Dynamics CRM is nice tool when trying to spin and maintain an organisation quickly in the cloud or needing an on premise version. Having said that, it is also a tool which makes it challenging and asks for innovative design when trying to design data migration specially while working with CRM online.

Fellow MVP and Expert @ScottDurow had once tweeted me to right about some tips for effective data migration, I am nearing an end to a big CRM online Migration from Sales Force and found it the right stage and experience to put down few learnings in this blog.

· Perform an up-front migration impact assessment

The fact is that what your data does now and what it will do in the target environment is completely different. You need to assess the quality of data both in the current legacy environment and also against the needs of the target environment.

By performing an impact assessment upfront, you can quickly identify hotspots.

· Focus on impact of delayed migration on Business Processes

Using best practices will be an investment which will help your dynamics CRM implementation buy providing guaranteed success for Business Processes to run on the system in a timely manner.

· Tell Early about the impacts of Poor Data migration practices

Telling early about the impacts also helps. Lot of Disruption and delays during the load phase as records are rejected is a potential for disaster. Broken Business services when the target CRM system goes live will have a knock on effect not only on the CRM system but also on integrating and dependent systems. Increased costs overall as the cost of delay and fixing will increase because of bad practices.

· Deep Understanding of data migration best-practices so you show the efficacy of the best practices

A common problem with this point is lack of proper training and content on Data migration best practices. Without proper Data migration experience, it is very difficult to show the efficacy of the best practices.

· Show benefits to all different stakeholder to align for best Migration strategy

For example using a migration tool can be an enhancement to the productivity of the IT team. At the same time, a guarantee to Business continuity will help the Business user going with the best Migration strategy. Win- win for all is when all involved stakeholders find benefits in the strategy and do not merely think of it as a process overhead.

Hope it helps and Happy CRMing!

Additional Read From a great CRM MVP Gustaf: http://gustafwesterlund.blogspot.ie/2016/02/tips-when-migrating-using-excel.html

Do you have any learning/tips to share? Leave it in the comments and I will include it in a follow-up or the same blog!