Link Visio Shapes to SAP SuccessFactors Data

Automate the process of entering data into Visio diagrams and keeping your diagrams up to date with the CData ODBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors. The driver surfaces SAP SuccessFactors data as an ODBC data source that can be accessed by applications with built-in ODBC support like Microsoft Office. This article shows how to create a simple diagram to start brainstorming about Visio projects linked to SAP SuccessFactors data.

Connect to SAP SuccessFactors as an ODBC Data Source

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.

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.

Connect SAP SuccessFactors Data to Diagrams

Follow the steps below to use the Data Selector Wizard to import data into your diagram.

1. Open Visio and click File -> New. Open the Brainstorming template.
2. On the Data tab, click Link Data to Shapes.
3. Select the ODBC option and select ODBC DSN.
4. Select the DSN for SAP SuccessFactors, select the table you want to import, and finish the wizard. This article uses ExtAddressInfo as an example.

Link SAP SuccessFactors Entities to Shapes

Follow the steps below to create a simple diagram that shows how to create shapes from your data, one of the ways to link SAP SuccessFactors entities to shapes:

1. Click Brainstorming Shapes and drag a main topic onto the drawing page. Enter ExtAddressInfo as the text of the main topic.
2. Click Topic.
3. Select a row in the External Data window and drag it onto the drawing page.
4. Right-click the Topic shape and click Data -> Edit Data Graphic.
5. Click New Item.
6. In the Data Field menu, select a column. In the Displayed As menu, select how to display them.
7. Drag a few other SAP SuccessFactors entities onto the drawing page and add association lines back to the main topic, ExtAddressInfo. New topics have the same configuration: Numeric columns displayed in data bars stand out in contrast to other ExtAddressInfo entities.

You can refresh your diagram from the Data tab, synchronizing your shapes with the external SAP SuccessFactors data.