Excel Spreadsheet Automation on SAP SuccessFactors LMS Data with the QUERY Formula

The CData Excel Add-In for SAP SuccessFactors LMS provides formulas that can query SAP SuccessFactors LMS data. The following three steps show how you can automate the following task: Search SAP SuccessFactors LMS data for a user-specified value and then organize the results into an Excel spreadsheet.

The syntax of the CDATAQUERY formula is the following:

=CDATAQUERY(Query, [Connection], [Parameters], [ResultLocation]);

This formula requires three inputs:

• Query: The declaration of the SAP SuccessFactors LMS data records you want to retrieve, written in standard SQL.

• Connection: Either the connection name, such as SAPSuccessFactorsLMSConnection1, or a connection string. The connection string consists of the required properties for connecting to SAP SuccessFactors LMS data, separated by semicolons.

  SAP SuccessFactors LMS uses OAuth authentication. Before connecting, you must configure an OAuth application tied to your SAP SuccessFactors LMS account.

  To establish a connection, set the following properties:

  • User: Your SAP SuccessFactors LMS username.
  • CompanyId: Your SAP SuccessFactors company identifier.
  • Url: The SAP SuccessFactors API URL (e.g., https://api4.successfactors.com).
  • OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  • OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

  See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to creating a custom OAuth app and using OAuth.

• ResultLocation: The cell that the output of results should start from.

Pass Spreadsheet Cells as Inputs to the Query

The procedure below results in a spreadsheet that organizes all the formula inputs in the first column.

1. Define cells for the formula inputs. In addition to the connection inputs, add another input to define a criterion for a filter to be used to search SAP SuccessFactors LMS data, such as Active.
2. In another cell, write the formula, referencing the cell values from the user input cells defined above. Single quotes are used to enclose values such as addresses that may contain spaces.

=CDATAQUERY("SELECT * FROM Items WHERE Active = '"&B5&"'","User="&B1&";CompanyId="&B2&";Url="&B3&";InitiateOAuth="&B4&";Provider=SAPSuccessFactorsLMS",B6)


3. Change the filter to change the data.