SAP SuccessFactors

The SAP SuccessFactors connector lets you perform insert, delete, update, and read operations on SAP SuccessFactors data.

Before you begin

Before using the SAP SuccessFactors connector, do the following tasks:

• In your Google Cloud project:
  • Ensure that network connectivity is set up. For information about network patterns, see Network connectivity.
  • Grant the roles/connectors.admin IAM role to the user configuring the connector.
  • Grant the following IAM roles to the service account that you want to use for the connector:
    • roles/secretmanager.viewer
    • roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor

    A service account is a special type of Google account intended to represent a non-human user that needs to authenticate and be authorized to access data in Google APIs. If you don't have a service account, you must create a service account. For more information, see Creating a service account.

  • Enable the following services:
    • secretmanager.googleapis.com (Secret Manager API)
    • connectors.googleapis.com (Connectors API)

    To understand how to enable services, see Enabling services.

  If these services or permissions have not been enabled for your project previously, you are prompted to enable them when configuring the connector.

• To create a paid SuccessFactors account using SAP ID, see Quickstart with SAP SuccessFactors.

Configure the connector

Configuring the connector requires you to create a connection to your data source (backend system). A connection is specific to a data source. It means that if you have many data sources, you must create a separate connection for each data source. To create a connection, do the following steps:

1. In the Cloud console, go to the Integration Connectors > Connections page and then select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Go to the Connections page

2. Click + Create new to open the Create Connection page.
3. In the Location section, choose the location for the connection.
   1. Region: Select a location from the drop-down list.

      For the list of all the supported regions, see Locations.

   2. Click Next.
4. In the Connection Details section, complete the following:
   1. Connector: Select SAP SuccessFactors from the drop down list of available Connectors.
   2. Connector version: Select the Connector version from the drop down list of available versions.
   3. In the Connection Name field, enter a name for the Connection instance.

      Connection names must meet the following criteria:

      • Connection names can use letters, numbers, or hyphens.
      • Letters must be lower-case.
      • Connection names must begin with a letter and end with a letter or number.
      • Connection names cannot exceed 49 characters.
   4. Optionally, enter a Description for the connection instance.
   5. Optionally, enable Cloud logging, and then select a log level. By default, the log level is set to Error.
   6. Service Account: Select a service account that has the required roles.
   7. Optionally, configure the Connection node settings:
      • Minimum number of nodes: Enter the minimum number of connection nodes.
      • Maximum number of nodes: Enter the maximum number of connection nodes.

      A node is a unit (or replica) of a connection that processes transactions. More nodes are required to process more transactions for a connection and conversely, fewer nodes are required to process fewer transactions. To understand how the nodes affect your connector pricing, see Pricing for connection nodes. If you don't enter any values, by default the minimum nodes are set to 2 (for better availability) and the maximum nodes are set to 50.

   Note: You can customize the connection node values only if you are a Pay-as-you-go customer.
   8. Company Id: Unique identifier of your company. This is required to authenticate.
   9. Data Format: The data format to retrieve data in. Select either ATOM or JSON.
   10. Include Navigation Properties: A boolean indicating if navigation properties should be included in the column listing.
   11. Purge Type: PurgeType is an optional parameter that determines whether an incremental or full update will be performed on an entity.
   12. Use Client Side Paging: Whether or not the CData ADO.NET Provider for SAP SuccessFactors should use client side paging.
   13. Use Display Names: Boolean determining whether or not to use SAP labels.
   14. Use proxy: This indicates whether to use the system proxy settings or not. This takes precedence over other proxy settings, so you'll need to set ProxyAutoDetect to FALSE in order use custom proxy settings.
   15. Proxy Auth Scheme: The authentication type to use to authenticate to the ProxyServer proxy.
   16. Proxy User: A user name to be used to authenticate to the ProxyServer proxy.
   17. Proxy Password: A password to be used to authenticate to the ProxyServer proxy.
   18. Proxy SSL Type: The SSL type to use when connecting to the ProxyServer proxy.
   19. Use proxy: Select this checkbox to configure a proxy server for the connection and configure the following values:
   • Proxy Auth Scheme: Select the authentication type to authenticate with the proxy server. The following authentication types are supported:
     • Basic: Basic HTTP authentication.
     • Digest: Digest HTTP authentication.
   • Proxy User: A user name to be used to authenticate with the proxy server.
   • Proxy Password: The Secret manager secret of the user's password.
   • Proxy SSL Type: The SSL type to use when connecting to the proxy server. The following authentication types are supported:
     • Auto: Default setting. If the URL is an HTTPS URL, then the Tunnel option is used. If the URL is an HTTP URL, then the NEVER option is used.
     • Always: The connection is always SSL enabled.
     • Never: The connection is not SSL enabled.
     • Tunnel: The connection is through a tunneling proxy. The proxy server opens a connection to the remote host and traffic flows back and forth through the proxy.
   • In the Proxy Server section, enter details of the proxy server.
     1. Click + Add destination.
     2. Select a Destination Type.
        • Host address: Specify the hostname or IP address of the destination.

          If you want to establish a private connection to your backend system, do the following:

          • Create a PSC service attachment.
          • Create an endpoint attachment and then enter the details of the endpoint attachment in the Host address field.
   20. Optionally, click + ADD LABEL to add a label to the Connection in the form of a key/value pair.
   21. Click Next.
5. In the Destinations section, enter details of the remote host (backend system) you want to connect to.
   1. Destination Type: Select a Destination Type.
      • Select Host address from the list to specify the hostname or IP address of the destination.
      • If you want to establish a private connection to your backend systems, select Endpoint attachment from the list, and then select the required endpoint attachment from the Endpoint Attachment list.
        Note: To understand how to create an endpoint attachment, see PSC service attachment and endpoint attachment. After you have created the endpoint attachment, it will be visible in the Endpoint Attachment list.

      If you want to establish a public connection to your backend systems with additional security, you can consider configuring static outbound IP addresses for your connections, and then configure your firewall rules to allowlist only the specific static IP addresses.

      To enter additional destinations, click +Add destination.

   2. Click Next.
6. In the Authentication section, enter the authentication details.
   1. Select an Authentication type and enter the relevant details.

      The following authentication types are supported by the SAP SuccessFactors connection:

      • Username and password

   To understand how to configure these authentication types, see Configure authentication.

   2. Click Next.
7. Review: Review your connection and authentication details.
8. Click Create.

Configure authentication

Enter the details based on the authentication you want to use.

• Username and password
  • Username: Username for connector
  • Password: Secret Manager Secret containing the password associated with the connector.
  • Auth Scheme: The scheme used for authentication

Basic authentication connection type sample

The following table lists the sample configuration values for the basic authentication connection type. Refer to the connection creation interface in the console to know the mandatory and optional fields.

Field name	Sample value
Region	us-central1
Connector	SAP SuccessFactors
Connector version	1
Connection Name	sapsf-basicauth-conn
Description	SuccessFactors connection
Service Account	[e-mail]
Company Id	SFPART068178
Host Address	https://HOST_NAME.successfactors.eu/
Username	sfadmin
Password	PASSWORD
Auth Scheme	Basic

Entities, operations, and actions

All the Integration Connectors provide a layer of abstraction for the objects of the connected application. You can access an application's objects only through this abstraction. The abstraction is exposed to you as entities, operations, and actions.

Note: You can view the entities, operations, and actions of a connector in the Connectors task.

• Entity: An entity can be thought of as an object, or a collection of properties, in the connected application or service. The definition of an entity differs from a connector to a connector. For example, in a database connector, tables are the entities, in a file server connector, folders are the entities, and in a messaging system connector, queues are the entities.

  However, it is possible that a connector doesn't support or have any entities, in which case the Entities list will be empty.

• Operation: An operation is the activity that you can perform on an entity. You can perform any of the following operations on an entity:
  • List
  • Get
  • Create
  • Update
  • Delete

  Selecting an entity from the available list, generates a list of operations available for the entity. For a detailed description of the operations, see the Connectors task's entity operations. However, if a connector doesn't support any of the entity operations, such unsupported operations aren't listed in the Operations list.

• Action: An action is a first class function that is made available to the integration through the connector interface. An action lets you make changes to an entity or entities, and vary from connector to connector. Normally, an action will have some input parameters, and an output parameter. However, it is possible that a connector doesn't support any action, in which case the Actions list will be empty.

Note: All entities and actions will have a schema associated with them. For example, an action schema will have the parameter details such as; the parameter names, and its corresponding data type. The schema (metadata) for entities and actions is fetched by the connection at runtime from your backend. If there are any updates to the schema, such updates won't be automatically reflected in your existing connections; you must manually refresh the schema. To refresh the schema for a connection, open the Connection details page of the connection, and then click Refresh connection schema.

System limitations

The SAP SuccessFactors connector can process 10 transaction per second, per node, and throttles any transactions beyond this limit. By default, Integration Connectors allocates 2 nodes (for better availability) for a connection.

For information on the limits applicable to Integration Connectors, see Limits.

Note: The number of Integration Connectors nodes will autoscale dynamically based on your usage. However, if you want to reserve capacity for large volumes without waiting for autoscaling, you can adjust the minimum node value for a connection. More nodes are required to process more transactions for a connection. Conversely, fewer nodes are required if a connection processes fewer transactions. To configure the node values, do the following:

• If you are a pay-as-you-go customer, configure the minimum and maximum node value in the edit connection page.
• If you are a subscription based customer, contact support.

The maximum transactions that a node can handle depends on various factors. So, before adjusting the minimum nodes for better throughput, it is recommended you check if your backend systems are set up optimally to handle the required traffic.

Actions

This section lists all the actions supported by the SuccessFactors connection.

UpsertEntity action

This action lets you upsert a record for an entity.

Input parameters of the UpsertEntity action

Parameter Name	Data Type	Required	Description
entityType	string	True	Entity type to be upserted.
payload	object	True	Upsert payload in the json format.

Output parameters of the UpsertEntity action

This action returns the status 200 (OK) with a response body indicating all Upsert results.

For example on how to configure the UpsertEntity action, see Examples.

Action examples

This section describes how to perform some of the actions in this connector.

Example - Update a record in the PerPersonal entity

The following example updates a record in the PerPersonal entity.

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Actions.
2. Select the UpsertEntity action, and then click Done.
3. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:

   {
   "entityType": "PerPersonal",
   "payload": {
     "personIdExternal": "109031",
     "startDate": "1800-01-01 00:00:00.0",
     "firstName": "John",
     "lastName": "Job",
     "nationality": "IND"
     }
   }
   

If the action is successful, the connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:

[{
  "personIdExternal": "109031",
  "startDate": "1989-12-31 23:00:00.0"
}]

Example - Update a record in the PaymentInformationDetailV3 entity

The following example updates a record in the PaymentInformationDetailV3 entity.

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Actions.
2. Select the UpsertEntity action, and then click Done.
3. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:

   {
     "entityType": "PaymentInformationDetailV3",
     "payload": {
       "PaymentInformationV3_effectiveStartDate": "2015-01-21 00:00:00.0",
       "PaymentInformationV3_worker": "82096",
       "externalCode": 563.0,
       "currency": "EUR"
     }
   }
   

If the action is successful, the connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:

[{
  "externalCode": 563.0,
  "PaymentInformationV3_effectiveStartDate": "2015-01-20 23:00:00.0",
  "PaymentInformationV3_worker": "82096"
}]

Example - Create a record in an entity

The following example creates a record in the TodoEntryV2 entity.

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Actions.
2. Select the UpsertEntity action, and then click Done.
3. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:

   {
     "entityType": "TodoEntryV2",
     "payload": {
       "todoEntryName": "Finish Your Tasks",
       "status": 1.0,
       "categoryId": "41",
       "LinkeduserNav": {
         "__metadata": {
           "uri": "https://apisalesdemo2.successfactors.eu/odata/v2/User('613577712')",
           "type": "SFOData.User"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

If the action execution is successful, the connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:

[{
  "todoEntryId": 221443.0
}] 

Entity examples

Example - List records of an entity

This example lists the records of the FOCompany entity.

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
2. Select FOCompany from the Entity list.
3. Select the LIST operation, and then click Done.
4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, you can set the filterClause as per your requirement.

   For example, setting the filter clause to externalCode='5100' and startDate='1900-01-01 00:00:00', lists only those records whose externalCode is 5100 and startDate is 1900-01-01 00:00:00.

Example - Get a record from an entity

This example fetches a record from the User entity.

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
2. Select User from the Entity list.
3. Select the GET operation, and then click Done.
4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click EntityId and then enter 103032 in the Default Value field.

   Here, 103032 is the primary key of the Users entity.

Example - Delete a record from an entity

This example deletes a record from the FOCompany entity.

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
2. Select FOCompany from the Entity list.
3. Select the DELETE operation, and then click Done.
4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click entityId and then enter 113132 in the Default Value field.

   Alternately, if the entity has composite primary Keys instead of specifying the entityId, you can set the filterClause. For example, externalCode='5100' and startDate='1900-01-01 00:00:00'.

Example - Create a record in an entity

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
2. Select FOCompany from the Entity list.
3. Select the Create operation, and then click Done.
4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:

   {
   "externalCode": "1000",
   "startDate": "1900-01-01 00:00:00.0",
   "standardHours": 40.0,
   "status": "I",
   "currency": "EUR",
   "country": "DEU"
   }
   

   If the integration is successful, the connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:

   {
   "externalCode": "1000",
   "startDate": "1900-01-01 00:00:00.0"
   }
   

Example - Create a record in the TimeZone entity

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
2. Select TimeZone from the Entity list.
3. Select the Create operation, and then click Done.
4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:

   {
   "effectiveStartDate": "2023-08-16 00:00:00.0",
   "externalCode": "10013",
   "effectiveStatus": "A",
   "utcDstOffset": "UTC+01:00",
   "utcOffset": "+0100"
   }
   

   If the integration is successful, the connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:

   {
   "effectiveStartDate": "2023-08-16 00:00:00.0",
   "externalCode": "10013"
   }
   

Example - Update a record in an entity

This example updates a record in the FOCompany entity.

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
2. Select FOCompany from the Entity list.
3. Select the Update operation, and then click Done.
4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:

   {
   "description": "BestRun India"
   }
   

5. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click entityId and then enter 103032 in the Default Value field.

   Alternately, if the entity has composite primary Keys instead of specifying the entityId, you can set the filterClause. For example, externalCode='5100' and startDate='1900-01-01 00:00:00'.

If the integration is successful, the connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:

{
"externalCode": "5100",
"startDate": "1900-01-01 00:00:00.0"
}

Use terraform to create connections

You can use the Terraform resource to create a new connection.

To learn how to apply or remove a Terraform configuration, see Basic Terraform commands.

To view a sample terraform template for connection creation, see sample template.

When creating this connection by using Terraform, you must set the following variables in your Terraform configuration file:

Parameter name	Data type	Required	Description
company_id	STRING	True	Unique identifier of your company. This is required to authenticate.
purge_type	STRING	False	PurgeType is an optional parameter that determines whether an incremental or full update will be performed on an entity.
use_client_side_paging	BOOLEAN	False	Whether or not the CData ADO.NET Provider for SAP SuccessFactors should use client side paging.
use_display_names	BOOLEAN	False	Boolean determining whether or not to use SAP labels.
verbosity	STRING	False	Verbosity level for connection, varies from 1-5. Higher verbosity level will log all the communication details (request,response & ssl certificates).
proxy_enabled	BOOLEAN	False	Select this checkbox to configure a proxy server for the connection.
proxy_auth_scheme	ENUM	False	The authentication type to use to authenticate to the ProxyServer proxy. Supported values are: BASIC, DIGEST, NONE
proxy_user	STRING	False	A user name to be used to authenticate to the ProxyServer proxy.
proxy_password	SECRET	False	A password to be used to authenticate to the ProxyServer proxy.
proxy_ssltype	ENUM	False	The SSL type to use when connecting to the ProxyServer proxy. Supported values are: AUTO, ALWAYS, NEVER, TUNNEL

Use the SAP SuccessFactors connection in an integration

After you create the connection, it becomes available in both Apigee Integration and Application Integration. You can use the connection in an integration through the Connectors task.

• To understand how to create and use the Connectors task in Apigee Integration, see Connectors task.
• To understand how to create and use the Connectors task in Application Integration, see Connectors task.

Get help from the Google Cloud community

You can post your questions and discuss this connector in the Google Cloud community at Cloud Forums.

What's next

• Understand how to suspend and resume a connection.
• Understand how to monitor connector usage.
• Understand how to view connector logs.