Search External UKG Pro HCM Objects in Salesforce Connect

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use CData Connect AI to securely provide OData feeds of UKG Pro HCM data to smart devices and cloud-based applications. Use the CData Connect and Salesforce Connect to create UKG Pro HCM Data objects that you can access from apps and the dashboard.

CData Connect AI, enables you to access UKG Pro HCM data from cloud-based applications like the Salesforce console and mobile applications like the Salesforce Mobile App. In this article, you will use CData Connect AI and Salesforce Connect to access external UKG Pro HCM objects alongside standard Salesforce objects.

Connect to UKG Pro HCM from Salesforce

To work with live UKG Pro HCM data in Salesforce Connect, we need to connect to UKG Pro HCM from Connect AI, provide user access to the connection, and create a Workspace for the UKG Pro HCM data.

Connect to UKG Pro HCM from Connect AI

CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
  2. Adding a Connection
  3. Select "UKG Pro HCM" from the Add Connection panel
  4. Selecting a data source
  5. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to UKG Pro HCM.

    Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the UKGProHCM Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\UKGProHCM.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for UKGProHCM (see below).

    UKGProHCM API Profile Settings

    UKG Pro HCM uses Basic authentication combined with a customer API key to authorize access to the API. To connect, you will need your UKG Pro HCM credentials and a customer API key issued by UKG.

    Set the following connection properties to authenticate:

    • AuthScheme: Set this to Basic.
    • User: Set this to your UKG Pro HCM username.
    • Password: Set this to your UKG Pro HCM password.
    • ProfileSettings: Set this to a semicolon-separated list containing:
      • Host: Your UKG Pro HCM tenant hostname (e.g., yourcompany.ultipro.com).
      • CustomerAPIKey: Your UKG customer API key. This is passed as the US-CUSTOMER-API-KEY request header on each API call.

    To obtain your customer API key, contact your UKG Pro HCM administrator or refer to the UKG Developer Portal at https://developer.ukg.com.

    Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  6. Click Save & Test
  7. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add UKG Pro HCM Connection page and update the User-based permissions. Updating permissions

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

  1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
  2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
  3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. Creating a new PAT
  4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Configure UKG Pro HCM Endpoints for Salesforce Connect

After connecting to UKG Pro HCM, create a workspace for your desired table(s).

  1. Navigate to the Workspaces page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace). The Workspaces page. Adding a new Workspace.
  2. Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
  3. Select the UKG Pro HCM connection (e.g. API1) and click Next. Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
  4. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm. Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
  5. Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}

With the connection, PAT, and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to UKG Pro HCM data from Salesforce Connect.

Connect to UKG Pro HCM Data as an External Data Sources

Follow the steps below to connect to the feed produced by Connect AI.

  1. Log into Salesforce and click Setup -> Integrations -> External Data Sources.
  2. Click Now External Data Sources.
  3. Enter values for the following properties:
    • External Data Sources: Enter a label to be used in list views and reports.
    • Name: Enter a unique identifier.
    • Type: Select the option "Salesforce Connect: OData 4.0".
    • URL: Enter the URL to the OData endpoint of Connect AI: https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}
  4. Select JSON in the Format menu.
  5. In the Authentication section, set the following properties:
    • Identity Type: If all members of your organization will use the same credentials to access Connect AI, select "Named Principal". If the members of your organization will connect with their own credentials, select "Per User".
    • Authentication Protocol: Select Password Authentication to use basic authentication.
    • Certificate: Enter or browse to the certificate to be used to encrypt and authenticate communications from Salesforce to your server.
    • Username: Enter a CData Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected]).
    • Password: Enter the user's PAT.
Configuration settings for the data source (NetSuite is shown)

Synchronize UKG Pro HCM Objects

After you have created the external data source, follow the steps below to create UKG Pro HCM external objects that reflect any changes in the data source. You will synchronize the definitions for the UKG Pro HCM external objects with the definitions for UKG Pro HCM tables.

  1. Click the link for the external data source you created.
  2. Click Validate and Scan.
  3. Select the UKG Pro HCM tables you want to work with as external objects.
Select external objects (NetSuite is shown)

Access UKG Pro HCM Data as Salesforce Objects

After adding UKG Pro HCM data as an external data source and syncing UKG Pro HCM tables as external objects, you can use the external UKG Pro HCM objects just as you would standard Salesforce objects.

  • Create a new tab with a filter list view:

    Viewing external objects from Salesforce (NetSuite is shown)
  • Create reports of external objects:

    Reporting on external objects from Salesforce (NetSuite is shown)

Simplified Access to UKG Pro HCM Data from Cloud Applications

At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live UKG Pro HCM data from Salesforce. For more information on gaining simplified access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources in cloud applications like Salesforce, refer to our Connect AI page.

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