ETL SAP SuccessFactors LMS in Oracle Data Integrator

Leverage existing skills by using the JDBC standard to connect to SAP SuccessFactors LMS: Through drop-in integration into ETL tools like Oracle Data Integrator (ODI), the CData JDBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors LMS connects real-time SAP SuccessFactors LMS data to your data warehouse, business intelligence, and Big Data technologies.

JDBC connectivity enables you to work with SAP SuccessFactors LMS just as you would any other database in ODI. As with an RDBMS, you can use the driver to connect directly to the SAP SuccessFactors LMS APIs in real time instead of working with flat files.

This article walks through a JDBC-based ETL -- SAP SuccessFactors LMS to Oracle. After reverse engineering a data model of SAP SuccessFactors LMS entities, you will create a mapping and select a data loading strategy -- since the driver supports SQL-92, this last step can easily be accomplished by selecting the built-in SQL to SQL Loading Knowledge Module.

Install the Driver

To install the driver, copy the driver JAR (cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactorslms.jar) and .lic file (cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactorslms.lic), located in the installation folder, into the ODI appropriate directory:

• UNIX/Linux without Agent: ~/.odi/oracledi/userlib
• UNIX/Linux with Agent: ~/.odi/oracledi/userlib and $ODI_HOME/odi/agent/lib
• Windows without Agent: %APPDATA%\Roaming\odi\oracledi\userlib
• Windows with Agent: %APPDATA%\odi\oracledi\userlib and %APPDATA%\odi\agent\lib

Restart ODI to complete the installation.

Reverse Engineer a Model

Reverse engineering the model retrieves metadata about the driver's relational view of SAP SuccessFactors LMS data. After reverse engineering, you can query real-time SAP SuccessFactors LMS data and create mappings based on SAP SuccessFactors LMS tables.

1. In ODI, connect to your repository and click New -> Model and Topology Objects.
2. On the Model screen of the resulting dialog, enter the following information:
   • Name: Enter SAPSuccessFactorsLMS.
   • Technology: Select Generic SQL (for ODI Version 12.2+, select Microsoft SQL Server).
   • Logical Schema: Enter SAPSuccessFactorsLMS.
   • Context: Select Global.
   
3. On the Data Server screen of the resulting dialog, enter the following information:
   • Name: Enter SAPSuccessFactorsLMS.
   • Driver List: Select Oracle JDBC Driver.
   • Driver: Enter cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactorslms.SAPSuccessFactorsLMSDriver
   • URL: Enter the JDBC URL containing the connection string.

     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.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

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

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.sapsuccessfactorslms.jar
     

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

     

     Below is a typical connection string:

     jdbc:sapsuccessfactorslms:User=username;CompanyId=CompanyId;Url=https://api4.successfactors.com;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;
     

   
4. On the Physical Schema screen, enter the following information:
   • Name: Select from the Drop Down menu.
   • Database (Catalog): Enter CData.
   • Owner (Schema): If you select a Schema for SAP SuccessFactors LMS, enter the Schema selected, otherwise enter SAPSuccessFactorsLMS.
   • Database (Work Catalog): Enter CData.
   • Owner (Work Schema): If you select a Schema for SAP SuccessFactors LMS, enter the Schema selected, otherwise enter SAPSuccessFactorsLMS.
   
5. In the opened model click Reverse Engineer to retrieve the metadata for SAP SuccessFactors LMS tables.

Edit and Save SAP SuccessFactors LMS Data

After reverse engineering you can now work with SAP SuccessFactors LMS data in ODI. To view SAP SuccessFactors LMS data, expand the Models accordion in the Designer navigator, right-click a table, and click View data.

Create an ETL Project

Follow the steps below to create an ETL from SAP SuccessFactors LMS. You will load Items entities into the sample data warehouse included in the ODI Getting Started VM.

1. Open SQL Developer and connect to your Oracle database. Right-click the node for your database in the Connections pane and click new SQL Worksheet.

   Alternatively you can use SQLPlus. From a command prompt enter the following:

   sqlplus / as sysdba
   

2. Enter the following query to create a new target table in the sample data warehouse, which is in the ODI_DEMO schema. The following query defines a few columns that match the Items table in SAP SuccessFactors LMS:

   CREATE TABLE ODI_DEMO.TRG_ITEMS (ITEMTITLE NUMBER(20,0),ItemID VARCHAR2(255));
   

3. In ODI expand the Models accordion in the Designer navigator and double-click the Sales Administration node in the ODI_DEMO folder. The model is opened in the Model Editor.
4. Click Reverse Engineer. The TRG_ITEMS table is added to the model.
5. Right-click the Mappings node in your project and click New Mapping. Enter a name for the mapping and clear the Create Empty Dataset option. The Mapping Editor is displayed.
6. Drag the TRG_ITEMS table from the Sales Administration model onto the mapping.
7. Drag the Items table from the SAP SuccessFactors LMS model onto the mapping.
8. Click the source connector point and drag to the target connector point. The Attribute Matching dialog is displayed. For this example, use the default options. The target expressions are then displayed in the properties for the target columns.
9. Open the Physical tab of the Mapping Editor and click ITEMS_AP in TARGET_GROUP.
10. In the ITEMS_AP properties, select LKM SQL to SQL (Built-In) on the Loading Knowledge Module tab.

You can then run the mapping to load SAP SuccessFactors LMS data into Oracle.