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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Finance | Project Operations, Human Resources, ... / Any advice on identify...
Finance | Project Operations, Human Resources, ...
Suggested Answer

Any advice on identifying incomplete DMF errors

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Posted on by Rich 326

I'm sure anyone who's used DMF much will have seen the error The column  in entity %entity name% has incorrect data. Please correct the data and try the import again with two spaces between column and in clearly suggesting that there should be a column name or label there.

When Excel is being used for the input file, there are a number of suggestions

  • Deleting all (apparently empty) rows after the last row of data
  • Deleting all (apparently empty) columns after the last data field
  • Switching filtering off
  • Ensuring no formatting, hyperlinks etc. are present

Saving as a tab-separated file feels like it should achieve all of these objectives: this often subtly changes the error to The column ErrorColumn in entity User information has incorrect data. Please correct the data and try the import again. There's no ErrorColumn field in the input data, so this feels like a placeholder of some kind.  Anyone have a good way of identifying the problematic data that's preventing staging insert please?

I have the same question (0)
  • Suggested answer
    Alireza Eshaghzadeh Profile Picture
    Alireza Eshaghzadeh 14,672 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

    Hi Rich,

    Can share screenshots to better clarify the issue?

    Which entity do you want to import data?

    Do you use Excel source for import of data?

    pastedimage1665573912732v1.png

    Please make use that you use correct excel template for importing of data (i.e. with exact header).

  • Rich Profile Picture
    Rich 326 on at

    I went for error text rather than screenshots with a view to making it searchable, but appreciate that screenshots can help give context.
    pastedimage1665590844868v1.png
    As you can see, entity in this instance is User information, but I've seen the error against others (Person screening for example), hence the generic nature of my initial question.

    I've worked with both Excel and tab-separated as a source, getting similar errors. Exact header I think should be covered because I've started with an export of existing data, then used that as a template/precedent for replacement rows before attempting the import.

  • Suggested answer
    Alireza Eshaghzadeh Profile Picture
    Alireza Eshaghzadeh 14,672 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

    Hi Rich,

    It seems that your source file (i.e. Excel file) has incorrect data for some fields.

    Can click on "Infolog" to check if it indicate which fields has incorrect data?

    pastedimage1665593821413v1.png

    If you do not get any info, please provide info about the "View staging data" to check if the data has been imported to staging table.

    pastedimage1665593904552v2.png

    You can use following template in Excel to import data:

    USERID USERNAME ALIAS NETWORKDOMAIN COMPANY ENABLED HELPLANGUAGE USERINFO_LANGUAGE
    Name.LastName Name last name Name@company.com https://sts.windows.net/ USMF true en-us en-US

    pastedimage1665594690855v1.png

  • André Arnaud de Calavon Profile Picture
    André Arnaud de Cal... 300,911 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

    Hi Rich,

    In the error, the column name is missing. can you check if the mapping from source to staging is correct?

  • Rich Profile Picture
    Rich 326 on at
    [quote user="Alireza Eshaghzadeh"]

    It seems that your source file (i.e. Excel file) has incorrect data for some fields.

    Can click on "Infolog" to check if it indicate which fields has incorrect data?

    [/quote]

    The message shown in the log text field is all that's held in the Infolog. Since it states that 0 records are inserted in staging, sadly attempting to view staging data is no more illuminating. Agree I can use a stripped-down list of columns to successfully import users, but I'm trying to ask a more generic question of how one can identify which columns should be removed when the infolog message doesn't specify the problematic column. Using the Importable only option when generating a template certainly works, it's frustrating that the Infolog isn't more specific

    [quote]

    In the error, the column name is missing. can you check if the mapping from source to staging is correct?

    [/quote]

    The missing column name is what I'm trying to identify, thanks.  There's nothing obviously wrong in the mapping:

    Source field Staging field
    ACCOUNTTYPE ACCOUNTTYPE
    ALIAS ALIAS
    AUTOLOGOFF AUTOLOGOFF
    AUTOMATICURLUPDATE AUTOMATICURLUPDATE
    COMPANY COMPANY
    DEFAULTCOUNTRYREGION DEFAULTCOUNTRYREGION
    DENSITY DENSITY
    DOCUMENTHANDLINGACTIVE DOCUMENTHANDLINGACTIVE
    EMAIL EMAIL
    EMAILPROVIDERID EMAILPROVIDERID
    ENABLED ENABLED
    EVENTPOLLFREQUENCY EVENTPOLLFREQUENCY
    EVENTPOPUPDISPLAYWHEN EVENTPOPUPDISPLAYWHEN
    EVENTPOPUPLINKDESTINATION EVENTPOPUPLINKDESTINATION
    EVENTPOPUPS EVENTPOPUPS
    EVENTWORKFLOWSHOWPOPUP EVENTWORKFLOWSHOWPOPUP
    EVENTWORKFLOWTASKSINACTIONCENTER EVENTWORKFLOWTASKSINACTIONCENTER
    EXTERNALUSER EXTERNALUSER
    GLOBALEXCELEXPORTFILEPATH GLOBALEXCELEXPORTFILEPATH
    GLOBALEXCELEXPORTMODE GLOBALEXCELEXPORTMODE
    GLOBALLISTPAGELINKMODE GLOBALLISTPAGELINKMODE
    HELPLANGUAGE HELPLANGUAGE
    HOMEPAGEREFRESHDURATION HOMEPAGEREFRESHDURATION
    LANGUAGE LANGUAGE
    MARKEMPTYLINKS MARKEMPTYLINKS
    NETWORKDOMAIN NETWORKDOMAIN
    PERSONNAME PERSONNAME
    PREFERREDCALENDAR PREFERREDCALENDAR
    PREFERREDLOCALE PREFERREDLOCALE
    PREFERREDTIMEZONE PREFERREDTIMEZONE
    SENDALERTASEMAILMESSAGE SENDALERTASEMAILMESSAGE
    SENDNOTIFICATIONSINEMAIL SENDNOTIFICATIONSINEMAIL
    SHOWNOTIFICATIONSINTHEMICROSOFTDYNAMICSAX7CLIENT SHOWNOTIFICATIONSINTHEMICROSOFTDYNAMICSAX7CLIENT
    SQMENABLED SQMENABLED
    SQMGUID SQMGUID
    STARTPAGE STARTPAGE
    THEME THEME
    USERID USERID
    USERINFO_DEFAULTPARTITION USERINFO_DEFAULTPARTITION
    USERINFO_LANGUAGE USERINFO_LANGUAGE
    USERNAME USERNAME
    WORKFLOWLINEITEMNOTIFICATIONFORMAT WORKFLOWLINEITEMNOTIFICATIONFORMAT

    Feel like I need to find a common class that attempts to insert the records to staging, whatever that staging table may be..

  • André Arnaud de Calavon Profile Picture
    André Arnaud de Cal... 300,911 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

    Did you share the list with mapping from staging to target or from source to staging?

  • Suggested answer
    Alireza Eshaghzadeh Profile Picture
    Alireza Eshaghzadeh 14,672 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

    Hi Rich,

    As you mean that data has not been inserted to staging table, you need to check the excel file. for example, check if you use correct values for excel columns heading. I have already provided a simple Excel template that you can use to import users.

  • Rich Profile Picture
    Rich 326 on at
    [quote]

    Did you share the list with mapping from staging to target or from source to staging?

    [/quote]

    Thanks for continued input. Confess I wasn't aware there's an option to view staging to target: I would have thought that's intrinsic to the data entity definition. Table above is the Map source to staging Mapping details tab reached by the View map column/icon in the import project grid.

    [quote user="Alireza Eshaghzadeh"]

    Hi Rich,

    As you mean that data has not been inserted to staging table, you need to check the excel file. for example, check if you use correct values for excel columns heading. I have already provided a simple Excel template that you can use to import users.

    [/quote]

    I appreciate that, and I've tried to make clear that I believe the headers are correct because I've generated them by exporting existing data with the Importable fields option selected, then removing all the data rows and leaving just the header. Whilst eyeballing Excel data will occasionally have clear problems in data values, I'm trying to work out a more generic solution, regardless of specific data entity, whether it's possible to identify the invalid column (that DMF doesn't name). How do you generate your templates? How does that differ from the approach of using an export project that I've described?

  • André Arnaud de Calavon Profile Picture
    André Arnaud de Cal... 300,911 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

    Hi Rich,

    Are you using a source data format where the option "First row header" is enabled? Do you also get this error if you export the user information and directly import the same data?

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