Import Account and Contact Information into Dynamics CRM 4.0

There are many ways to import Account and Contact information into Dynamics CRM 4.0. Below is a simple method I used to Import Account and Contact Infomation into Dynamics CRM 4.0 from Navision 4.0.

Step 1: Export Customer information from Navision to CSV file using Dataport.

Step 2: Create Data Maps for Account in Dynamics CRM 4.0
1) Go to Settings --> Data Management --> Data Maps.
2) Click on New button to create a New Data Map.
3) Enter a name in the Name field, eg. ImportCustomerAccount.
4) Select Account in the Record Type dropdown list.
5) Type a brief description for the Data Map.
6) Click on the Attributes.
7) Click on Load Sample Data to and then Browse a sample data file. The sample Data file can be a CSV file with just a few records in it. If the file size is too big, you may need to delete records from the csv file. Just leave a few records will do.
8) Map each field in the sample file to a field in Dynamics CRM 4.0 Account table. Field to take note is the No. field in Navision Customer Card. Map this field to Account Number field in Dynamics CRM.
9) Click on the Save and close button once the mapping is done.

Step 3: Import Customer information from CSV file into Dynamics CRM.
1) Go to Workspace --> Imports.
2) Click on the New button.
3) Click on the Browse button to browse your CSV file.
4) Click on the Next button to continue.
5) Select Account as the Record Type.
6) Click on the Search button to look for the Data Map created earlier.
7) Click on the Next button to continue.
8) Select an owner for the Accounts to be imported.
9) Select whether you want to import duplicate records or not. For me, I do not allow duplicate.
10) Click on the Next button to continue to the final step.
11) If you want the system to send you an email notification after import has been completed, tick on the "Send me an e-mail message when the import is complete" checkbox.
12) Click on the Import button to start the import. Once Import button is clicked, the Import Data Wizard will disappear. Import status can be checked from the Import screen again.

Step 4: Export Contact information to CSV file using Dataport.
It is important to export a field that can relate Contacts to Customer in this CSV file. I used Customer No. field to relate contacts to Customer.

Step 5: Create Data Maps for Contacts in Dynamics CRM 4.0
1) Go to Settings --> Data Management --> Data Maps.
2) Click on New button to create a New Data Map.
3) Enter a name in the Name field, eg. ImportContacts.
4) Select Contacts in the Record Type dropdown list.
5) Type a brief description for the Data Map.
6) Click on the Attributes.
7) Click on Load Sample Data to and then Browse a sample data file.
8) Map each field in the sample file to a field in Dynamics CRM 4.0 Account table.
Please take note that Customer No. field in the CSV file cannot be mapped to the Contacts's "Parent Customer" field in Dynamics CRM. The Contacts information is stored in ContactBase table in SQL Server 2005 database. The Parent Customer is stored in AccountID field in the ContactBase table, which is a Foreign Key field to AccountBase table. The data type for this field is UniqueIdentifier. Thus it will only accept the AccountID value from the AccountBase table which is also a uniqueidentifier.Therefore, I will map the Customer No. field in CSV file to ExternalUserIdentifier field instead.
9) Click on the Save and close button once the mapping is done.

Step 6: Import Contact information from CSV file into Dynamics CRM.
1) Go to Workspace --> Imports.
2) Click on the New button.
3) Click on the Browse button to browse your CSV file.
4) Click on the Next button to continue.
5) Select Contact as the Record Type.
6) Click on the Search button to look for the Data Map created earlier.
7) Click on the Next button to continue.
8) Select a owner of the Accounts to be imported or your user id as the owner.
9) Select whether you want to import duplicate records or not.
10) Click on the Next button to continue to the final step.
11) If you want the system to send you an email notification after import has been completed, tick on the "Send me an e-mail message when the import is complete" checkbox.
12) Click on the Import button to start the import. Once you click on the Import button, the Import Data Wizard will disappear. You can check the Import status from the Import screen again.

Step 7: Create Relationship between Accounts and Contacts

Both Accounts and Contacts records have been imported into Dynamics CRM but there is no relationship between the Account records and Contact records yet. We can know which Contacts belong to which Accounts by referring the AccountBase."AccountNumber field and ContactBase.ExternalUserIdentifier field.

Open the SQL Server Management Studio, use SQL statement to update the AccountBase.PrimaryContactId field with the ContactBase.ContactID where AccountBase.AccountNumber equal to ContactBase.ExternalUserIdentifier. Next is to update the ContactBase.AccountID field with AccountBase.AccountID.

Records in Dynamics CRM 4.0 that does not have a corresponding mapping record in Outlook

1) Account
2) Opportunity
3) All Other CRM records

Outlook can view these data in Dynamics CRM database but not storing the data in Outlook.

How to convert all incoming email into Dynamics cRM 4.0 Email automatically ?

1) Open Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook.
2) Click on CRM --> Option menu.
3) Click on the E-mail tab.
4) Tick on the "Check incoming e-mail in Outlook and determine whether an e-mail should be linked and saved as a Microsoft Dynamics CRM record".
5) Select "All E-mail messages" from the Track drop down list.

Dynamics CRM's records mapping to Outlook record

Records in Dynamics CRM 4.0 that have direct mapping to record in Outlook
1) Dynamic CRM Phone Call >>>> Outlook Task
2) Dynamic CRM Letter >>>> Outlook Task
3) Dynamic CRM Fax >>>> Outlook Task
4) Dynamic CRM e-mail >>>> Outlook e-mail
5) Dynamic CRM Appointment >>>> Outlook Appointment
6) Dynamic CRM Contact >>>> Outlook Contact

These records are stored in both Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Outlook. Contacts will be synchronized between Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Outlook. E-mails and appointments records in Microsoft Outlook are not automatically stored in Dynamics CRM. You can choose which emails and appointments to be tracked in Dynamics CRM by clicking on the Track in CRM button. You not only can track activities in CRM, but also can set the activities such as appointment to and entity in Dynamics CRM by using the Set Regarding button. Whenever the records get updated in Microsoft Outlook, the linked records in the Dynamics CRM will get updated as well and vice versa.

Please take note not to track personal e-mail in Dynamics CRM because e-mail copied to Dynamics CRM can be accessed by anyone who has permission to view the records. Dynamics CRM for Outlook has the option that allow you to convert all incoming Outlook e-mails to Dynamics CRM e-mails. This option is only recommended for corporate e-mail accounts shared by many people. Don't use this option on your personal email.

Records in Dynamics CRM 4.0 that does not have a corresponding mapping record in Outlook:
1) Account
2) Opportunity
3) All Other CRM records
Outlook can view the data in Dynamics CRM database but not storing the data in Outlook.

Configure Dynamics CRM 4.0 to send email through Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook

For users who has Microsoft Dyanamics CRM for Outlook installed, e-mail router is not required to send and receive Dynamics CRM e-mail. Dynamics CRM for Outlook can be used to send e-mail message that are generated from Dynamics CRM. Before you can send/receive email through Dynamics CRM for Outlook, you need to set the integration between Dynamics CRM for Outlook and the CRM Server.
1) Login to Dynamics CRM 4.0 using Web Browser.
2) Click on Tools --> Options.
3) Click on E-mail tab.
4) Tick on the checkbox "Allow Microsoft Dynamics CRM to send e-mail using CRM for Outlook". If this checkbox is not ticked, you will receive the following error message when you open up your OUtlook.
"One or more e-mails in Microsoft Dynamics CRM are waiting to be sent."

How to Close Opportunity in Dynamics CRM 4.0 ?

1) On the Navision Pane, click on Sales-->Opportunities.
2) open the Opportunity that you want to close.
3) From the toolbar, click on Actions-->Close Opportunities
4) Set the Status to Won or Lost.
5) Click on the OK button to close the opportunity.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 has 3 core modules:

1) SALES
The sales module helps in creating sales and closing deals. The Sales Management module in Dynamics CRM allows you to prospecting leads and trace closing stages. The Communication Management feature allows management to track communication between salesperson and customers. The Direct e-mail marketing feature under the Sales module can helps organization in doing mass email campaign.

2) MARKETING
The main purpose of the Marketing module is to help your marketing team analyze and segmentize customers so that marketing campaign can be more targeted. You can use Dynamics CRM marketing tools to:
--> do marketing planning & budgeting
--> generate target list
--> create marketing campaign
--> track and analyze marketing campaign. Reports in Dynamics CRM allows you to analyze marketing campaign in both of operation performance and financial performance.

3) SERVICE
After you spend all the effort to convert prospect into customer, it is very important for your organization to ensure that your customers are receiving highest level of services efficiently in order to retain the customers. The Service module has all the features that you needed to rovide better service to your customers, such as queue management, call routing & assignment, call tracking, logging and knowledgebase.

Business Unit in Dynamics CRM

Mircosoft Dynamics CRM use Business Unit feature to represent organization hierarchy. In every Dynamics CRM organizational hierarchy, there is one root Business Unit, which is created by Dynamics CRM Server Setup program. The root Business Unit is the top most Business Unit in Dynamics CRM organizational hierarchy. You can create many Business Units under the root Business Unit. The Business Unit can be used to represent subsdiaries, divisions, departments or sections. It's up to you to define. Every organization define the Business Unit diffently.

Business Unit cannot be deleted or renamed. If you have misnamed a Business Unit, very sorry to say you that you have to either continue using the misnamed Business Unit or disable to Business Unit and the create a new Business Unit with the correct name. There is no way you can define rename the Business Unit.

Business Unit that no longer in use or already cease operation can be disabled but cannot be deleted. Business Units can be reorganized by changing the Parent business unit.

Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is a very interesting product grouped under the Dynamics family. Dynamic CRM can be integrated with Dynamic Nav to cater for organization that need customer relationship management which is beyond the scope of standard Nav.

If you are interested to learn more about Dynamics Nav and want to do a thorough evaluation before commit to purchase it, Microsoft allow you to try the software for 90 days. Dynamics CRM 4.0 Setup file and the 90-Days Trial licence can be downloaded from Microsoft Dynamics website.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=A9C110FD-AAC8-4D2A-B401-7801B1866E82&displaylang=en

Setup is fairly easy. Just double-click on the serversetup.exe and follow the on-the-screen instruction, you should be able to get the Dynamics CRM 4.0 website up and running in less than 1/2 hour.