP SuccessFactors data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of SAP SuccessFactors data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData SAPSuccessFactors Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
👁 Creating a new data source for SAP SuccessFactors.

6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the SAP SuccessFactors data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM ExtAddressInfo
   

   👁 Querying SAP SuccessFactors for data.
   NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of SAP SuccessFactors data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to SAP SuccessFactors, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver. 👁 Visualize SAP SuccessFactors data.
   
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on SAP SuccessFactors data. Read our other articles on connecting to SAP SuccessFactors in MicroStrategy and connecting to SAP SuccessFactors in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.