How to integrate Metabase with ADP Data

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live ADP data. This article describes how to connect to ADP and build a simple visualization using ADP data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for ADP, allowing you to easily integrate with live ADP data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to ADP, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return ADP data.

Configure ADP Connectivity for Metabase

Connectivity to ADP from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with ADP data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a ADP connection.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "ADP" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to ADP.

   Connect to ADP by specifying the following properties:

   • SSLClientCert: Set this to the certificate provided during registration.
   • SSLClientCertPassword: Set this to the password of the certificate.
   • UseUAT: The connector makes requests to the production environment by default. If using a developer account, set UseUAT = true.
   • RowScanDepth: The maximum number of rows to scan for the custom fields columns available in the table. The default value will be set to 100. Setting a high value may decrease performance.

   The connector uses OAuth to authenticate with ADP. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with ADP using the browser. For more information, refer to the OAuth section in the Help documentation.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add ADP Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
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, you are ready to connect to ADP data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect from Metabase

After creating the virtual database, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
2. Configure the connection to Connect Cloud and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "ADP (Connect Cloud)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. ADP1)
   • Username: A Connect Cloud username (e.g. user@mydomain.com)
   • Password: The PAT for the above Connect Cloud user
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)

Execute ADP Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect Cloud, you can query ADP and build visualizations.

1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the ADP data
2. Write a SQL query based on the ADP connection in CData Connect Cloud, e.g.
   
   

   SELECT AssociateOID, WorkerID FROM Workers WHERE AssociateOID = 'G3349PZGBADQY8H8'

3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have built a simple visualization from ADP data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live ADP data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to ADP (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live ADP data in Metabase today.