Extend Google Sheets with Workday Data

Make calls to the API Server from Google Apps Script.

Interact with Workday data from Google Sheets through macros, custom functions, and add-ons. The CData API Server, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for Workday (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers), enables connectivity to Workday data from cloud-based and mobile applications like Google Sheets. The API Server is a lightweight Web application that produces OData services for Workday and any source supported by the CData ADO.NET Providers.

Google Apps Script can consume these OData services in the JSON format. This article shows how to create a simple add-on that populates a Google Spreadsheet with Workers data and, as you make changes, executes updates to Workday data.

About Workday Data Integration

CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from Workday. Customers use CData connectivity to:

Access the tables and datasets you create in Prism Analytics Data Catalog, working with the native Workday data hub without compromising the fidelity of your Workday system.
Access Workday Reports-as-a-Service to surface data from departmental datasets not available from Prism and datasets larger than Prism allows.
Access base data objects with WQL, REST, or SOAP, getting more granular, detailed access but with the potential need for Workday admins or IT to help craft queries.

Users frequently integrate Workday with analytics tools such as Tableau, Power BI, and Excel, and leverage our tools to replicate Workday data to databases or data warehouses. Access is secured at the user level, based on the authenticated user's identity and role.

For more information on configuring Workday to work with CData, refer to our Knowledge Base articles: Comprehensive Workday Connectivity through Workday WQL and Reports-as-a-Service & Workday + CData: Connection & Integration Best Practices.

Getting Started

Set Up the API Server

Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Workday OData services:

Deploy

The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.

The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.

Connect to Workday

After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Workday, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Workday by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.

To connect to Workday, users need to find the Tenant and BaseURL and then select their API type.

Obtaining the BaseURL and Tenant

To obtain the BaseURL and Tenant properties, log into Workday and search for "View API Clients." On this screen, you'll find the Workday REST API Endpoint, a URL that includes both the BaseURL and Tenant.

The format of the REST API Endpoint is: https://domain.com/subdirectories/mycompany, where:

https://domain.com/subdirectories/ is the BaseURL.
mycompany (the portion of the url after the very last slash) is the Tenant.

For example, in the REST API endpoint https://wd3-impl-services1.workday.com/ccx/api/v1/mycompany, the BaseURL is https://wd3-impl-services1.workday.com and the Tenant is mycompany.

Using ConnectionType to Select the API

The value you use for the ConnectionType property determines which Workday API you use. See our Community Article for more information on Workday connectivity options and best practices.

API	ConnectionType Value
WQL	WQL
Reports as a Service	Reports
REST	REST
SOAP	SOAP

Authentication

Your method of authentication depends on which API you are using.

WQL, Reports as a Service, REST: Use OAuth authentication.
SOAP: Use Basic or OAuth authentication.

See the Help documentation for more information on configuring OAuth with Workday.

You can then choose the Workday entities you want to allow the API Server to access by clicking Settings -> Resources.

Authorize API Server Users

After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address: Connections from all addresses except localhost are blocked by default, so you will need to allow connections from Google's servers for this article. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.

Retrieve Workday Data

Open the Script Editor from your spreadsheet by clicking Tools -> Script Editor. In the Script Editor, add the following function to populate a spreadsheet with the results of an OData query:



function retrieve(){
  var url = "https://MyUrl/api.rsc/Workers?select=Id,Worker_Reference_WID,Legal_Name_Last_Name,Legal_Name_Last_Name";
  var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url,{
    headers: {"Authorization": "Basic " + Utilities.base64Encode("MyUser:MyAuthtoken")}
  }); 
  var json = response.getContentText();
  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
  var a1 = sheet.getRange('a1');
  var index=1;
  var workers = JSON.parse(json).value;

  var cols = [["Id","Worker_Reference_WID","Legal_Name_Last_Name","Legal_Name_Last_Name"]]; 
  sheet.getRange(1,1,1,4).setValues(cols);

  row=2;
  for(var i in workers){
    for (var j in workers[i]) {
      switch (j) {
        case "Id":
          a1.offset(row,0).setValue(account[i][j]);
          break;
        case "Worker_Reference_WID":
          a1.offset(row,1).setValue(account[i][j]);
          break;
        case "Legal_Name_Last_Name":
          a1.offset(row,2).setValue(account[i][j]);
          break;
        case "Legal_Name_Last_Name":
          a1.offset(row,3).setValue(account[i][j]);
          break;
      }      
    }
    row++;
  }
}

Follow the steps below to add an installable trigger to populate the spreadsheet when opened:

Click Resources -> Current Project's Triggers -> Add a New Trigger.
Select retrieve in the Run menu.
Select From Spreadsheet.
Select On open.

After closing the dialog, you are prompted to allow access to the application.

Post Changes to Workday Data

Add the following function to post changes to cells back to the API Server:



function buildReq(e){
  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
  var changes = e.range;
  var id = sheet.getRange(changes.getRow(),1).getValue();
  var col = sheet.getRange(1,changes.getColumn()).getValue();
  
  var url = "http://MyServer/api.rsc/Workers("+id+")";
  var putdata = "{\"@odata.type\" : \"CDataAPI.Workers\",  \""+col+"\": \""+changes.getValue()+"\"}";;
  UrlFetchApp.fetch(url,{
    method: "put",
    contentType: "application/json",
    payload: putdata,
    headers: {"Authorization": "Basic " + Utilities.base64Encode("MyUser:MyAuthtoken")}
  });

}

Follow the steps below to add the update trigger:

Click Resources -> Current Project's Triggers.
Select buildReq in the Run menu.
Select From Spreadsheet.
Select On edit.

You can test the script by clicking Publish -> Test as Add-On. Select the version, installation type, and spreadsheet to create a test configuration. You can then select and run the test configuration.

As you make changes to cells, the API Server executes updates to Workday data.

Ready to get started?

Learn more or sign up for a free trial:

CData API Server