Connecting SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Datasphere

In today’s technologically advanced world, an enormous amount of data is being produced every day from many sources for businesses of all sizes and it is important  to make sense of the growing volumes of data. Data analytics helps organizations make sense of data. This allows the organization to be more involved in addressing business needs, identifying problems, recommending solutions and also enable to create new business models by using the next level of creative business intelligence services. The proper usage of business intelligence can qualify them to improve profitability and income. It helps them to

• Evaluation of the current roles and organization structure 
• Find opportunities for improvement, review processes and speak with team members. 
• Examining procedures and communicating to find areas for improvement 
• Presenting findings and recommendations to management and other key stakeholders 
• Making financial and visual representations to assist with business decisions 
• Educating and coaching about new systems

This is exactly how SAP Datasphere  delivers meaningful data to every data professional. So, what is SAP Datasphere? It is the next generation of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, a comprehensive data service enabling every data professional to deliver seamless and scalable access to mission-critical business data. (Read the announcement blog)

Human capital is the most valuable asset for a company, but it is also one of the most challenging parts of running an organization. Employees’ qualitative characteristics can be difficult to translate into analytically valuable figures. So how can we objectively evaluate workforce elements like hiring, performance management, or employee engagement to identify emerging patterns and foster organizational success?

You may have spent considerable time creating ad hoc reports in SAP SuccessFactors because you need a template for your business scenario. Your challenge is visualizing data in a way that effectively highlights critical insights or complex calculations aren’t your strength.

In this blog post, let us take a look at how to setup and configure SAP Datasphere to consume data from SAP Success Factors and create analytical reports.

Blog post series for our learning journey with SAP Datasphere and SAP Analytics Cloud together to handle complex analytics scenarios.  Connecting SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Datasphere (this blog) Bring SAP SuccessFactor Data into SAP Datasphere (click here) Modeling SAP SuccessFactors Data in SAP Datasphere (click here) Building Analytic Models for SAP SuccessFactors KPI (click here) Build SAP Analytics Cloud’s Dashboard for SAP SuccessFactors KPI (click here)

Prerequisite

You need to have:

1. SAP BTP global account setup and to entitled the SAP Datasphere Cloud Foundry environment please follow the excellent blog How to create SAP Datasphere service instance in the SAP BTP Platform?
2.  A SAP SuccessFactors instance.

Let’s proceed Step By Step

Before we start, ensure you have set up and launched the SAP DataSphere service instance; if not, Goto your subaccount space then the services Instance page, search for “DataSphere”, and click on the three dots(…) on the rightmost side with Datasphere instance and then View Dashboard. 

OR Look for the URL to the newly created SAP Datasphere tenant in the email.

Create Space

Space is a secure area that an administrator creates where users can acquire, prepare, and model data. The Administrator can set the space’s priority, assign disc and in-memory storage, and set a memory consumption limit. Spaces are virtual work environments with their databases.

Users can collaborate without worrying about disclosing their data because spaces are decoupled from one another but are available for flexible access. Start with a space to model your data and develop your stories. You can choose the volume, kind, and relevance of storage you require for your space compared to other spaces.

Note: you can use existing space and directly start with Create Connection, OR you can create a new space by following the mission Get Started with Your Trial in SAP Datasphere, OR follow the simple step as mentioned below.

To create a Space, click on the Space management on the bottom left.

Click on the Create button on the top right.

Enter a name for your Space. The Space ID will auto-populate. In this example, let’s call our Space DEV SPACE. Click on Create, and you’ve successfully created your Space in SAP Datasphere.

Once in your Space, click on the Members tab.

Click on Add to allocate a member from your user list.

You can now search and select the users you want to add to your Space. Once you’ve agreed with your selections, click Add to confirm. Remember to register yourself as a user!

You have successfully added your team members as users into your Space.

Create Connection

To access data from various sources, including those that are on-premises, in the cloud, or both, or those that are SAP-related, as well as those that are not, SAP Datasphere provides a wide variety of default connections. 

Connections are in a separate view accessible from the main navigation window on the left. In SAP Datasphere, connections are individual objects. They are built and maintained per SAP Datasphere space; only individuals who are a part of that space may use the linked connections.

Connections allow the space members to connect sources for accessing and modelling data in SAP Datasphere. 

In the side navigation area, click on Connections, select a space if necessary and then click the Local Connections tab.

Click Create to open the connection creation wizard.

In the connection creation wizard, please enter a search string SuccessFactors in the search field to only show the connection type for SAP SuccessFactors. Click an SAP SuccessFactors connection type tile for your source.

Complete the configure connection properties.

Connection Details 
URL  :  Enter the OData service provider URL of the SAP SuccessFactors service that you want to access.
Version : Displays the OData version used to implement the SAP SuccessFactors OData service.

Authentication 
Authentication Type : User Name And Password:
User Name : Enter your API user and company ID in the format <username@companyID>. e.g. sfapi@HXM2345 into the User Name.
Password: Enter the password.

Click on Next Step

Enter a descriptive Business Name, which you can change at any time. Technical Name displays the name used in scripts and code, synchronized by default with the Business Name. Once the object is saved, the Technical Name can no longer be modified. To Provide more information to understand the object enter the Description as well.

Click Create Connection to add the Connection to the overview of available connections.

Select the connection and click Validate to check if the connection is valid and can be used for the enabled features.

As soon as we try to validate the Connection, we get a warning which shows the Connection is valid. Still, it cannot establish a secure connection due to no valid service certificate. It mentioned that we need to upload the certificate of service or the certification of the signing authority(CA) to allow Remote Table and Data Flow features.

To enable a secure SSL/TLS-based connection, we need an SSL certificate, a digital certificate that provides authentication for a website, and a secured encrypted connection, for a connection type that allows remote tables and data flow. 

We must upload the server certificate to SAP Datasphere to successfully validate and use the SAP SuccessFactors connection.

Download Certificate

One of the easiest ways is to download the required SSL certificate from an appropriate website. Common browsers give users the option to download these certificates by exporting them.

Visit the website for the URL you wish to download the Certificate from. For instance, at https://salesdemo.successfactors.eu, sign in with your login and password and the correct Company ID.
After logging in, notice the certificate information Pop-up by clicking the padlock icon before the URL.

As shown below, click the Connection is secure link. 

Click on Certificate is Valid Tab to bring up the certificate viewer to export the appropriate Certificate.

Click the Export button to export the certificate to the download folder.

Upload Certificate

We have already discussed a server certificate to SAP Datasphere that needs to be uploaded to enable a secure SSL/TLS-based connection that allows remote tables and Data flow.

Return to the SAP Datasphere system once more, then click System then Configuration in the side navigation menu.

Click the Add Certificate icon under the Security tab.

Choose the certificate by browsing your local directory in the Upload Certificate dialogue.  Add a description to the certificate to give understandable information about it. Choose Upload.

In the Security Overview tab, you can see the Certificate’s creation and Expiry date. If required from the Overview, you can delete certificates as well.

After successfully importing the Certificate, we need to recheck the connection validation. So, In the side navigation area, click on Connections, select a space if necessary, and then click the Local Connections tab.

Select the Connection and click Validate to check if the Connection is valid and can be used for the enabled features. After some time, a message popped up which shows Connection is valid

With this validated Connection, you are now ready to connect to SAP SuccessFactors data from SAP DataSphere with the enabled features.

Summary

So, now you have seen how to create a valid connection with SAP SuccessFactors with the availability of supported features – Remote Tables, Replication (snapshot) and Data Flows.

What’s next?

In the next blog post, we will see how to use this connection to access employee-related data directly from the source into Remote Tables and Replicate it into SAP DataSphere to improve performance while accessing.

Bring SAP SuccessFactor Data into SAP Datasphere

Keep your anticipation high for the upcoming blog posts. Stay curious!

Reference & Further Reading

SAP Datasphere Power Of Business Data
SAP Datasphere: Overview and Architecture
What is SAP Datasphere and what benefits does it bring to your business?
Unlock the full potential of your enterprise data with SAP Datasphere Catalog

For more information and related blog posts on the topic page for SAP Datasphere.

If you have questions about SAP DataSphere you can submit them in the Q&A area for SAP Datasphere in the SAP Community.