Published: May 9, 2008
To ensure a successful migration, you need to prepare your source data so that it can be mapped to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. For additional reference, the Data Migration Manager Help file describes specific tasks for each type of entity, and each type of attribute. This article provides information to complement the information in Help. At the end of this article is a link to a Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet that lists the entities and attributes. For each default entity that can have data migrated to it, the following attributes are listed:
Required. Source files should have one column for each required attribute in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM entity. All records must have data in each of these columns.
Relationship. If you want to connect one record to a record in another record type, you must have a column in your source file for the data that creates the relationship. If there is no data in a relationship column, the record will not be connected.
Calculated. Data in calculated attributes is not migrated. Instead, when the data used for the calculation is migrated, Microsoft Dynamics CRM does the calculation and populates the attribute. You should identify any columns in your source data that map to calculated attributes, so that you can select Ignore when mapping the column.
The attribute lists in this file are for uncustomized entities. If you have customized an entity, you will need to identify this information yourself using the following sources:
To determine which attributes are required and those that are used to create relationships, use the Entity Navigator, found at http://your_Microsoft_Dynamics_CRM_web_site/SDK/list.aspx. To view information about an entity, click the definition for the entity. The top section of the page shows each attribute and whether it is required. The bottom section of the page shows all the relationships that are possible for this entity.
There are several types of attributes that are listed as required in the Entity Navigator, but are not required to be in the source file:
The primary key for each record is created as part of the migration process.
The Status (statecode) and Status Reason (statuscode) values are created, with default values, as part of the migration process. For information about these values, see Default values of Status and Status Reason attributes, as well as the topic "How Status and Status Reason Attributes Are Migrated" in the Data Migration Manager Help.
To determine which attributes can be used to form relationships with other entities, in the Customization area, open the Attributes page for the entity. Sort the list by the Type column, and look for attributes with a Type specified as lookup or customer. You can also use the Attributes page to view the logical name and display name for each attribute.
To determine which attributes are calculated in a custom entity, check with your system customizer.
Click to open the Excel spreadsheet that lists the entities and attributes.
In the spreadsheet, view any of the entities to see required, relationship, and calculated attributes for the entity.
The tables for each entity show both the display name and logical name for each attribute:
If you are using the Data Migration Manager to map your data, you use the display names of entities and attributes.
If you are creating an XML data map, you use the logical names for entities and attributes.
