Build Workday-Connected ETL Processes in Google Data Fusion

Google Data Fusion allows users to perform self-service data integration to consolidate disparate data. Uploading the CData JDBC Driver for Workday enables users to access live Workday data from within their Google Data Fusion pipelines. While the CData JDBC Driver enables piping Workday data to any data source natively supported in Google Data Fusion, this article explains how to pipe data from Workday to Google BigQuery,

Getting Started

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Upload the CData JDBC Driver for Workday to Google Data Fusion

Upload the CData JDBC Driver for Workday to your Google Data Fusion instance to work with live Workday data. Due to the naming restrictions for JDBC drivers in Google Data Fusion, create a copy or rename the JAR file to match the following format driver-version.jar. For example: cdataworkday-2020.jar

1. Open your Google Data Fusion instance
2. Click the to add an entity and upload a driver 👁 Image
   
3. On the "Upload driver" tab, drag or browse to the renamed JAR file.
4. On the "Driver configuration" tab:
   • Name: Create a name for the driver (cdata.jdbc.workday) and make note of the name
   • Class name: Set the JDBC class name: (cdata.jdbc.workday.WorkdayDriver)
   👁 Configuring the driver (Salesforce is shown.)
   
5. Click "Finish"

Connect to Workday Data in Google Data Fusion

With the JDBC Driver uploaded, you are ready to work with live Workday data in Google Data Fusion Pipelines.

1. Navigate to the Pipeline Studio to create a new Pipeline
2. From the "Source" options, click "Database" to add a source for the JDBC Driver 👁 Adding a database source
   
3. Click "Properties" on the Database source to edit the properties

   NOTE: To use the JDBC Driver in Google Data Fusion, you will need a license (full or trial) and a Runtime Key (RTK). For more information on obtaining this license (or a trial), contact our sales team.

   • Set the Label
   • Set Reference Name to a value for any future references (i.e.: cdata-workday)
   • Set Plugin Type to "jdbc"
   • Set Connection String to the JDBC URL for Workday. For example:
     
     jdbc:workday:RTK=5246...;User=myuser;Password=mypassword;Tenant=mycompany_gm1;BaseURL=https://wd3-impl-services1.workday.com;ConnectionType=WQL;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

     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.

     API	ConnectionType Value
     WQL	WQL
     Reports as a Service	Reports
     REST	REST
     SOAP	SOAP

     
     

     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.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

      java -jar cdata.jdbc.workday.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.)
     
   • Set Import Query to a SQL query that will extract the data you want from Workday, i.e.:
     SELECT * FROM Workers
   👁 Configuring the database source
   
4. From the "Sink" tab, click to add a destination sink (we use Google BigQuery in this example)
5. Click "Properties" on the BigQuery sink to edit the properties
   • Set the Label
   • Set Reference Name to a value like workday-bigquery
   • Set Project ID to a specific Google BigQuery Project ID (or leave as the default, "auto-detect")
   • Set Dataset to a specific Google BigQuery dataset
   • Set Table to the name of the table you wish to insert Workday data into
   👁 Configuring the BigQuery sink
   

With the Source and Sink configured, you are ready to pipe Workday data into Google BigQuery. Save and deploy the pipeline. When you run the pipeline, Google Data Fusion will request live data from Workday and import it into Google BigQuery. 👁 Image

While this is a simple pipeline, you can create more complex Workday pipelines with transforms, analytics, conditions, and more. Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Workday and start working with your live Workday data in Google Data Fusion today.