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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics GP (Archived) / Migrating and Integrat...
Microsoft Dynamics GP (Archived)

Migrating and Integrating data from text files

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Posted on by VD 180

Hello All,

Please excuse me for the naive questions but I am fairly new to Dynamics and would like to know more about it.

  • What is best approach for migrating data and later on integrating data from text files (generated by legacy systems) into MS Dynamics (NAV, GP, AX). 
  • What other approach can we take apart from text files? 
  • Are there any tools available or do we need to write custom logic and hit the Dynamics Database?
  • What if the text contains fields which cannot be mapped with the MS Dynamics structure. Can we still modify / create our own tables and screens for displaying such information.

Please guide me in the above queries

Thanks,
VD 

 

*This post is locked for comments

  • callen Profile Picture
    callen 4,595 on at
    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Migrating and Integrating data from text files

    You're welcome and thank you for the clarification.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    Re: Re: Re: Re: Migrating and Integrating data from text files
    Thanks Charles for suggesting SmartConnect. My only correction is that SmartConnect is primarily a .net toolkit application rather than Dex. (that said there still is a couple of dex screens required).
  • VD Profile Picture
    VD 180 on at
    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Migrating and Integrating data from text files

    Thanks Ian and Callen, your inputs n suggestions will really help us in deciding which ERP and tools we can go for.

     Are there any links / articles which shows the list of Econnect object that IM can use ?

     

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Migrating and Integrating data from text files

    Hi,

    I'm not sure if eConnect is available for NAV - you should double check this. It is available for GP and AX. (Sorry to any NAV people if I am wrong).

    If you are running daily integrations, you should seriously consider eConnect. Integration Manager just doesn't do the business if you want hands free integration. IM is a great tool, but eConnect will take away a lot of the manual reworking when issues arise. eConnect is an excellent integration product. We've been using it for 5 years in a large number of customer sites and it delives every time.

    Your approach should be to use an intermediate table that draws data from the source system. eConnect then takes its data from this intermediate table. Get eConnect to write back to this table when 1. A document is sucessfully integrated 2. when a document is rejected (also write back the error message).

    Set up Smartlists that filter this table to documents that failed. Users can run this smartlist daily etc. After the first few integrations, most of the data problems originating from the source system will be resolved. And most of the errors you get from then on in will be GP related - ie the tax schedule doesn't exist, the Vendor account is not set up, the financial period is closed etc etc. These can be corrected by users...and the document will integrate at the next attempt.

    This puts users in contro and takes a lot of intervention time away from technical resources.

     

  • callen Profile Picture
    callen 4,595 on at
    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Migrating and Integrating data from text files

    I don't know anything about NAV so my answers are specific to GP.

    Integration Manager is limited in what eConnect objects it can use.

  • VD Profile Picture
    VD 180 on at
    Re: Re: Re: Re: Migrating and Integrating data from text files

    Thanks Callen,

    Apologies for not being specific. I think that shows my inexperience about integration with MS Dynamics :-)

    Thanks for your pointers, I will check on Econnect and SmartConnect options.

    The business is currently planning to migrate the GL transactions as rightly specified by you. As of now the transactions are mainly in payables (AP) module but they will require AR also later on. So we are keeping that in our consideration to avoid rework later on.

    You have mentioned that the scenario will vary based on different transactions, can you please shed some more light on it.

    One more query is that since the ERP tool is not finalized (can be NAV/GP i think), will it affect the usage of IM or Econnect development in any way. Though it shouldnt its always better to be know than guess :)

    Cheers!!!

     

  • callen Profile Picture
    callen 4,595 on at
    Re: Re: Re: Migrating and Integrating data from text files

    Integration Manager is a way to do it. However, saying "financial transactions" can be interpreted many ways. Do you mean General Ledger transactions? Do you also want to include sales invoices, payables invoices, payments, etc.? You really do need to be specific because the answer will vary based on the specific types of transactions.

    Besides IM, you can also use eConnect. You would need to write your own code to utilize the eConnect objects but you have much more flexibility than IM provides. Of course, you also have much more work. It all depends on the type of data.

    Another tool that can be used for importing that uses eConnect is SmartConnect from eOne Solutions (www.eonesolutions.net). It is a Dexterity-based tool that sits inside of GP but offers a lot of flexibility that IM does not.

    Besides text files, you can import from spreadsheets, SQL databases, and other ODBC-compliant data sources.

  • VD Profile Picture
    VD 180 on at
    Re: Re: Migrating and Integrating data from text files

    Thanks for your reply K Day

    My idea of data migration approach (using Text/CSV files) is as explained below:

    One time migration - Master records like Vendors, Customers, Chart of Accounts.etc
    One time migration - Opening Balances for GL Accounts (as on a cut off date)
    Daily integration and migration - End of day process (COB) for all financial transactions

    Is there anything else that we need to consider?

    We are thinking about Integration Manager but the only issue is that I am not sure on how to map fields which are not there in ERP system (NAV/GP/AX). So for this can we create custom tables and develop our logic for migrating data?

     

  • K Day Profile Picture
    K Day 7,365 on at
    Re: Migrating and Integrating data from text files

    My first question would be, what type of data are you importing?  Just G/L entries?  Vendor Records, Subledger history with check numbers and receipts, etc..

    Your best bet would be integration manager if you have it.  You can attach to text files, provided they are in the right format (csv, tab).  I also might suggest that if you could get that data into rows and columns in excel, you might find it easier to manipulate.  Chances are that you will have to do a little bit of scrubbing / editing of the data before integrating it.

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