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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived) / Importing Companies wi...
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived)

Importing Companies with Multiple Contacts & Product Types and Linking Them

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Posted on by CRMTreky 760

Hello,

We have about 6,000 records of new data that we need to import into our CRM system. I have already separated the data into 3 import XML files:

  • Companies
  • Contacts
  • Software

The Parent is the Companies Entity with Contacts & Software Entities as Children. I have already imported the Companies entity successfully and have also tried to import the children but they usually error out. The relationship here is simply by the Company names and there are duplicates unfortunately, hence the errors. In an Ideal situation, I would like to use a VLookUp Function in Excel and match the child with the exact parent via the Company Account ID (36 character primary key). However, during the import process, I don't have the option (to my knowledge anyways) to directly map the Account ID that I added in the Children to the Parent's Account ID.

Any ideas? I would greatly appreciate any help on this! The CRM Community has been a great resource so far and I am very appreciative of the genuine support found in this community.

Thanks,

- Jared

*This post is locked for comments

I have the same question (0)
  • Suggested answer
    Andre Margono Profile Picture
    Andre Margono 2,602 on at

    Hi,

    Do you have other unique fields on the company that can be referred as an alternative of the ID, e.g: Company's Registered Number.

    If so, you could use this field to map the contact and software to the parent company based on this custom field.

    Sample:

  • CRMTreky Profile Picture
    CRMTreky 760 on at

    Thank you for your response Andre,

    This is what I tried step-by-step (still error-ed out)

    • I made a new relationship (1:N) 1 being Company & N being Contact.
    • I created a new field in both Company & Contact and called them GUID.
    • I exported all of the records in Company, but set the columns to just include the GUID and copied the Actual GUID straight across into the new field.
    • I then took a sample of 30 records from Contact entity, did a VLookUp against the Company GUID in Excel and was able to match each of the 30 records to their parent Company via the GUID.
    • I then tried to import the 30 records and made sure to match the fields together via the new relationship I created.
    • 3 error-ed out due to: "A duplicate lookup reference was found." These 3 records all point back to a single company. Hence the 1:N relationship that I created.

    The only thing that I can think of at this point is that the original Company LookUp is still active and that may be interfering with the new relationship that I created. Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

  • Verified answer
    Andre Margono Profile Picture
    Andre Margono 2,602 on at

    Hi,

    Based on your step-by-step, I have some questions:

    1. Have you put some automation/manual data entry to copy the Company's record ID to the GUID custom field that you created?

    2. If yes, then on the import, please ignore the lookup reference based on the original Company Name's mapping.

    3. Then map the GUID in your import file to lookup the Company's GUID field similarly as my previous screenshot.

    Cheers

  • CRMTreky Profile Picture
    CRMTreky 760 on at

    Hi Andre,

    To answer your questions:

    1) I manually placed the GUID data in the custom field, all within Excel.

    2) If I ignore the original Company Name's mapping, will it still bring the company name over though?

    3) I will try this step soon. This morning is full of meetings.

    Thank you for your continued support!!!

  • CRMTreky Profile Picture
    CRMTreky 760 on at

    It worked!

    Thank you so much Andre!!! You ROCK!!! :)

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