Overall, I was impressed with the DMM. It took some time to learn how it handled certain attributes (e.g., picklists, lookups, statuses, and users).
Pros:
- It's free.
- Does more than the Data Import Wizard available from within CRM.
- Can create custom entities and attributes for you, automatically!
- Can process multiple files at one time.
- Can establish relationships between records in different entities (e.g., set the parent account for a contact).
- Did I mention it's free?
Cons:
- Takes some time to learn how to use it correctly. If you haven't used it before, budget some time for this learning process (at least 2-4 hours).
- Works only with Text/CSV file formats.
- Can't handle files larger than 32 MB.
- Slow migrating from larger files (~10,000 records).
- More difficult to do more complex tasks such as transform data (e.g., use formulas). Rather than an easy-to-use interface such as one that Scribe Insight provides, you usually need to modify an XML file (uggh!).
- Even though there was a map for the Salesforce.com data, it did not handle everything. I ended up creating my own maps so I could become familiar with the data and have more control over the process.
Conclusion:
While I still recommend Scribe for more complex data migrations (and it's always more complex than you think), I believe the Data Migration Manager is a valid solution for many projects. Be sure to investigate the DMM as an option for your next data migration project.
8 comments:
Thanks for a great post on this topic. I am just trying the same exercise!
Many of the data fields I want to import from SalesForce contain large text blocks with 'line feeds'. The migration manager will not accept line feeds. I can of course just remove these line feeds in the CSV files before importing BUT it makes the text almost unreadable afterwards.
Has anybody a work-around for importing text that holds line feeds?
Hi Michael
Can you email me your created Data Map for Salseforce.com?
I want to understand How you have
handaled relationship between Account/contacts and opportunity..
Regards
Kesh Patel
Very useful post... I was unaware of Data Migration Manager... thanks for explaining its pros & cons...
Hi Michael,
Thanks for the awesome information. I'm facing the same issue and have just started working with DMM. Looks like a great tool.
Can you please email me your created Data Map for Salseforce.com as well?
I'd like to understand it better.
Regards
Jay Singh
Michael,
Thanks for the the quick description with pros and cons,
Could I please get a copy of your salesforce data map. I would like to compare it to mine to see where I am getting my errors.
Thanks, Lowell
Lowell.N@countermind.com
If you have requested the data maps, I'm really sorry, but I don't have them anymore. Besides, there were a lot of customizations in both applications, including fields/attributes, picklist options, and status reasons.
It wasn't too difficult to do, though. One of the keys to success was understanding the relationships between the various entities and knowing what the primary key and foreign key are for each relationship.
Michael Cross
any idea as to how we can migrate data from salesforce to ms crm 3.0...can we use DMM or are there simpler solutions
Rohit,
First, if you can upgrade to CRM 4.0 first, then I STRONGLY urge you to do so. 4.0 is much more flexible and easier to use than 3.0.
If you must migrate to 3.0, then you cannot use the Data Migration Manager as it is available only for 4.0.
If the data is simple, then you can just extract the data from Salesforce.com and use the Data Import Wizard to import it into Microsoft CRM.
If the data is more complicated, or if you have to pay Salesforce.com to get the data out of their system, then your best option is Scribe.
Check out my post of March 19, 2009 (http://navintmicrosoftcrm.blogspot.com/2009/03/migrate-from-salesforcecom-to-microsoft.html) that describes this in more detail.
Post a Comment