Tip #129: Migrating to the cloud

When you move from CRM On Premises to CRM Online, you have to migrate your data. This can be done easily using a tool like Scribe Insight, SSIS with Kingswaysoft, or the Dynamics Connector. The following tips will make your life easier when making the move.

  1. Add a custom field to the 2013 user record to hold the old user id to simplify translation of record owners.
  2. When you import records, map the CRM record GUIDs to the new record IDs, so you don’t have to transform to populate lookups
  3. Bring in all records before setting statecode/status code. You can’t add relationships to closed records, so wait until all records are imported, then do another pass and update the closed records
  4. Some things need to be updated post closing of the records. Activity and case “actual” fields, for example.
  5. If multiple currencies are involved, set the exchange rates on currencies in CRM Online before you import the records.
  6. Temporarily create CRM Online users for disabled users in CRM on premise so you can maintain legacy record ownership.
  7. Be aware that modified on, modified by, and created by cannot be overwritten. Create a dedicated migration/integration user for the migration to run as.

6 thoughts on “Tip #129: Migrating to the cloud

  1. Massimo says:

    Thanks for the tip, but for novices, some more details would be greatly appreciated 🙂

    “Add a custom field to the 2013 user record to hold the old user id to simplify translation of record owners.”

    Do you mean a Text field to store the User Name (domainname) or User ID (systemuserid)?

    Then how do you use this field in 2013?

    Thanks

    • Joel Lindstrom says:

      the point is to store a cross reference of user guids, so create a text field to store the legacy id. that way when you import data to online you can translate owner id.

      alternatively you may want to store the online user id in your on premise user record. that way you can include the new user id in your source so you don’t have to do any translation

  2. Steven De Waele says:

    What about private views, private dashboards,…
    You lose this on migration?

    • Joel Lindstrom says:

      It is possible to move those items via the sdk, but they don’t come across as part of the customization solution and are not available to third party migration tools.

    • Joel Lindstrom says:

      In most migrations to the cloud that I’ve done, I’ve done a survey to see how many personal views and dashboards are regularly used. In most cases, it is faster to re-create these as system views and dashboards prior to the migration, or have users rebuild them afterwards. In your survey you will knowwhich ones are highly important, and which are just for user convenience. Re-create the very important ones as system charts and dashboards, and have the users re-create the rest. If you search code Plex.com for CRM personal view, you will find multiple free utilities that can do things like convert personal views to system views. I can’t vouch for the effectiveness of any of them.

  3. Kevin Damen says:

    PLEASE NOTE:

    Created On, Created By, Modified On and Modified By

    can be changed, using a specially designed plugin.

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