How to Visualize Zenefits Data in Python with pandas

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData API Driver for Python, the pandas & Matplotlib modules, and the SQLAlchemy toolkit, you can build Zenefits-connected Python applications and scripts for visualizing Zenefits data. This article shows how to use the pandas, SQLAlchemy, and Matplotlib built-in functions to connect to Zenefits data, execute queries, and visualize the results.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Zenefits data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from Zenefits, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Zenefits and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to Zenefits Data

Connecting to Zenefits data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

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

Zenefits API Profile Settings

In order to authenticate to Zenefits, you'll need to provide your API Key. To create an API Key, from your account head over to Company Overview > Custom Integrations, then besides Rest API Access select Add Token. Set the API Key in the ProfileSettings property to connect.

Follow the procedure below to install the required modules and start accessing Zenefits through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the pandas & Matplotlib modules and the SQLAlchemy toolkit:

pip install pandas
pip install matplotlib
pip install sqlalchemy

Be sure to import the module with the following:

import pandas
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from sqlalchemy import create_engine

Visualize Zenefits Data in Python

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the create_engine function to create an Engine for working with Zenefits data.

engine = create_engine("api:///?Profile=C:\profiles\Zenefits.apip&ProfileSettings='APIKey=my_api_token'")

Execute SQL to Zenefits

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the resultset in a DataFrame.

df = pandas.read_sql("SELECT Id, Title FROM People WHERE Status = 'active'", engine)

Visualize Zenefits Data

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, use the plot function to build a chart to display the Zenefits data. The show method displays the chart in a new window.

df.plot(kind="bar", x="Id", y="Title")
plt.show()

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for Python to start building Python apps and scripts with connectivity to Zenefits data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Full Source Code

import pandas
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from sqlalchemy import create_engin

engine = create_engine("api:///?Profile=C:\profiles\Zenefits.apip&ProfileSettings='APIKey=my_api_token'")
df = pandas.read_sql("SELECT Id, Title FROM People WHERE Status = 'active'", engine)

df.plot(kind="bar", x="Id", y="Title")
plt.show()