TECHNICAL GUIDE

How to Prep and Import Data for Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales

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Table of Contents

01 Data Prep

01 Things to Consider Before Importing Data

02 Data Import Prep within Microsoft Dynamics 365 For Sales (D365)

06 Data import

08 Create a New Field

09 Create a New Entity

09 Save a Data Map

11 Conclusion

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Data Prep Data prep can seem overwhelming at first, but there are a few steps you can take to simplify this critical process. Remember, in Dynamics 365, contacts are people you do business with and accounts are the companies they work for.

Step 1: Clean your data first and foremost.

Step 2: Separate names into first name, last name. This can easily be accomplished in Excel.

Step 3: Remove foreign characters – they will not import correctly.

Many tools can accomplish this, but Notepad++ works well.

Step 4: Perform duplicate detection. In Excel, select which columns you want to check for duplicates (common ones are name, phone number, etc.) select Data tab>Remove Duplicates.

DO ‘DUPLICATE DETECTION’ IN

MICROSOFT EXCEL

THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE IMPORTING DATA

1 Data Import Order:

Think about the order in which you’d like to import.

Example 1: if you are using a zip code table, which will automatically fill in the city/state/county/country, load zip codes first, then address so that your zip codes don’t fail.

Example 2: if an account has lookup fields that reference other data, load that data first before accounts so that it populates correctly.

2 Data Import Size:

If you have a large list from a tradeshow or other marketing campaign to load, try starting with a small set of data first. If you start with a small subset of records first, it won’t take as long and if you make a mistake it’s not as big of an issue.

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Data Import Prep within Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales (D365) After prepping your data in Excel, it’s important to prep your data within D365 also.

1 Review duplicate detection jobs inside of D365 prior to starting an import.

Example 1: if you are loading a table of contacts and want to ensure that no contacts have the same name or email address, create a duplicate detection rule and be sure to set it to “Publish.” You can do this by going to Settings>data management>duplicate detection rules>select the applicable rule and click publish.

Example 2: Your marketing team returns from a trade show with a list. Some may already be in the system but they would like to import them anyway so that the new lead assignment is associated with the trade show. Ensure that any duplicate detection jobs that relate to leads are set to “Unpublish.”

DUPLICATE DETECTION RULES

2 Review workflows and plugins associated to the entities for which you are importing data

Example 1: You have a workflow setup that sends an email to the record owner every time a new lead goes into the system. If it’s a huge list being imported, consider deactivating these workflows, and just sending one email to each salesperson letting them know that you are importing the list, and they can find it by going to “My Lead View,” or to their dashboard to look at their new leads. Make sure that you remember to reactivate the workflow(s) after the import.

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Example 2: You are loading a big list but want to make sure the zip code table will be loaded for each record, make sure that this workflow is published before importing.

DEACTIVATE UNNECESSARY

PLUGINS AND WORKFOWS

ASSOCIATED TO THE ENTITIES

3 Ensure all owners are in the system, whether it’s a user or team. For example, you have a new hire with assigned leads, if they are not a user in the system, all the records assigned to this individual or team will fail.

MAKE SURE ALL “OWNERS” ARE IN THE SYSTEM (AS A

USER OR TEAM)

4 Download the import template. This is an Excel spreadsheet that contains all the pertinent fields so that you can make sure you have all relevant fields before you begin importing. This works regardless of which entity you are in (account lead, opportunity, etc.).

> Go to the import data dropdown button>select download template for import

> Open or Save, whichever you prefer

> Click Enable

> Hover over the fields and you can see the field type and character length

> Use it, or pass it to a teammate to load the data

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UTILAZE THE “DOWNLOAD

TEMPLATE FOR IMPORT” TO MAP

DATA EFFECTIVELY

>

5 Know your data file size. If your file size is too large, the import will not work. File size cannot be greater than 8MB unzipped or 32 MB zipped.

KNOW THE SIZE OF YOUR DATA FILE

*it cannot be greater than 8MB unzipped or 32 MB zipped

If it’s too large, you can split it into two or more files, or combine accounts and contacts.

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COMBINE ACCOUNTS AND

CONTACTS TO IMPORT THEM AT

THE SAME TIME

6 Consider using the “create new” feature to create new entities during the data import. This is a timesaver. You can also create new fields during an import. All field types are allowed except multi-text field, currency and global option set field. Just remember that after creating an entity and/or field during import, you still must go back and perform your customizations—the customized view and form.

> If you created a new field within an existing entity, you’ll need to manually add this to the form if needed.

7 Create a data map.

CREATE OR USE THE CRM ‘DATA

MAPS’ WHERE APPLICABLE.

REMEMBER TO DELETE OBSOLETE

ONES

8 Review the source file for potential failures. You can easily see which lines failed within D365, and then correct them.

HELPFUL HINT: NEVER FEAR MAKING A MISTAKE DURING A DATA IMPORT. IF YOU DO, GO TO SETTINGS>DATA MANAGEMENT>IMPORT>SELECT IMPORT THAT YOU JUST ENTERED>DELETE>DELETE ALL RECORDS IMPORTED. THEN RUN A DUPLICATE DETECTION JOB TO ENSURE THAT NO DUPLICATES WERE CREATED.

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Data import Using the Dynamics 365 Import Data Wizard, you can import many types of customer data stored in comma- separated value (.csv) format. Many spreadsheet programs that you use to store data, such as Excel, provide an option to convert the data into .csv format when you save it. Many browser-based email programs enable you to save your contacts information to a file in (.csv) format.

After the data is in a supported format, you can use the Import Data Wizard to import contact information that is stored in .csv, .txt, .xml, or .zip files.

Within D365, you can import data any time you see the data import button, without having to navigate to Settings>Data Management.

ACTIVE ACCOUNTS

1 Data Import>Browse and Find your File, or drag and drop>Next>Now it shows the size of your files

2 Choose Data Map or Default Auto Mapping

3 Select where you want the files to go (Account, Contact, etc.)>Next

4 If your files are not mapped, you will see a yellow exclamation mark

5 Direct the data for each field that isn’t mapped. For example, “What is account name”? You select company name, etc. until all the fields are mapped correctly

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6 If, for example, there is not a field for mobile phone, you can create one during this step (see below)

7 Next

8 It’s now showing a summary of your mapping

9 Allow or Disallow Duplicates

10 Select an Owner (unless the file has an owner field)

11 Submit

12 Before you finish, select the import button hyperlink. This will show you progress of the import in real-time.

13 Refresh the screen to see the progress of the import

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14 If you have errors, you can open them and see why they failed. This is displayed on your Excel spreadsheet as the row number so that you can determine what failed. (The usual suspects are it’s a duplicate, or it couldn’t find the matching field because of naming convention, etc.)

HELPFUL HINT: IF YOU PERFORM A DATA IMPORT AND RECEIVE A FAILURE, YOU CAN GOOGLE IT TO DETERMINE WHAT EXACTLY FAILED AND HOW TO REPAIR IT. FOR EXAMPLE, YOUR ERROR MESSAGE SAYS: "A DUPLICATE LOOKUP REFERENCE WAS FOUND." IT MEANS THERE’S MORE THAN ONE ACCOUNT NAME LISTED FOR THAT ACCOUNT. CRM CAN'T ASSOCIATE A PERSON TO THESE BECAUSE IT DOESN'T KNOW WHICH OF THE TWO TO CHOOSE. A BEST PRACTICE WOULD EITHER BE TO MAKE THE ACCOUNT NAME UNIQUE, LIKE XYZ COMPANY AND THE ASSOCIATED CITY NAME, OR DON'T USE A COMPANY NAME AS YOUR PRIMARY KEY. INSTEAD, USE AN ASSOCIATED ACCOUNT NUMBER OR PHONE NUMBER AS THE PRIMARY KEY AND NOT THE ACCOUNT NAME.

CREATE A NEW FIELD

There are a few times when you would need to create a new field or custom entity during your import.

For example, your clients have thousands of potential job titles. Instead of having a drop-down menu with thousands of choices, you can create a custom entity for job titles, and load the thousands of choices.

1 Import Data

2 Browse and find CSV file

3 Next

4 Select Job title table

5 Create New Field

6 Name your Field (default will be name of CSV file)

7 Create an option set if you’d like (dropdown menu for multiple options)

8 Now you need to go back and add any customizations that you need for this new field. You can navigate to it through customizations, or through advanced find.

9 Click your new field>Select form editor

10 Determine whether you’d like the field to be required. Edit details, etc.

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CREATE A NEW ENTITY

When creating a new entity, please be aware that you cannot check or uncheck any of the setup fields for customizations.

You may create a new entity when, for example, you are adding a zip code table.

1 Create an entity with default mapping

2 Add a name, e.g. zip codes

3 Copy and paste for the plural and primary keys

4 Click next

5 Map the fields

SAVE A DATA MAP

Creating and saving data maps are a great idea when you repeatedly import the same type of data (e.g., orders), so that you don’t have to map all the fields manually every time.

Settings>Data Management>Data Maps

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HELPFUL HINT: IF YOU HAVE A LOT OF DATA MAPS THAT YOU ARE NO LONGER USING, YOU CAN CLEAN THESE UP BY NAVIGATING TO SETTINGS, SELECTING THEM AND CLICKING “DELETE.”

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Conclusion Data prep and import can be a painless process if you have a game plan each time you perform an import, and apply the helpful hints found above. Please let Alithya know if you have any questions or concerns about performing a data import within Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales.

ALITHYA GROUP INC. IS A LEADER IN STRATEGY AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN NORTH AMERICA . Founded in 1992, the Company counts on 2,000 professionals in Canada, the United States and Europe. Alithya's integrated offering is based on four pillars of expertise: strategy services, application services, enterprise solutions and data and analytics. Alithya’s Microsoft practice covers a wide array of capabilities, including Dynamics, Azure, business and advanced analytics, digital solutions, application development and architecture.

www.alithya.com | MSsales@alithya.com | 866 420-7624

About Alithya

C O N T A C T U S

ASHLEY KLEEMAN IS A DYNAMICS CRM CONFIGURATION CONSULTANT FOR ALITHYA. SHE IS CERTIFIED IN DYNAMICS CRM 2011, CRM 2013, CRM 2015 AND DYNAMICS 365. ASHLEY WORKS WITH CLIENTS TO IMPLEMENT AND SUPPORT CRM. SHE IS INVOLVED IN ALL PROJECT PHASES FROM THE INITIAL DATA GATHERING, DESIGN AND BUILD, FINAL ROLL-OUT AND ONGOING SUPPORT. THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS, ASHLEY IS KNOWN FOR FOSTERING STRONG CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS AND TRANSFERRING HER KNOWLEDGE.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ASHLEY KLEEMAN, DYNAMICS CRM CONFIGURATION CONSULTANT