General Integration Configuration Steps

The configuration steps presented in Integration Studio vary based on the connector that you select. Integration Studio presents only those configuration steps and options that are relevant to the integration you are configuring.

Integration configuration is separated into several key steps:

As you proceed through each of the configuration steps, and through the elements of each step, Integration Studio shows a breadcrumb trail at the top left of the screen so you know where you are at any given time.

For example, if you create a new integration titled Earning Elections, configure a destination field titled Status, define the source as Transformation, and click Edit for the field, you will see the following breadcrumb at the top of the page:

Integration Configuration with breadcrumb trail.

If the integration name, field name, or source changes the breadcrumbs will update accordingly.

Basic Terminology

Before you start working with connectors in Integration Studio, here are some prerequisite definitions that you should know if you are unfamiliar with Dayforce or exports.

Mapping: Integrations send data from the Source Vendor to the destination vendor’s application based on data fields that the vendor defines. For example, a vendor might require an employee’s Primary Cost Center in an outbound HR Demographic data file, and in Dayforce this data is stored as an alphanumeric code on the employees’ work location ledger code. To make sure that Dayforce sends the right information in the right format to the vendor’s application, you must map the values stored in Dayforce to the corresponding values that the vendor expects. This is called a mapping.

Carriage Return: Moving to a new line, similar to pressing the Enter or Return key on the keyboard.

Line Feed: Printing operation required for some operating systems to properly generate and read data. For example, most Unix operating systems require line feeds to process an integration and all integrations processed by a Windows system require both line feeds and carriage returns.

Dayforce Field: Data stored in Dayforce for each record of the integration. For example, employee first name (or given name) or last name (or family name), hire date, and so forth.

Arrays: An array is a list of objects that each contain the same type of information. In Integration Studio, an object consists of a single field or a set of related fields. For example, an employee can only have one First Name field, but they can have multiple work assignments that each consists of the same set of fields.

A useful way to conceptualize how arrays are used in Integration Studio is to think of an array as a folder. For example, a folder can contain sub-folders, files, or a combination of both. The same is true for arrays. An array can contain nested arrays, fields, or a combination of both.

For example, in the diagram below, Employee Data is a top-level or root array, meaning that it isn’t contained within an array, and it contains objects and arrays of objects. The arrays of objects within the Employee Data array, such as the Work Assignments array, are called nested arrays.

A top-level employee data array contains a Work Assignments array, which contains the Work Assignment array, which contains the Position array.

All arrays have a property known as their array depth. In the diagram above, the Employee Data array has a depth of zero, the Work Assignments array has a depth of one, the Work Assignment array has a depth of two, and the Position array has a depth of three.