PowerShell Scripting to Replicate Workday Data to MySQL

The CData Cmdlets for Workday offer live access to Workday data from within PowerShell. Using PowerShell scripts, you can easily automate regular tasks like data replication. This article will walk through using the CData Cmdlets for Workday and the CData Cmdlets for MySQL in PowerShell to replicate Workday data to a MySQL database.

Getting Started

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After obtaining the needed connection properties, accessing Workday data in PowerShell and preparing for replication consists of four basic steps.

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.

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.

Collecting Workday Data

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module WorkdayCmdlets

2. Connect to Workday:

    $workday = Connect-Workday -User $User -Password $Password -Tenant $Tenant -BaseURL $BaseURL -ConnectionType $ConnectionType -InitiateOAuth $InitiateOAuth
    

3. Retrieve the data from a specific resource:

    $data = Select-Workday -Connection $workday -Table "Workers"
    

   You can also use the Invoke-Workday cmdlet to execute pure SQL-92 statements:

    $data = Invoke-Workday -Connection $workday -Query 'SELECT * FROM Workers WHERE Legal_Name_Last_Name = @Legal_Name_Last_Name' -Params @{'@Legal_Name_Last_Name'='Morgan'}
    

4. Save a list of the column names from the returned data.

    $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name
    

Inserting Workday Data into the MySQL Database

With the data and column names collected, you are ready to replicate the data into a MySQL database.

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module MySQLCmdlets

2. Connect to MySQL, using the server address and port of the MySQL server, valid user credentials, and a specific database with the table in which the data will be replicated:

    $mysql = Connect-MySQL -User $User -Password $Password -Database $Database -Server $Server -Port $Port
    

3. Loop through the Workday data, store the values, and use the Add-MySQL cmdlet to insert the data into the MySQL database, one row at a time. In this example, the table will need to have the same name as the Workday resource (Workers) and to exist in the database.

    $data | % {
    $row = $_
    $values = @()
    $columns | % {
    $col = $_
    $values += $row.$($col)
    }
    Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Workers" -Columns $columns -Values $values
    }
    

You have now replicated your Workday data to a MySQL database. This gives you freedom to work with Workday data in the same way that you work with other MySQL tables, whether that is performing analytics, building reports, or other business functions.

Notes

• Once you have connected to Workday and MySQL in PowerShell, you can pipe command results to perform the replication in a single line:

   Select-Workday -Connection $workday -Table "Workers" | % {
   $row = $_
   $values = @()
   $columns | % {
   $col = $_
   $values += $row.$($col)
   }
   Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Workers" -Columns $columns -Values $values
   }
   

• If you wish to replicate the Workday data to another database using another PowerShell module, you will want to exclude the Columns, Connection, and Table columns from the data returned by the Select-Workday cmdlet since those columns are used to help pipe data from one CData cmdlet to another:

   $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name | ? {$_ -NotIn @('Columns','Connection','Table')}