This article describes how you can import existing price lists that you may have received from your vendors into Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
In Microsoft Dynamics CRM, a price list is a group of specific prices that can be charged for each unit in the unit group of a product. Price list items are a combination of price list, product, and unit group. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM, price list items store information about how a product is priced, what amount will be charged for an item in the product catalog, how prices for products are rounded in quotes, orders, and invoices, what discounts are applied to a product based on volume purchase, and so on.
For importing price lists, you must understand how price lists are related with other components of a product catalog. A product catalog is the central location for you to store information about your organization's products, including prices, discounts, unit sizes, and related information. So, before you import your price lists, you must set up the product catalog components in the following sequence:
- Create the unit groups and units for your products. You use units to measure item quantities, and you use unit groups to collect the different measurements that your products are available in, such as gallons, liters, or cases.
- Create empty price lists, to which you can add products. A price list specifies what price can be charged for each unit.
- Create product records for each product that your organization sells, and link each product to a unit group and a default unit.
- Add your new products to one or more price lists as price list items. Even though you specified a default price list in the product record, you must also add the product record to the price list.
Example of price list import
Let's assume that your organization sells the following two products:
Product
|
Price
|
ABC cooldrink
|
$2.00 per liter
|
XYZ cooldrink
|
$5.00 per liter
|
Here are the steps that you must follow in sequence to successfully import your price list data into Microsoft Dynamics CRM:
- Create the unit groups and units for products. In this example, create a unit group as Beverages units and create units as .5 liter, 1 liter, and 2 liters.
- Create a price list directly in Microsoft Dynamics CRM or import a price list in the following format:
Name
|
Currency
|
PriceListP1
|
CAD
|
For more information about how to import a price list, see Importing a price list using the Import Data Wizard.
The price list record has two business-required attributes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Name and Currency.
The value in the Name column need not be an existing record in Microsoft Dynamics CRM because you are creating or importing new price lists. However, the value in the Currency column of the source file must map to a valid value for Currency in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This is because Currency is an existing entity and a lookup attribute in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
To find out the existing currencies in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, open the Currencies page by clicking Settings, clicking Business Management, and then clicking Currencies in the Navigation Pane.
- After you create or import a price list, create the two products in Microsoft Dynamics CRM: ABC cooldrink and XYZ cooldrink. For more information about creating products in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, see Work with Products.
Now that you have created products and units in your product catalog, you can import multiple price list items to associate with the price lists using the Import Data Wizard.
- Import price list items into Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
When you import price list items, you are required to include necessary columns in your source file for all business-required attributes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
You must use automatic mapping when importing price list items because the source data for importing a price list item includes some of the business-required attributes that have references to records that already exist in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. If you try to use a data map, you will get the error "The source data is not in the required format."
To use automatic mapping:
- Make sure the source column headings for all business-required attributes match the attribute display name values in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
To identify display name values, open the form for the record type as if you were creating a new record. The labels on the form typically match the display names.
- Make sure data exists for all business-required attributes that are of lookup type.
- Make sure the data in the column that connects the records is valid.
When you import a price list item, make sure that the value in the Price List column is an existing price list record in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Note
For columns that map to Microsoft Dynamics CRM drop-down lists, make sure that the values exactly match valid values in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
The following table shows the exact column headings and the minimum amount of data required in the Pricelistitems.csv file. The first row contains the field names in Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the remaining rows are imported as data.
Price List
|
Product
|
Unit
|
Pricing Method
|
Quantity Selling Option
|
Amount
|
Percentage
|
Rounding Policy
|
Rounding Option
|
Rounding Amount
|
PriceListP1
|
ABC cooldrink
|
1 Liter
|
Currency Amount
|
No Control
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
PriceListP1
|
XYZ cooldrink
|
.5 Liter
|
Currency Amount
|
No Control
|
5
|
|
|
|
|
Because Price List, Product, Unit, Pricing Method, Quantity Selling Option, Percentage, Rounding Policy, Rounding Option are business-required and existing entities or attributes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the values for these columns in the source file must map to valid values in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Note
The value in the Amount and Rounding Amount column need not be a value that already exists in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Identifying existing values of entities or attributes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM
To identify the existing values of the entities or attributes in the previous table, open the entity form and click the Lookup button or the drop-down list for each field on the form.
For example, to identify existing values of business-required attributes for price list items:
- In the Navigation Pane, click Settings, click Product Catalog, and then click Price Lists.
- In the Price Lists list, open the price list that you want.
- Under Details, click Price List Items.
Importing a price list using the Import Data Wizard
To import PriceList.csv, do the following steps:
- On the Tools menu, click Import Data.
- In the Data file box, click Browse, locate and select the Pricelist.csv file, and then click Open.
- Click Next and follow the directions that appear on the screen in the Import Data Wizard.
Follow the same instructions to import Pricelistitems.csv into Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Related Links
Work with Imports
Work with Price Lists