How to publish and share UKG Pro WFM Data dashboards with Tableau Server

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
The CData ODBC driver for UKG Pro WFM enables you integrate UKG Pro WFM data into Tableau dashboards.

Integrate connectivity to UKG Pro WFM data into your enterprise reporting capabilities. The CData ODBC Driver for UKG Pro WFM enables you to access live UKG Pro WFM data in business intelligence tools like Tableau Server. Connectivity to UKG Pro WFM APIs enables you to monitor changes to your data in real time. Other members of your organization can access your dashboards from a Web browser and get updates from their mobile phone.

This article explains how to configure a DSN on the client and server machines, publish a data source for UKG Pro WFM to Tableau Server, and publish an entire Workbook to Tableau Server (including the data source). If you publish a data source, you will be able to create new, refreshable workbooks in Tableau Server.

Connect to UKG Pro WFM as an ODBC Data Source

To create a data source or workbook in Tableau Desktop and publish the data source or workbook to Tableau server, you will need to configure a DSN on each machine (Desktop and Server), specifying connection properties and creating DSNs using the same name on each machine. Information for connecting to UKG Pro WFM follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

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

UKGProWFM API Profile Settings

UKG Pro Workforce Management uses OAuth 2.0 with the Resource Owner Password Credentials grant (grant_type=password) to authorize access to the API. Unlike most OAuth-based profiles, this does not use a browser redirect/authorization-code step: the driver exchanges your UKG Pro WFM username, password, client ID, and client secret directly for an access token.

Set the following connection properties to authenticate:

  • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuthPassword.
  • Host: Set this to the hostname of your UKG Pro Workforce Management datacenter/tenant (for example, yourcompany.mykronos.com). Do not include the protocol (https://) or a trailing slash.
  • OAuthClientId: Set this to the client ID issued for your UKG Pro Workforce Management OAuth application.
  • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client secret issued for your UKG Pro Workforce Management OAuth application.
  • User: Set this to your UKG Pro Workforce Management username.
  • Password: Set this to your UKG Pro Workforce Management password.

Access tokens are obtained from https://{Host}/api/authentication/access_token. Refresh tokens issued by UKG Pro Workforce Management expire after 7 days; if a refresh attempt fails because the refresh token itself has expired, the driver must re-authenticate with your User/Password credentials to obtain a new access token.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Windows

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for UKG Pro WFM on Windows, DSN configuration is the last step of the driver installation. If you already have the driver installed, or you wish to configure new DSNs, you can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for UKG Pro WFM in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini


[CData API Source]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for UKG Pro WFM
Description = My Description
Profile = C:\profiles\UKGProWFM.apip
AuthScheme = OAuthPassword
ProfileSettings = 'Host = yourcompany.mykronos.com
User = your_username
Password = your_password
'
OAuthClientId = your_client_id
OAuthClientSecret = your_client_secret

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Publish the UKG Pro WFM Data Source to Tableau Server

With the connections to UKG Pro WFM data configured, you are ready to publish a UKG Pro WFM data source on Tableau, ready to be leveraged by users in your organization to create workbooks based on UKG Pro WFM data.

Create and Publish a Data Source

  1. In the Connect pane, click More -> Other Databases (ODBC). Select CData API Sys, the system DSN.

    The driver installation automatically creates matching user and system DSNs: The system DSN is needed to connect from Tableau Server.

    The connection to the DSN. (Salesforce is shown.)
  2. In the Database menu, select CData.
  3. In the Table box, enter a table name or click New Custom SQL to enter an SQL query.
  4. Drag the table onto the join area. A connection to a single table. (Salesforce is shown.)
  5. From the Server menu, click Publish Data Source -> (YOUR DATA SOURCE).
  6. Enter the URL to the server. For most instances, you will authenticate with the Tableau Server username and password. Other authentication scenarios can be found below:
    • If Tableau is configured to use Kerberos and your computer has valid Active Directory credentials, Tableau connects to the server.
    • If Tableau is configured to use SAML, a login prompt for your external identity provider is displayed.
    • If Tableau is configured to use Active Directory, enter your Windows username and password.
  7. In the resulting dialog, set the Project, Data Source, and other properties. If you want to schedule refreshes, select Embedded Password in the Authentication menu. Click Publish.

You and other users in your organization can now create and share workbooks based on the published data source.

Connectivity to your data source from the Web authoring environment in Tableau Server. (Salesforce is shown.)

Refresh Workbooks

With a system DSN configured on the client (Tableau Desktop) machine and server (Tableau Server) machine, you can refresh workbooks connected to the UKG Pro WFM data source. From the Web interface for Tableau Sever, click Data -> (YOUR DATA SOURCE) -> Refresh.

Refresh the data extract on demand from Tableau Desktop. (Salesforce is shown.)

Publish a Completed Workbook with UKG Pro WFM Data to Tableau Server

If you have a specific Workbook that you wish to share with your organization, you can create the Workbook on Tableau Desktop and publish the Workbook directly to Tableau Server.

  1. To connect to UKG Pro WFM and select data, follow steps 1-5 above. A connection to a single table. (Salesforce is shown.)
  2. Click Server -> Sign in and configure the connection to the server. For most instances, you will authenticate with the Tableau Server username and password. Other authentication scenarios can be found below:
    • If Tableau is configured to use Kerberos and your computer has valid Active Directory credentials, Tableau connects to the server.
    • If Tableau is configured to use SAML, a login prompt for your external identity provider is displayed.
    • If Tableau is configured to use Active Directory, enter your Windows username and password.
  3. With the data selected, select dimensions and measures to visualize and select a type of chart or graph to build your visualization(s).
  4. Once the Workbook is complete, click Server -> Publish Workbook to publish the Workbook to Tableau Server.
  5. In the resulting dialog, set the Project, Name, Description and other properties. If you want to schedule refreshes, click Edit under Data Sources and change the Authentication option to Embedded Password. Click Publish.

You and other users in your organization can now review the published workbook from Tableau Server.

Connectivity to your published Workbook from the Web authoring environment in Tableau Server. (Salesforce is shown.)

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from UKG Pro WFM with the API Driver

Connect to UKG Pro WFM