Outbound Code-Free Flat File Connector

Owned by Phillip Hanegan
Feb 29, 2024
8 min read

With an outbound mode Code-Free Flat File Connector, EmpowerID can export data as file dumps. External systems can then process the exported files with any custom logic. This connector can identify and export Person & Account attribute changes in the EmpowerID system. You can additionally configure flags to determine if a record was modified, deleted, or added in EmpowerID. External systems can then import these file dumps with their processing logic. Follow the steps below to configure an account store for outbound flat file connectors,

It would be best to Create Data Model Mapping File for the connector before following this doc. The Data Model mapping file maps the EmpowerID object attributes to the columns of the delimited file. Simply, it specifies what data to export from EmpowerID to which column of the flat file.

Important Information About Set Groups

Creating a Code-Free Flat File Connector account store will create a corresponding SetGroup or Query Based Collection. The naming convention for the set group is adding _SetGroup to the end of the identifier of Account Store. e.g., If you create an account store named HROutboundFileConnector corresponding setgroup will be called HROutboundFileConnector_SetGroup. Click on Query Based Collections to learn more about it. The following things will be done in the SetGroup to configure the connector.

  • You’ll need to set the path of the file the connecter will generate in the FileFullExportPath field of the corresponding SetGroup Record. Currently, the FileFullExportPath attribute cannot be assigned or updated from the UI, so please update the corresponding record in the database.

  • The system automatically generates a Set and assigns it to the generated Set Group. It should be removed from the Set group and replaced by a specific Set Query returning the people that need to be exported by the Job.

Suppose the Outbound Flat File Connector is already created, and there is a requirement to add additional columns or fields to export in the flat files. In that case, you will have to create a new Securityboundaryattribute. Please find more instructions in the section Add Additional Fields to Existing Connector.

  1. Navigate to Admin → Application and Directories → Account Stores and Systems

  2. Click on Create Universal Flat File Connector Account Store. You will see the Create page for the Flat File Account store.

  3. Enter basic details for the resource system and Click on Submit.

    1. Sync Direction- Choose the Outbound Synchronization mode of the data

    2. Name- Provide an Identifier for the account store.

    3. Display Name- Please provide a descriptive & friendly name for the account store. The value provided for the display name appears in the UI.

  4. After submitting the basic details, you can enter the configuration setting for the resource system.

    1. Number of Export Files: Specify the number of files the inventory job creates while exporting data from EmpowerID. You might consider creating multiple files if you have huge amounts of data to export.

    2. Data Model Mapping File Path: Provide the full path pointing to the Data Model Mapping File. For SaaS implementation, the path is a local path in the Cloud Gateway Server or a network path accessible from the could gateway server. The Data Model mapping file maps the EmpowerID object attributes to the columns of the delimited file. Simply, it specifies what data to export from EmpowerID to which column of the flat file.

    3. Is Remote (Requires Cloud Gateway): Please select the checkbox If your EID instance is a SaaS tenant.

      Choosing Select if Full File Export is Required checkbox will export all identity data into flat files. Additional fields for settings will appear,

    4. Delimiter For Full Export File: Specify the single-character delimiter for export files. E.g., ", "comma for a CSV file.

    5. Processing Action Column Name For Full File: Provide the column's Name in export files that flag the nature of change in the row. This column in the flat file will consist of the value specified subsequently in action for full export.

    6. Action For Full Export: Value to set for the action for the full export file.

    7. Full Export File Time Stamp: This field contains the timestamp naming convention for the full export file. Providing a value will add a timestamp to the end of the filename of exported flat files.

      Choosing Select if Delta File Export is Required is for differential export that only dumps records with attribute changes since the last export was successful. Please configure the following settings for the delta files export.

    8. Delimiter For Delta Export File: Specify the delimiter for export files. Use single character value for e.g. ',', '|'.

    9. Processing Action Column Name For Delta File: Provide the column's Name to include in export files that will record the flag indicating the nature of change in the row. The given column will have values specified on subsequent input fields for add, update and delete.

    10. Action For Differential Export Add: Provide a single character value to flag a record as added. This value is set in the processing action column If a record is added to EID after the last export.

    11. Action For Differential Export Update: Specify the single character that will identify a row as updated. This value is set in the processing action column of the exported file if the record was modified after the last export.

    12. Action For Differential Export Delete: Specify the single character to set in the processing action column if a record was deleted in EID after the last export.

    13. Delta Export File Time Stamp: This field contains the timestamp naming convention for the delta export file. All files exported will append a timestamp with the provided naming convention.

       

  5. Click on Submit to save the resource system settings.

  6. If you have selected Is Remote in the previous screen of Resource System settings, a list will appear to choose the Cloud Gateway Servers configured for your SaaS tenant. Select the gateway servers and click on submit.

     

  7. After successfully creating the resource system, you will see a message Request complete!

  8. Upon flat file connector creation, if the direction is selected as "outbound," the system will automatically create a System Job for the export. The prefix of the created Job will be Outbound-full for a full export and Outbound-differential for a delta export based upon the option selected in step #4. If both options for full and delta are selected, two jobs will be created, one for full and another for delta. If you want to create additional jobs manually, please follow the steps in the section below Create Outbound Job to create the Job.

  9. Creating a Code-Free Flat File Connector account store will create a corresponding SetGroup or Query-Based Collection. Please make sure to follow the necessary actions to be done on the set group, as mentioned here in the section Important Information About SetGroups.

  10. You will have to restart IIS & the service pools of EmpowerID so that the account store can obtain the configuration information.

    To restart the EmpowerID in a cloud instance, you can do the following.

    1. Navigate to IT Shop-> Workflows

    2. Click on Recycle Service Environment

    If you have EmpowerID deployed On-premise, we will have to follow the standard windows procedure to restart the service and IIS.

    1. Execute the command iisreset from the command prompt to restart your IIS.

    2. Open Services. Click Start, click Run, and then type services.msc.

      1. Right Click on the following services and click on Restart service

        1. EmpowerID Web Role Service

        2. EmpowerID Worker Role Service

Add Additional Fields to Existing Connector

Suppose the Outbound Flat File Connector is created already, and there is a requirement to add additional columns or fields to export in the flat files. In that case, you will have to create a new Securityboundaryattribute. Please follow the steps below to configure additional fields to an existing connector,

  1. Navigate to Admin → Applications and Directories → Manage Schema

  2. Click on the Security Boundary Attributes tab and Click on Icon to add a new attribute. Please provide the necessary values and press Save.

    1. Name: Identifier for the Security Boundary Attribute. The name of the security boundary is the column header in the exported files.

    2. Attribute Type: Data Type of the attribute.

    3. Max Length: The length of the attribute.

    4. SecurityBoundryType: Select the Outbound Flat File Connector you want to create the Security Boundary Attribute.

    5. ObjectAttribute: Select the person object attribute to export.

       

       

Create Outbound Job

  1. Navigate to Admin → Applications and Directories → Account Store and Systems page.

  2. Search for the Universal Flat File Connector Account Store you just created. And click on it to open the detail view.

  3. Please scroll to the Additional Jobs per System accordion pane and click it.

     

  4. Click on the icon to open a form to add the Job.

  5. Enter the details for Job.

    1. Job Name: Provide the Name of the Job. You will have to provide the Name following the naming convention of mode-export type, Outbound-full for full export, and Outbound-differential for a delta export. The connector determines the jobs for full and delta export based on the naming convention.

    2. Resource System: Choose the resource system or account store you created earlier.

    3. Job Description: Describe the Job as per the convention. Name of the account store mode-export, e.g., OutboundHRFileConnector Outbound-full

    4. Is Enabled: Select true to enable the Job.

    5. Interval: Choose the interval mode and provide the value for the interval.

       

  6. Click on the Save button to create the Job. You must create jobs for each export type if you have both full and delta export modes.