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Connect to Workday Data in ACL Analytics
Connect to Workday data via CData Connect Cloud in ACL Analytics to run your data analysis workflows with real-time access to Workday data.
ACL Analytics, part of Diligent HighBond, is a powerful data analysis software primarily used for audit, risk management, and compliance. It enables professionals to examine and analyze large volumes of data to identify anomalies, trends, and potential risks or fraudulent activities.
CData Connect Cloud offers a dedicated cloud-to-cloud interface for Workday, enabling analytics directly from live Workday data within ACL Analytics, all without the need for data replication to a native database. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect Cloud 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
Configure Workday Connectivity for ACL Analytics
Connectivity to Workday from ACL Analytics is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Workday data from ACL Analytics, we start by creating and configuring a Workday connection in CData Connect Cloud.
- Log into Connect Cloud, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
- Select "Workday" from the Add Connection panel
- Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Workday.
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 Create & Test
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Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Workday Connection page and update the User-based permissions.
Add a Personal Access Token
When connecting to Connect Cloud 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 Cloud. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.
- Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect Cloud app to open the settings page.
- On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
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Give the PAT a name and click Create.
- The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.
With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Workday data from ACL Analytics.
Connect to Workday from ACL Analytics
The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Cloud from ACL Analytics to create a new Workday data source. The CData Connect Cloud Virtual SQL Server allows you to establish a connection to your data from integration tools that support connections to SQL servers. The Virtual SQL Server mimics the behavior of a traditional SQL server, and it supports a range of query options.
- With your Analytics File open, select 'Import' --> 'Database and application'
- Create a new SQL Server connection
- Set the connection information
- Server: tds.cdata.com
- Port: 14333
- Auth Scheme: Password
- Username: a Connect Cloud user, for example, [email protected]
- Password: the PAT for the above Connect Cloud user
- Database: the name of your Workday connection, for example, Workday1
- Click "Test Connection"
- Click "OK"
- You are now ready to work with your Workday data in ACL Analytics!
Live connections to Workday data from your applications
ACL Analytics can now connect to live Workday data directly through Connect Cloud, allowing you to analyze Workday data without duplicating it.
To get live data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, try CData Connect Cloud today!
