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.
