Migrate data from ACT! 2005, version 7 to Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Published: April 12, 2008
To migrate from ACT! 2005, version 7 to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you need to export your data from ACT! 2005, version 7, prepare your source data for migration, and then run the Data Migration Manager to map and migrate your data. For an overview of the migration process, see Data migration overview.
This article describes how to export your data and set up your source files to match Microsoft Dynamics CRM record types, shows you where the default fields in ACT! 2005, version 7 map to in an uncustomized Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and includes detailed steps for using Data Migration Manager to do your own mapping.
Important
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The mappings in this article are guidelines only. Because your ACT! 2005, version 7 database and Microsoft Dynamics CRM may be customized, you will need to verify that the mappings make sense for your data.
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Because the data format changed between ACT! 2005, version 6 and ACT! 2005, version 7, the ACT! 2005, version 6 data map provided with Data Migration Manager will not work with ACT! 2005, version 7 data.
Preparing the data
Before migration, data must be in comma-separated value format (.CSV) files, and each file must contain data for one record type in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Prepare your data:
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Export account and contact data from ACT! 2005, version 7 to text files. These files can contain comma-delimited or tab-delimited data.
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Rename the exported data files to Accounts.csv and Contacts.csv.
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Remove any newline characters from the data in Accounts.csv and Contacts.csv. If a record contains the newline character, it will not migrate.
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Because some of the data in ACT! 2005, version 7 account records must be stored in CustomerAddress record types in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, make two copies of Accounts.csv, naming the copies BillingAddress.csv, and ShippingAddress.csv. In Data Migration Manager, you will map the needed columns in each file to attributes in the Account and CustomerAddress record types.
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Edit the BillingAddress.csv file:
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Delete all columns except:
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Billing City
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Billing Country
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Billing Address1
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Billing Address2
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Billing Address3
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Billing ZIP Code
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Billing State
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Company
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Add two columns: Address Type, and Object Type.
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In the Address Type column, add the value Bill to in all rows.
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In the Object Type column, add the value 1 in all rows. (The value 1 indicates that this address belongs to an account. The value 2 indicates that this address belongs to a contact.)
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Edit the ShippingAddress.csv file:
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Delete all columns except:
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Shipping City
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Shipping Country
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Shipping Address1
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Shipping Address2
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Shipping Address3
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Shipping ZIP Code
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Shipping State
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Company
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Add two columns: Address Type, and Object Type.
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In the Address Type column, add the value Ship to in all rows.
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In the Object Type column, add the value 1 in all rows. (The value 1 indicates that this address belongs to an account.)
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If you want to map the owners of records to Microsoft Dynamics CRM users other than you, refer to footnote ¹ in the Review the Mapping Tables section. If necessary, create a Users.csv file.
Review the mapping tables
Review the data in the following tables to see how the columns in the source Accounts.csv and Contacts.csv files map to attributes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
¹ The mappings shown in the table will result in all records being owned by the user who migrates the data. If your goal is to have more than one owner or someone else as the record owner, you can use one of the following approaches:
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After migrating the records using the mapping described in this article, use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to bulk-assign the records to specific users. For an example of using Advanced Find to find and bulk-assign records, see Don't lose customers when a salesperson leaves your organization.
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Instead of ignoring the Record Creator column during mapping, map the Record Creator column for accounts and contacts to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Owner attribute. You will also need to create and migrate a Users.csv file that includes a record for each user in the source data.
You will be prompted by Data Migration Manager to map each Record Creator value to a Microsoft Dynamics CRM user, and will be given the option to create a new user, if needed. For more information on migrating ownership data, see the topic "How Ownership Data is Migrated" in the Data Migration Manager Help file.
² For user defined fields, you have a choice on how to map the data. Select the option that makes sense given the information contained in your source data file. If you need to create custom attributes, see the topic "Custom Attributes" in the Data Migration Manager Help file.
³ For fields that exist in ACT! 2005, version 7, but do not exist, by default, in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you can either ignore the data or create a custom attribute. Review the data in your source file to see if you have useful data in this field that needs to be preserved.
Migrating the data
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On the Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and then click Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager.
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Click Start a migration.
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Select the Start a new migration option, and then on the Get Started page, click Next.
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Click Start a Migration.
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Specify the migration name, enter ACT7 as the source system, and then click Next.
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Select the .csv files you created: Accounts.csv, Contacts.csv, BillingAddress.csv, ShippingAddress.csv, and optional Users.csv, and then click Next.
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Specify the delimiters:
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Select the delimiter used in the source files, and the character that is used to enclose fields that contain the delimiter.
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Select the First row of each file contains column headings checkbox.
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Preview each file to make sure it displays correctly, including using the horizontal scroll to check all columns.
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Click Next.
Note
If errors are found while validating files, such as finding newline characters, a separate error page will be displayed. Troubleshoot any errors.
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On the File Mapping page, click Next.
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For each of the four files, select Map this file to an existing Microsoft Dynamics CRM entity, select the entity with the same name as the file, and then click Next.
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On the File Summary page, click Next.
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On the Column Mapping Results page, click Next.
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For each column in the Accounts.csv file, on the Map Column page, select the needed option based on the mapping shown in the Account mapping table, and then click Next.
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For each column in the Contacts.csv file, on the Map Column page, select the needed option, based on the mapping shown in the Contact mapping table, and then click Next.
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For each column in the BillingAddress.csv file, on the Map Column page, select the needed option, based on the mapping shown in the Billing Address mapping table, and then click Next.
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For each column in the ShippingAddress.csv file, on the Map Column page, select the needed option, based on the mapping shown in the Shipping Address mapping table, and then click Next.
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The Column Summary page appears. Click Next.
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The User Summary page appears. Unless you created a Users.csv file and mapped ownership of the records, all records will be assigned to the current user. Click Next.
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The Review Summaries page appears. Click Next.
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The Start Migrating Data page appears. Click Migrate Data.
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The Converting Data page appears,converting your data to the required format, and uploading it to your server. If no errors are found, the wizard will continue to the Migration Completed page.
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If no errors are found, click Next.
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If errors are found, the first 50 are displayed. To view additional errors and error details, click Export Errors.
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Click Finish.
Your ACT! 2005, version 7 data is now migrated. If you need to do another migration from ACT! 2005, version 7, you can reuse these mappings by selecting the migration name you specified in step 5 when you start yournew migration.
