Data Conversion problem/Auto Fill

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Hi Guys,

I am having a problem converting my GM data over to Dynamics. Here are my questions below. Any help would be appreciated.

1. We can't use our existing AccountID because the old system didn't convert the ID's correctly, (Example: 98112945893% OT9,CHE) My question is there a way I can have the system auto fill or create this value auto? If not are there any work around's?

2. Should we be using the Parent ID as our customer number? Or should I created a Customer Number field separately?

2. We have a bunch of other fields that I am assuming need to be imported into our customer accounts. Some of these fields are accepted but some are not. Is there another way I can add these in later or something. Some of these fields are the following:

Support EXP Date

Install Date

Version

One of the fields that will not go in is our "previous results" field. This field is a VARCHAR and doesn't seem to get alone with the import. Are there special ways to handle these data types?

thx in advance!

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Aiden Kaskela 19,696 on at

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Hi,

1. A new primary key will be created for any record if you don't specify it. If you have a Guid to use already then that's great and use that, but otherwise don't try to set the AccountID field.

2. Parent ID in CRM is a lookup, Parent Customer ID and it'll be pointing to another contact or account. There's a field on the account you could use, "Account Number".

3. CRM is a relational database made easy, so adding new fields to track data is easy. If there isn't an existing field that makes sense to use, I'd absolutely create new fields to track things like "Install Date" and "Version". Previous results could be another text field on the account, you don't need to do anything special for that.

Hope this helps! Let me know if I should clarify or if you have any followup questions. I'd appreciate if you'd mark this as a Verified answer.

Thanks,

Aiden

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J Matlon 1,465 on at

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@NewRecruit:

When we moved over our data from another system, we added a custom "ID" field to hold the ID from the previous system. If you have any relationships between records in your old system, you can use this ID to match them up.

Otherwise, CRM should be allowed to automatically create any ID's behind the scenes.

For the fields that won't go over, is it a data mismatch?

One way that we use to mass-edit records that have already been added, is to export them to Excel from CRM. Ensure any fields you want to update are included. When you export, ensure to check the box to "Make this data available for re-import...".

In Excel, you can perform whatever updates you want. When you re-import that Excel sheet, CRM already knows all the mappings, so you just need to click "Next" a few times. After that, you can review your import to ensure everything came in alright. If you can ensure that your source data matches the same order as your export, then this fix could just be a copy/paste on an entire Excel column.

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ScottDurow 21 on at

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Hi!

1. You can create an autonumber workflow similar to that described here - crm.fueledbysleep.com/.../updated-incremental-auto-numbering-solution-using-real-time-workflows-and-video-run-through

2. I would use the Account Number field for your customer name (or indeed create a custom one if you wish)- the Parent Customer field is used to store a lookup to the parent account for the purposes of hierarchical relationships.

3. You can enrich your date later on by using the export to excel feature and mark for re-import. This allows you to update the spreadsheet and import again to update the data accordingly - see www.microsoft.com/.../analyze-your-crm-data-in-excel-online.aspx

Hope this helps!

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Community Member on at

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Ok I will give that a shot,

One of the other problems I am facing is that primary contacts and specifics, should I try to import these items on the accounts as well? If referencing the template is appears I will have about 10 additional fields.

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Aiden Kaskela 19,696 on at

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Hi,

For Primary Contacts, you should import these as contact records. Any details specific to that person should be a field on the contact record, any data about the position of primary contact that's specific to the account should be on the account (ex: The person's name should be on the contact record, but "Primary Contact Confirmed by Account" or something should be on the account record). You want to import the contacts then import the accounts and reference those contacts as the primary contacts.

Thanks!

Aiden

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Community Member on at

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Ok thx, That does make sense and once I removed the primary contact I was able to get the import to upload correctly. However, I just noticed something else on the tables...

When viewing each record, I attempted to alter the form to allow all fields to be present.. When doing this I noticed there are like 3 or 4 fields created for each field. It appears as I was testing these imports and removing the database, it created a number of same fields.

EX: display name: CAS Version name: cas_version type: text, CAS Version name: cas_version0 type: text, CAS Version name: cas_version1 type: text, CAS Version name: cas_version2 type: text.

Now that I have a better understanding, is there a way I can blow these already created fields and start over? I hate to have multiple fields in the database, since this will be a nightmare to troubleshoot down the road.

any advice on how to do this effectively? I don't have any other important data in the system yet.

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Aiden Kaskela 19,696 on at

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The easiest way to get rid of these fields is to go to the customizations and expand the Account entity, then go to the fields and delete them there. It'll be a little tedious but if it's not too many fields then that's the way to go. If you needed to do it for hundreds of fields then there are tools to help but I don't think you'll need anything like that.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,

Aiden

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