1. HCM Extracts
  2. Introduction to HCM Extracts

Introduction to HCM Extracts

This topic introduces ways of developing outbound integrations from Oracle HCM Cloud.

These include:
  • HCM Extracts
  • Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher)

HCM Extracts

The main way to retrieve data in bulk from Oracle HCM Cloud is by using HCM Extracts, a tool for generating data files and reports.

HCM Extracts has a dedicated interface for specifying the records and attributes to be extracted. With this tool, you can:

  • Identify records for extraction using complex selection criteria.

  • Define data elements in an HCM extract using fast formula database items and rules.

You manage HCM Extracts either in the Data Exchange work area or using the Checklists interface in the Payroll work area. Alternatively, you can run extracts using the Flow Actions Service web service from outside Oracle HCM Cloud. This feature enables you to automate the outbound extract as part of an overall integration flow.

HCM Extracts Output Formats

Using the built-in integration with Oracle BI Publisher, you can generate extracts in various formats, including CSV, XML, Microsoft Excel, HTML, RTF, and PDF.

You can download the raw hierarchical XML from a completed extract using the Extract Actions Service web service. Alternatively, you can download the formatted BI report (for example, the CSV file) using the BI ScheduleService. In both cases, the output is streamed in a byte array. Therefore, any orchestration mechanism must handle this output, possibly by means of wrapper code.

You can also generate an HCM Extract without specifying an output format at the design stage. Later, you can generate a BI report based on the extract using either Oracle BI Publisher or the BI ReportService. This technique uses a dedicated BI data model that interfaces with the generated HCM Extracts XML.

Oracle BI Publisher

Oracle BI Publisher supports both scheduled and unplanned reporting, based on either predefined Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence analysis structures or your own data models. You can generate reports in various formats. To use Oracle BI Publisher for outbound integrations, you generate reports in a format suitable for automatic downstream processing, such as XML or CSV.