Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived)

What unique identifiers does the CRM need to perform an import update of records?

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Posted on by MikeC282

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Hi All

I've noticed that when I export a static spreadsheet of my Organisations, there are 3 hidden columns in A, B and C:

(Do Not Modify) Organisation
(Do Not Modify) Row Checksum
(Do Not Modify) Modified On

Could I check with of the three unique identifiers, the CRM uses to make updates to records? The reason is that I've imported some update data previously, which changed some record field it shouldn't have so I'm looking to revert all the organisation records back to an older export spreadsheet I've made previously before the error. I've noticed that the (Do Not Modify) Organisation column is the same for the organisations but the (Do Not Modify) Row Checksum is different. My question is whether I would only need the organisation unique identifier to update and revert the data back to an older reiteration or does it need the Row Checksum as well and what's the difference between the 3 hidden columns and their roles?

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ansrikanth 3,115 on at

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Hi

AFAIK, The row checksum is the field which MS uses to identify changes in data. If you observe, when we re-import data, CRM will only update those records which are actually modified and it ignores all other rows. This happens based on Row check sum value.

Thank you

Srikanth

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MikeC282 2,175 on at

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Thanks Srikanth

Does that mean that if I try to use an older data spreadsheet to try to revert back some of the changes made during a future import, it won't work because the row checksum is different?

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PS 23,577 on at

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Yes

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andrewj on at

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Wouldn't it be hypothetically possible to export the current records and obtain the latest checksum. Then matching the old records with the new checksum in excel, try and import using the older sheet?

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Daryl LaBar 500 Most Valuable Professional on at

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I can verify that replacing the checksum/Modified on values does indeed work. The CheckSum is a database value that gets generated whenever a row is modified, so unfortunetly, you'd have to update it for each environment you are working in.

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Kokulan 18,054 on at

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Hi

I think instead of spending a lot of time in geting the Row Checksum value from Version number field from CRM DB, you could consider following options

01. Write a Console App / Linqpad script that parses your excel file, loops through each record and updates the record, something like the the following

Have a look at the link below

community.dynamics.com/.../287384

02. You could use SSIS - www.kingswaysoft.com/.../ssis-integration-toolkit-for-microsoft-dynamics-crm

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