Learn more
 

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from BambooHR with the API Driver

Connect to BambooHR

In this article

Related articles

Create Informatica Mappings From/To an ODBC Data Source for BambooHR


Create an ODBC connection to BambooHR in Informatica and browse and transfer BambooHR data.

Informatica provides a powerful, elegant means of transporting and transforming your data. By utilizing the CData ODBC Driver for BambooHR, you are gaining access to a driver based on industry-proven standards that integrates seamlessly with Informatica's powerful data transportation and manipulation features. This tutorial shows how to transfer and browse BambooHR data in Informatica PowerCenter.

Connect to BambooHR as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to BambooHR follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the BambooHR Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\bamboohr.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for BambooHR (see below).

BambooHR API Profile Settings

In order to authenticate to BambooHR, you'll need to provide your API Key. To generate an API key, log in and click your name in the upper right-hand corner of any page to get to the user context menu. If you have sufficient permissions, there will be an "API Keys" option in that menu to go to the page, where you can create a new API Key. Additionally, you will need to set the Domain, found in the domain name of your BambooHR account. For example if your BambooHR account is acmeinc.bamboohr.com, then the Domain should be 'acmeinc'. Set both the API Key and Domain in the ProfileSettings property to connect.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for BambooHR in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData API Source] Driver = CData ODBC Driver for BambooHR Description = My Description Profile = C:\profiles\BambooHR.apip ProfileSettings = 'Domain = acmeinc APIKey = your_api_key'

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Create a Linked Table to Employees Data

Follow the steps below to create a linked table, which enables you to access live Employees data.

Create the ODBC Connection

Follow the steps below to connect to BambooHR in Informatica PowerCenter:

  1. In the Informatica Developer tool connect to your repository and create a project.
  2. In the Connection Explorer pane, right-click and click Create a Connection.
  3. In the New Database Connection wizard that is displayed, enter a name and Id for the connection and in the Type menu select ODBC.
  4. In the Connection String property, enter the DSN.

NOTE: If you are working in a Linux operating system, set the Driver Manager for Linux property to unixODBC 2.3.x.

Create the BambooHR Data Object

After you have created an ODBC connection to BambooHR, you can now access BambooHR entities in Informatica. Follow the steps below to add Employees entities to your project.

  1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Data Object.
  2. In the wizard that is displayed, select the Relational Data Object option.
  3. Click the Browse button next to the Connection box and select the ODBC connection you created in the previous step.
  4. Select the option to create a data object from an existing resource and click the Browse button next to the Resource box.
  5. In the dialog that is displayed, clear the Show Default Schema Only option and expand the node for the ODBC connection. Select the entity that you want.

You can now browse the table in the Data Viewer: Right-click the node for the table and then click Open. On the Data Viewer view, click Run.

Create the Mapping

Follow the steps below to add the BambooHR source to a mapping:

  1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Mapping.
  2. Expand the node for the BambooHR connection and then drag the data object for the table onto the editor.
  3. In the dialog that appears, select the Read option.

Follow the steps below to map BambooHR columns to a flat file:

  1. In the Object Explorer, right-click your project and then click New -> Data Object.
  2. Select Flat File Data Object -> Create as Empty -> Fixed Width.
  3. In the properties for the BambooHR object, select the rows you want, right-click, and then click copy. Paste the rows into the flat file properties.
  4. Drag the flat file data object onto the mapping. In the dialog that appears, select the Write option.
  5. Click and drag to connect columns.

To transfer BambooHR data, right-click in the workspace and then click Run Mapping.