Use ChatGPT to Talk to Your Workday Data via CData Connect AI
ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, launched in November 2022. Based on large language models (LLMs), it enables users to refine and steer conversations through natural language processing. ChatGPT's developer mode, available to Plus and Pro subscribers, provides full Model Context Protocol (MCP) support for connecting to external data sources and tools.
CData Connect AI offers a dedicated cloud-to-cloud interface for connecting to Workday data. The CData Connect AI Remote MCP Server enables secure communication between ChatGPT and Workday. This allows you to ask questions and take actions on your Workday data using ChatGPT, all without the need for data replication to a natively supported database. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, directly to Workday. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly deliver the requested Workday data.
About Workday Data Integration
CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from Workday. Customers use CData connectivity to:
- Access the tables and datasets you create in Prism Analytics Data Catalog, working with the native Workday data hub without compromising the fidelity of your Workday system.
- Access Workday Reports-as-a-Service to surface data from departmental datasets not available from Prism and datasets larger than Prism allows.
- Access base data objects with WQL, REST, or SOAP, getting more granular, detailed access but with the potential need for Workday admins or IT to help craft queries.
Users frequently integrate Workday with analytics tools such as Tableau, Power BI, and Excel, and leverage our tools to replicate Workday data to databases or data warehouses. Access is secured at the user level, based on the authenticated user's identity and role.
For more information on configuring Workday to work with CData, refer to our Knowledge Base articles: Comprehensive Workday Connectivity through Workday WQL and Reports-as-a-Service & Workday + CData: Connection & Integration Best Practices.
Getting Started
Step 1: Configure Workday Connectivity for ChatGPT
Connectivity to Workday from ChatGPT is made possible through CData Connect AI Remote MCP. To interact with Workday data from ChatGPT, we start by creating and configuring a Workday connection in CData Connect AI.
- Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
- Select "Workday" from the Add Connection panel
-
Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Workday.
To connect to Workday, users need to find the Tenant and BaseURL and then select their API type.
Obtaining the BaseURL and Tenant
To obtain the BaseURL and Tenant properties, log into Workday and search for "View API Clients." On this screen, you'll find the Workday REST API Endpoint, a URL that includes both the BaseURL and Tenant.
The format of the REST API Endpoint is: https://domain.com/subdirectories/mycompany, where:
- https://domain.com/subdirectories/ is the BaseURL.
- mycompany (the portion of the url after the very last slash) is the Tenant.
Using ConnectionType to Select the API
The value you use for the ConnectionType property determines which Workday API you use. See our Community Article for more information on Workday connectivity options and best practices.
API ConnectionType Value WQL WQL Reports as a Service Reports REST REST SOAP SOAP
Authentication
Your method of authentication depends on which API you are using.
- WQL, Reports as a Service, REST: Use OAuth authentication.
- SOAP: Use Basic or OAuth authentication.
See the Help documentation for more information on configuring OAuth with Workday.
- Click Save & Test
With the connection configured, we are ready to connect to Workday data from ChatGPT.
Step 2: Connect ChatGPT to CData Connect AI
Follow these steps to add a CData Connect AI connector in ChatGPT:
- Sign in to ChatGPT with a Plus or Pro subscription.
- Navigate to Settings > Connectors.
- Under the "Advanced settings" section, toggle on Developer mode.
- Once developer mode is enabled, return to the Connectors page and click Create.
- Enter a name for the connector (such as Connect AI MCP).
- In the Remote MCP server URL field, enter:
https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp
- Set Authentication to "OAuth."
- Check I trust this application and click Create
- You will be redirected to CData Connect AI's OAuth authorization page. Sign in with your Connect AI credentials.
- Review the permissions requested and click Authorize to grant ChatGPT access to your Connect AI resources.
- After successful authorization, you will be redirected back to ChatGPT.
- The Connect AI MCP Server will now appear in your available connectors list where you can manage the connector and enable/disable actions (tools).
Step 3: Explore Live Workday Data with ChatGPT
- Start a new conversation in ChatGPT.
- In the tool picker, enable "Developer Mode."
- Enable your Connect AI MCP Sever.
- You can now start exploring your data with natural language prompts. ChatGPT will use the Connect AI MCP server to query your live Workday data. Example prompts:
- "Show me all customers from the last 30 days"
- "What are my top performing products?"
- "Analyze sales trends for this quarter"
- "List all active projects and their current status"
- ChatGPT will translate your natural language queries into SQL and execute them against your Workday data through the Connect AI MCP server.
IMPORTANT: ChatGPT's developer mode provides full read/write MCP access. Be cautious when allowing write operations to your Workday data. Always review and confirm any data modifications before allowing them to proceed.
NOTE: Developer mode is in beta and only available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers. Refer to OpenAI's documentation for the latest setup information.
Get CData Connect AI
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