SuccessFactors Adapter in

SAP HANA Cloud Integration

(SAP HCI)
Published on August 13, 2016
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maha vishnu
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SAP HANA Consultant at Khaga Analytics Pvt Ltd

Overview

With more customers moving towards a cloud based IT investment

strategy for their HCM solution the need to integrate with their existing
OnPremise setup and other 3rd party systems is on the rise. Large
companies generally move towards a Cloud HCM investment like
SuccessFactors in a phased manner. The phased approach is generally in
two dimensions the first one being the solution dimension where only
certain processes are first moved to the cloud example Performance
Management or Compensation Management or Recruiting and later on
the other core processes of the company follow. The second dimension is
location wise where HCM Business processes in select set of locations
are moved first before the rest of the larger regions follow.

What this results in; is the requirement to keep all of the systems in sync
and ensure the processes cross interacts in a smooth manner. A few
examples of this setup that leads to an integration requirement in
SuccessFactors could be the follows:

Company manages its Core Employee Management

in SuccessFactors (Employee Central) whereas
payroll is managed using the On-Premise SAP ERP
HCM Payroll.

Company manages its Employee Management in On-

Premise using the On-Premise SAP ERP HCM system
whereas Performance management is done using the
SuccessFactors BizX suite.

Company does Recruitment using the SuccessFactors

BizX suite whereas core employee management is
done using On-Premise SAP ERP HCM.

Company manages its Core Employee Management

in SuccessFactors (Employee Central) whereas Travel
 management and Financials is On-Premise SAP ERP
FIN.

Company manages its Core Employee Management

in SuccessFactors (Employee Central) whereas
Benefits management is provided by 3rd party
vendors.

Company does Recruitment using the SuccessFactors

BizX suite whereas assessment of candidates is done
by 3rd party vendors.

SAP HANA Cloud Integration (SAP HCI) is SAPs strategic integration

platform for SAP Cloud Customers. It provides out-of-the-box
connectivity across cloud and on-premise solutions. Starting January
2014, you have the possibility to connect to the SuccessFactors Cloud
system using the SuccessFactors Application Adapter. For integration
developers who have used HCI to connect to SuccessFactors systems
earlier what this means is that you no longer have to worry about the
Login/Logout or API semantics of SuccessFactors as all of this is now
taken care of by the Adapter internally.

Connecting to a SuccessFactors system is now as easy as providing the

system credentials, choosing the entity and deciding on the process flow
and mapping.

Pre-Requisites

1. SAP SCN User id/password using http://scn.sap.com

 2. SAP HCI Account with User and Roles (Raise a CSS
ticket in component XX-INT-CLD-HCI-PI)

3. Installation of SAP HANA Cloud Integration Eclipse

tooling

4. Ensure SaaS Admin has deployed the required

SuccessFactors public certificate keys in the
system.jks file of the HCI Tenant that you are using to
connect to the SuccessFactors system

If you would like to get an early access to using SAP HCI via the Trial
Landscape visit the blog SAP HANA Cloud Integration - Test
and learn more about SAPs cloud based integration
solution to know more. You can use the SuccessFactors Adapter even
via the trail landscape.

Capabilities of the SuccessFactors Adapter

1. Login, Logout, Session Handling - The Integration

developer need not create separate flow steps and
manage the Login/Logout calls. Adapter internally
handles Login, SessionID management and Logout
when connecting to the SuccessFactors system.

2. SFQL Modeling support With the Operations

Modeler a step by step guided UI is available using
which the Successfactors Query Language (SFQL)
can be modeled. The Operations Modeler ensures
 that the SFQL generated is as per the semantics
required by SuccessFactors system. The Modeler
ensures the user is presented with the required fields
and operations based on the Entity being selected.
Example in case of Insert operation the required
fields are automatically populated; In case of Query
only queryable fields are shown; the Modeler shows
up only the supported operations for an Entity,
example in case an Entity does not support Upsert
this is not shown up in the Modeler. The Operation
Modeler ensures that the Integration developer only
specifies the correct SFQL.

3. Query, Insert, Upsert, Update The Adapter supports

all the standard operations of SFAPI.

4. Simple, Compound API support With the Operations

Modeler one can configure both the Simple as well as
Compound SuccessFactors API. The Adapter allows
calling of both these types of API.

5. Simple APIs are SuccessFactors Entities with a flat

field structure. Compound APIs are Entities with a
nested structure. The Compound API Entity in
SuccessFactors is the CompoundEmployee Entity.
More information on SuccessFactors API is available
in the blog Employee Central Entities and Interfacing
6. Auto XSD generation for mapping When SFQL is
modeled using the Operations Modeler the XSD (data
format in which the messages are exchanged with
the SuccessFactors system) is automatically
generated which can be used in Message Mapping.

7. Scheduler to poll at specified intervals In case the

integration scenario has the requirement of polling
the SuccessFactors system at regular intervals the
Adaptre can be used as a Sender channel in which
case a Scheduler is available. The scheduler allows a
lot of easy settings in the UI [Example: Schedule on
the 3rd of every month, schedule every day at
hh:mm hours, schedule everyday between xx-yy
hours, schedule on mm-dd-yyy between xx-yy hours]

8. Delta sync to fetch only changed records There is

no need to explicitly create logic to fetch changed
records after a previous run. This is specifically
required when SuccessFactors is used in polling
scenarios and it is required to fetch only changed
records in subsequent runs. To enable this Delta Sync
option has to be included as a parameter on the
query. The Operations Modeler enables inclusion of
this parameter in an easy manner.

9. Dynamically pass values to SFQL Query It is

possible to dynamically pass values to the SFQL
 based on the input payload. Example if you have an
existing message payload in your message bus and
you would like to use this in your SFQL query filter
condition you could do so by specifying the XPATH
from where the content can be read. The Operations
Modeler enables inclusion of this parameter in an
easy manner.

10. Multiple SFSF calls and merge payload In case

you have a requirement to make separate calls to
different Entities in the SuccessFactors system and
merge the payload you can use the SuccessFactors
Adapter with the Content Enricher step. By using the
multi-mapping (Multiple source XSD to one
destination XSD) capability you can merge the
payload to a single structure if required.

The support for oDATA Entities that was released in SuccessFactors

release 1311 and Ad-Hoc Query support is under development in HCI at
the time of writing of this document (Jan 2014). You can expect this
functionality soon.

Configuring the SuccessFactors Adapter in iFlow

When to use the SuccessFactors Adapter as a Sender Channel and

Receiver Channel

Use the SuccessFactors Adapter as a Sender Channel when you would

like to poll the SuccessFactors system at regular intervals and Query
data from the system. When using the SuccessFactors Adapter as a
Sender channel only Query operation is available and you also have an
option to configure the schedules during which data has to fetched from
the SuccessFactors system.

Use the SuceessFactors Adapter as a Receiver channel when you would

like to query or update data into the SuccessFactors system not at a
specified intervals but rather on completion of other integration flow
steps in the iFlow.

Deploying the Credentials using which you would

connect to the SuccessFactors system

Go to the Node Explorer View and Right Click on the

Tenant Management Node to choose Deploy
Artifacts
 Choose Basic Authentication

Specific the Credential details and SuccessFactors

system details and Click on Finish
 Creating your first
SuccessFactors Integration Project
In this Example you would connect to a SuccessFactors system and fetch
the CompoundEmployee details

STEP 1: Create your project

Go to your Eclipse environment and choose File ->

New -> Integration project

Specify the Project Name and iFLow Name. You can

choose a Predefined pattern. In this case since it is
simple project we shall choose the Point-to-Point
Channel

STEP 2: Select the SuccessFactors Adapter in

Sender Channel

Double Click on the Sender Channel Configuration

and Choose the SuccessFactors Adapter
STEP 3: Configure the SucccessFactors Adapter
Connection Tab

1. Specify the Credential Name that you deployed in the

earlier step using which you would like to connect to
the SuccessFactors system

2. Specify the Proxy Host and Proxy Host using which it

can communicate to the SuccessFactors system.
Currently when connecting to SuccessFactors sytem
via the HCI Demo landscape you could specify this as
proxy and 8080

STEP 4: Configure the SucccessFactors Adapter

Processing Tab

1. Call Type currently is defaulted to Synchronous (as of

Jan 2014). This will be enhanced with Ad-Hoc option
 when the capability is made available in the
SuccessFactors Adapter.

2. Operation Name consists of Entity, Operation and

Query/Fields. You can configure this using the
Operations Modeler. This should confirm to the
format in which the SuccessFactors system can
execute the required Entity.

Entity: The SuccessFactors Entity that you would

be using to transfer data. In this Example this is
CompoundEmployee

Operation: Query, Insert, Update or Upsert. In

this example this would be Query

Query/Fields: The SuccessFactors Query

Language (SFQL) you would pass to
query/insert/update/upsert the required fields
along with required conditions. In this Example
this can be SELECT person, email_information
FROM CompoundEmployee WHERE job_code =
'ADMIN-1'

Operations Modeler

The Operations Modeler gives an intuitive UI for user to model the

Operations based on the SuccessFactors Query Language (SFQL)
 To open the Operations Modeler Wizard click on the
Operations Modeler button in the Processing Tab.
Specify the Address, Company ID, Username and
Password using which you would like to connect to
the system. This can also be a SuccessFactors Test
System that you are using to Test your iFlow

Clicking on Next will connect to the specified

SuccessFactors system and list the Entities that you
can use. For this Example you can choose the
CompoundEmployee Entity
 Select the Operation and Fields of the Entity

When using
the SuccessFactors Adapter as a Sender Channel as in
this example only the Query option is available. This is
because you would be using the SuccessFactors Adpater
in the Sender Channel when you would like to query data
at a specified time or regular intervals. In all the other
cases you would want to use the SuccessFactors Adapter
as a Receiver channel.

All supported options for a selected Entity is available when using the
SuccessFactors Adapter as a Receiver Channel. Only those Operations
and fields are shown in the Operations Modeler that are exposed by the
SuccessFactors system as returned by the SuccessFactors Describe API.

Also Note when using the Adapter for Operations like Insert, Update or
Upsert certain fields are prefilled which are mandatory for the API to
work.

Specify the filter condition using which you would like

to restrict the Query Result. This option is available
only in case of Query Operation.
 Note:

You have an option to specify the value as an Xpath. This would be

useful when using the SuccessFactors Adapter as a Receiver Channel
and you would like the value in the Query to be extracted from the
payload available in the message bus.

You can also specify a DateTime filed like last_modified_on as a Delta

Sync operation in which case if the iFlow is scheduled to run at regular
intervals only the changed records are fetched in subsequent runs.

Configuring Sorting Criteria. This option is available

only in case of Query Operation.

In case the selected entity allows sorting on certain fields as specified in

the Describe API then you would get a filed list using which you can
sort. In the case of the Entity in this example CompoundEmployee you
may not have any sortable fields
 Click on Finish

An XSD is generated in the Project package src.main.resources.wsdl

automatically. In case of an existing file you also an option to overwrite
it.

The XSD file would be useful when you would like to map your payload
to the data in the required format using the mapping step. In this
simplistic example this step has been avoided.

In case of the Query operation you can use the XSD file on the LHS
(Left Hand Side) of the mapping editor and transform it to the required
format as required on the RHS (Right Hand Side)

In case of the Insert, Upsert, Update operation you can use the XSD file
on the RHS (Right Hand Side) of the mapping editor and transform the
data that you receive on the LHS (Left Hand Side) before passing it to
the SuccessFactors system.

STEP 5: Configure the SucccessFactors Adapter

Scheduler Tab

The Scheduler Tab is available only when using the SuccessFactors

Adapter as a Sender Channel. You can use the Scheduler Tab to schedule
the triggering of the iFLow at specified intervals.
In the above example the Scheduler is triggered every day at 1:55 PM
Indian Standard Time (IST)

STEP 6: Configure the Receiver Channel

For
this specific example the easiest way to see your paylod output would be
to configure an SFTP server as a Receiver Channel. With this you can
see the queried payload in your SFTP server.

1. Select the Receiver channel as SFTP

2. Configure the SFTP Adapter settings based on the

SFTP server provisioned to you by the SaaS Admin
 STE
P 7: Deploy the iFlow

Save your iFlow and Right click on the Project Folder

to trigger Deploy Integration Content

Specify the Tenant to which you would like the iFLow

to be deployed
 Click on the Worker Node in your Node Explorer. The
Component Status View of the Node will reflect the
status of deployment

Note: You
can also see the status of the iFLow deployment by going
to the Deployed Artifacts View of your Tenant
Management Node in Node explorer

STEP 8:
Check Monitoring and Logs to know the status of
execution

Click on the Tenant Management Node of the Node

explorer to bring up the Monitoring View
 Double click on the Message to see further details
and Logs in the Properties View

With this
you have completed creating and deploying a simple
Integration Project that connects to a SuccessFactors
system. HAPPY INTEGRATING !!!
Additional Information

Documentation on SAP Help

Portal: http://help.sap.com/cloudintegration

Documentation of SuccessFactors Adapter: Go

to http://help.sap.com/cloudintegration . Open
Developer's Guide available under Development
Information -> Developers Guide Managing
Integration Content and refer section Configuring a
Channel with SuccessFactors Connector

SCN: http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-40396

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