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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/workday-cloud-zoho-analytics.rst

⇱ Build Workday-Connected Dashboards Using Zoho Analytics

Build Workday-Connected Dashboards Using Zoho Analytics

👁 Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use CData Connect AI to connect to Workday Data from Zoho Analytics and import live Workday data.

Zoho Analytics is a modern BI and Analytics platform that allows you to connect and analyze your data, while also creating visualizations and dashboards to discover hidden insights. When paired with CData Connect AI, Zoho Analytics provides instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Workday data for reporting and analytics. This article demonstrates how to connect to Workday using Connect AI and analyze Workday data by creating dashboards in Zoho Analytics.

CData Connect AI provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Workday, allowing you to analyze Workday data in Zoho Analytics — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Workday, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Workday data quickly.

About Workday Data Integration

CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from Workday. Customers use CData connectivity to:

  • Access the tables and datasets you create in Prism Analytics Data Catalog, working with the native Workday data hub without compromising the fidelity of your Workday system.
  • Access Workday Reports-as-a-Service to surface data from departmental datasets not available from Prism and datasets larger than Prism allows.
  • Access base data objects with WQL, REST, or SOAP, getting more granular, detailed access but with the potential need for Workday admins or IT to help craft queries.

Users frequently integrate Workday with analytics tools such as Tableau, Power BI, and Excel, and leverage our tools to replicate Workday data to databases or data warehouses. Access is secured at the user level, based on the authenticated user's identity and role.

For more information on configuring Workday to work with CData, refer to our Knowledge Base articles: Comprehensive Workday Connectivity through Workday WQL and Reports-as-a-Service & Workday + CData: Connection & Integration Best Practices.


Getting Started


Configure Workday Connectivity for Zoho Analytics

Connectivity to Workday from Zoho Analytics is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Workday data from Zoho Analytics, we start by creating and configuring a Workday connection.

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
    2. 👁 Adding a Connection
  2. Select "Workday" from the Add Connection panel
    3. 👁 Selecting a data source
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Workday.

    To connect to Workday, users need to find the Tenant and BaseURL and then select their API type.

    Obtaining the BaseURL and Tenant

    To obtain the BaseURL and Tenant properties, log into Workday and search for "View API Clients." On this screen, you'll find the Workday REST API Endpoint, a URL that includes both the BaseURL and Tenant.

    The format of the REST API Endpoint is: https://domain.com/subdirectories/mycompany, where:

    • https://domain.com/subdirectories/ is the BaseURL.
    • mycompany (the portion of the url after the very last slash) is the Tenant.
    For example, in the REST API endpoint https://wd3-impl-services1.workday.com/ccx/api/v1/mycompany, the BaseURL is https://wd3-impl-services1.workday.com and the Tenant is mycompany.

    Using ConnectionType to Select the API

    The value you use for the ConnectionType property determines which Workday API you use. See our Community Article for more information on Workday connectivity options and best practices.

    APIConnectionType Value
    WQLWQL
    Reports as a ServiceReports
    RESTREST
    SOAPSOAP

    Authentication

    Your method of authentication depends on which API you are using.

    • WQL, Reports as a Service, REST: Use OAuth authentication.
    • SOAP: Use Basic or OAuth authentication.

    See the Help documentation for more information on configuring OAuth with Workday.

    👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  4. Click Save & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Workday Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

  1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
  2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
  3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
  4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Workday data from Zoho Analytics.

Connect to Workday in Zoho Analytics Using CData Connect AI

To establish a connection from Zoho Analytics to CData Connect AI, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to Zoho Analytics.
    2. 👁 Logging into Zoho Analytics
  2. Create a new connection and select Cloud Databases to open the connection modal.
    3. 👁 Creating a new connection
  3. Enter the following information:
    • Database Type - select MS SQL Server.
    • Endpoint - enter tds.cdata.com
    • SQL Server Instance Name - leave this blank.
    • Port - enter 14333
    • Username - enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected].
    • Password - enter the PAT you generated.
    • Database Name - enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, Workday1).
    • Click Next.
      • 👁 Displaying configuration settings
  4. Choose the table that you would like to import from, e.g. Workers.
    5. 👁 Choosing table to import
  5. A Data Preview of the table should pop up. Next, enter a Workspace Name and Table Name to be able to refer to in Zoho Analytics. Click Next.
    6. 👁 Displaying data preview
  6. There is an option to schedule the import periodically. After configuring, click Create.
    7. 👁 Scheduling the import
  7. Now, the import has been initiated. Click OK.
    8. 👁 Initiating the import
  8. View your new connection in the Zoho Analytics Explorer.
    9. 👁 Viewing new connection
  9. Click on the new connection to see the table.
    10. 👁 Viewing the table
  10. Zoho Analytics can auto-generate dashboards for the user, as seen here:
    11. 👁 Auto-generating a dashboard

We have successfully imported Workday data into Zoho Analytics and created dashboards.

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