For those looking for light-weight connection option with SuccessFactors, OData API is the answer. OData (Open Data Protocol) is built on protocols like HTTP following the REST methodologies for data transfer. With OData API, SuccessFactors is leading the league in providing Rest-ful integration services for your HR data in cloud. SuccessFactors uses OData for extracting most data entities. However, there is still some crucial sets of data accessible only through SFAPI for which OData API is still not an option.
This document will walk you through the process of testing OData API using a rest client. For testing purposes, I am using Postman - a free REST client available as a Chrome Browser extension. You may access Postman here.
Note: The authorization available to OData API user is pretty extensive and therefore this demo can help the tester to extract a lot of critical employee data. Please restrict the OData access and use it wisely.
Prerequisites:
SuccessFactors URL:
SuccessFactors URLs or endpoints are specific to data centers. You should always use the URL specific to your data center.
https://salesdemo4.successfactors.com/odata/v2 Or
https://<data center>.successfactors.com/odata/v2
OData Authentication
One of the authentication methods OData uses to access data is HTTP Basic Authentication. HTTP Basic Authentication requires the authorization header organized in a certain way:
"Username@CompanyID:Password". The Company ID is your unique Company ID which you use to log into your SuccessFactors instance. Once the header is created, it is encoded in Base64 before being sent over.
Postman Configuraiton
1. The first step is to configure add the URL and the Basic Authentication header. Use the 'Normal' tab to enter the URL.
2. Use the 'Basic Auth' tab to enter the credentials. Once done, click on Refresh Headers which adds the Base64 format of header to your request. Note that as mentioned in the 'OData Authentication' section above, you don't need to put an explicit colon between CompanyID and Password for Postman client. This client automatically adds a colon before converting the entire header to Base64.
3. Once the Basic Auth details are entered, the configuration is complete to request the first set of data. The removed section in Red below is the Base64 format of the authentication header.
4. The list of entities to access data can be retrieved using $metadata operation.
https://<data center>.successfactors.com/odata/v2/$metadata
Examples and Tips
https://<data center>.successfactors.com/odata/v2/EntitySetName
https://<data center>.successfactors.com/odata/v2/Postion
https://<data center>.successfactors.com/odata/v2/Position?$filter=code eq 'xxxxxx'
The usage of $expand shown below has the output as displayed:
https://<data center>.successfactors.com/odata/v2/Position?$filter=code eq 'xxxxxx'&$expand=parentPosition
The OData call can be monitored in SuccessFactors instance -> Admin Tools -> OData API Audit Log:
Also see: Hands-On – Testing Integration with SuccessFactors SFAPI
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