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Try them now for free →How to connect and process Workday data from Azure Databricks
Use CData, Azure, and Databricks to perform data engineering and data science on live Workday data.
Databricks is a cloud-based service that provides data processing capabilities through Apache Spark. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver, customers can use Databricks to perform data engineering and data science on live Workday data. This article walks through hosting the CData JDBC Driver in Azure, as well as connecting to and processing live Workday data in Databricks.
With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Workday data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Workday, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Workday and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Workday data using native data types.
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
Install the CData JDBC Driver in Azure
To work with live Workday data in Databricks, install the driver through Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS). (Please note that the method of connecting through DBFS, which previous versions of this article described, has been deprecated, but has not published an end-of-life.)
- Upload the JDBC JAR file to a blob container of your choice (i.e. "jdbcjars" container of the "databrickslibraries" storage account).
- Fetch the Account Key from the storage account by expanding "Security + networking" and clicking on "Access Keys". Show and copy whichever of the two keys you wish to use.
- Get the JDBC JAR file's URL by navigating to Containers, opening the specific container storing the JAR, and selecting the entry for the JDBC JAR file. This should open the file's details, where there should be a convenient button to copy the URL button to clipboard. This value will look similar to the below, though the "blob" component may vary depending on storage account type:
https://databrickslibraries.blob.core.windows.net/jdbcjars/cdata.jdbc.salesforce.jar
- In the Configuration tab of your Databricks cluster, click on the Edit button and expand "Advanced options". From there, add the following Spark option (derived from the JAR URL's domain name) with your copied Account key as its value and click Confirm:
spark.hadoop.fs.azure.account.key.databrickslibraries.blob.core.windows.net
- In the Libraries tab of your Databricks cluster, click on "Install new", and select the ADLS option. Specify the ABFSS URL for the driver JAR (also derived from the JAR URL's domain name), and click Install. The ABFSS URL should resemble the below:
abfss://[email protected]/cdata.jdbc.salesforce.jar
Connect to Workday from Databricks
With the JAR file installed, we are ready to work with live Workday data in Databricks. Start by creating a new notebook in your workspace. Name the workbook, make sure Python is selected as the language (which should be by default), click on Connect and under General Compute select the cluster where you installed the JDBC driver (should be selected by default).

Configure the Connection to Workday
Connect to Workday by referencing the class for the JDBC Driver and constructing a connection string to use in the JDBC URL. Additionally, you will need to set the RTK property in the JDBC URL (unless you are using a Beta driver). You can view the licensing file included in the installation for information on how to set this property.
driver = "cdata.jdbc.workday.WorkdayDriver" url = "jdbc:workday:RTK=5246...;User=myuser;Password=mypassword;Tenant=mycompany_gm1;BaseURL=https://wd3-impl-services1.workday.com;ConnectionType=WQL;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH"
Built-in Connection String Designer
For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Workday JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the JAR file from the command-line.
java -jar cdata.jdbc.workday.jar
Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.
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.

Load Workday Data
Once the connection is configured, you can load Workday data as a dataframe using the CData JDBC Driver and the connection information.
remote_table = spark.read.format ( "jdbc" ) \ .option ( "driver" , driver) \ .option ( "url" , url) \ .option ( "dbtable" , "Workers") \ .load ()
Display Workday Data
Check the loaded Workday data by calling the display function.
display (remote_table.select ("Worker_Reference_WID"))

Analyze Workday Data in Azure Databricks
If you want to process data with Databricks SparkSQL, register the loaded data as a Temp View.
remote_table.createOrReplaceTempView ( "SAMPLE_VIEW" )
The SparkSQL below retrieves the Workday data for analysis.
result = spark.sql("SELECT Worker_Reference_WID, Legal_Name_Last_Name FROM SAMPLE_VIEW WHERE Legal_Name_Last_Name = 'Morgan'")
The data from Workday is only available in the target notebook. If you want to use it with other users, save it as a table.
remote_table.write.format ( "parquet" ) .saveAsTable ( "SAMPLE_TABLE" )

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Workday and start working with your live Workday data in Azure Databricks. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.