How to Migrate data to MS Business Central D 365?

Hi ,
After creating a new company you can migrate your data to business central .so today we will discuss about " How to Migrate data to MS Business Central D 365?".After you create a new company, you need to migrate your data to Business Central. Being able to migrate your own data to Business Central is a core requirement for a successful implementation. Using the appropriate tools for data migration can speed your implementation.so lets begin with the data migration introduction and concept.

Introduction - Data migration concepts:

The next step after setting up a new company in Business Central is to migrate your data. Even if you used the option to set up a company with standard data, your company includes only standard setup data.

Typical data to migrate includes customers, vendors, and items. We will start with a general overview of data migration in Business Central. Then we'll have a look at data templates. We will also cover how to import data from Excel and how to import data from other applications.

Select data to migrate

It is important to understand what data needs to be migrated. Generally, there are four data sets:

·         General ledger accounts

·         Customers

·         Vendors

·         Items

To work with the assisted setup wizard, you can create a Microsoft Excel file containing a sheet for each of these four types of data. You don't have to migrate all of these tables, if the standard data already in the system works for you.

Use the data migration assisted setup:

To migrate your data, we recommend that you use the assisted setup guide. It can help you transfer your business data from an Excel file or from other formats.

The type of files that you can upload depends on the extensions that are available. For example, you can migrate data from QuickBooks because Business Central includes an extension that handles the conversion from QuickBooks.

If you want to migrate data from other finance solutions, you must either check if an extension is available for that solution or import from Excel.

Work with data templates:

After you import and apply the setup data to your database, you can start migrating the customer's existing master data, such as item and customer numbers and names. To make sure that this data is created quickly and accurately in the new company, you should use templates to structure the data.

A data template is something that contains default values for groups of customers, vendors, items.

For example, suppose that you are migrating customer data. You can group your customers by region, because all U.S. customers have the same country/region code. They probably also have the same posting groups and so on.

Instead of having to include the standard information for groups of customers, vendors, and items in Excel, you can create a data template for each region or for each customer group and include these values in your data template. You can also use a template to add dimensions.

Typically, you create data templates for the following master data tables:

·         Contact

·         Customer

·         Item

·         Vendor

When you import customer data, such as for items, from a file, the mandatory field data that you have specified is taken from the linked data template. When you create a new item, you only enter general information such as item name, description, and price and then collect the rest of the mandatory field data from a selected data template.

When you create a new master data record, such as a customer card, some fields are mandatory and must be filled in. You can group most mandatory fields, such as posting groups and payment terms, to make creating master data records easier and more stable. For example, you can group mandatory fields for table 18, Customer, as Domestic, Foreign, or Export types.

Import data from Excel:

Let's have a look now at how we can import data from Excel. You can use the Assisted setup wizard to import general ledger accounts, customers, vendors, and items and you can also identify data templates to use.

Import business data from other finance systems:

When you sign up for Business Central, you can choose to create an empty company so that you can upload your own data and to test your new Business Central company. Depending on the finance solution that your business uses today, you can transfer information about customers, vendors, inventory, and bank accounts.

From the Role Center, you can start an assisted setup guide that helps you transfer the business data from an Excel file or from other formats. The type of files you can upload depends on the extensions that are available. For example, you can migrate data from QuickBooks because Business Central includes an extension that handles the conversion from QuickBooks. If you want to migrate data from other finance solutions, you must either check if an extension is available for that solution or import from Excel.

Business Central includes templates for accounts, customers, vendors, and inventory items that you can choose to apply when you import your data.

You can import master data and some transactional data from other finance systems based on the default configuration package in Business Central. On the Configuration Packages page, you can work with the package to import and validate the data before you apply the package.

For larger implementation work, you can use RapidStart Services for Business Central, which is an extensive toolkit for setting up new solutions based on your business requirements and setup data. RapidStart Services also offers functionality for import of business data.

Set up a company with RapidStart services:

When setting up a new company in Business Central, there are several similar tasks to complete. Each company needs a chart of accounts, number series, payment terms, and so on. But you also need to take care of, for example, the sales and purchases setup. With rapid start services, you can create packages with setup data that you can apply to new companies. You can also prepare typical master data tables like customers for data migration from Excel.

RapidStart Services helps Microsoft partners create, set up, and initialize new installations of Business Central. RapidStart Services increases the speed and quality of those implementation steps.

RapidStart Services provides the following components:

·         Configuration Worksheet

·         Configuration Packages

·         Configuration Questionnaires

·         Configuration Templates

RapidStart Services can be used in various situations:

·         To configure an add-on solution

·         To prepare a demo

·         For mass deployment

·         When switching from trial to production

·         To configure a subsidiary

For example, you can use RapidStart Services for a basic configuration in Business Central, but if you also have manufacturing clients, you can create a package with manufacturing related tables and setup.

After you set up a default company, you can start to assemble the different elements of the configuration package. Most important is the overview of tables that you will need when you set up a new company.

Required tables include the following:

·         Those that contain default data records that are the same for each company, for example, country or region codes.

·         Those that contain default setup that is the same for each company, for example, source code setup.

·         Area setup tables, for example, Sales & Receivables Setup.

·         Supplementary setup tables, for example, posting groups, payment terms.

·         Those that require data migration.

·         Those that help in posting opening balances.

These tables will be listed in the Configuration Worksheet before they are assigned to the Configuration Package.

The Configuration Worksheet page contains the following fields:

·         Line Type: Specifies the type of the configuration package line. The line can be one of the following types:

o    Area

o    Group

o    Table

·         Table ID: Specifies the ID of the table that you want to use for the line type. After you select a table ID from the list of objects in the lookup table, the name of the table is automatically filled in the Name field.

·         Page ID and Page Name: Primary page through which the database records can be viewed directly from the worksheet by clicking Database Data on the Actions tab in the ribbon. These fields will only be filled in for selected W1 tables. For other tables, the user should select the page manually.

·         No. of Records: The number of database records. Additional settings will determine whether these records will be included in the configuration package.

·         Licensed Table and Licensed Page: Indicates whether the table and page are included in the license.

·         Reference: Contains text to provide more information about the table, or a URL linking to more detailed information.

·         Promoted Table: Specifies whether the table is promoted. Select the check box to promote the table in the configuration worksheet. You can use this designation as a signal that this table requires additional attention.

·         Responsible ID: Specifies the ID of the Business Central user who is responsible for the configuration worksheet.

·         Status: Specifies the status of the table in the configuration worksheet. You can use the status information, which you provide, to help you in planning and tracking your work.

o    In progress

o    Completed

o    Ignored

o    Blocked

You can enter configuration worksheet lines manually or you can use the Get Tables function in the ribbon. This function provides the following options:

·         Include with Data Only: select if you only want to include those tables that contain database records.

·         Include Related Tables: select if you want to include all tables that are related to the list of tables. Not all related tables can be found by using the Get Related Tables function:

o    It cannot find tables linked by a conditional table relation. For example, on the Sales Line, the No. field is linked to several different tables, depending on the Type of the line.

o    It cannot find tables linked on a basis of a filter. For example, TableRelation: Location WHERE (Code= FIELD("Location Code")).

·         Include Dimension Tables: select if you want to include the dimension tables that contain the dimension details of the database records from the filtered tables.

·         Include Licensed Table Only: select if you want to eliminate those tables that cannot be used because of license restrictions.

The following video will demonstrate how to use the configuration worksheet.

After assembling all required tables in the Configuration Worksheet, you will now have to attach the lines to a Configuration Package.

On the Configuration Worksheet you can select all the lines that you want to combine into one package. The Assign Package function will then open the Config. Packages page, from where new packages can be created.

The Config. Package Card page contains the following fields:

·         Code and Package Name identify the package.

·         Product Version: specify the version of the product that you are configuring. You can use this field to help differentiate among various versions of a solution. You can enter no more than 80 characters, both numbers and letters.

·         Language ID: specify the ID of the Windows language to use for the configuration package.

·         Processing Order: specify the order in which multiple configuration packages need to be imported to configure a new company.

·         Exclude Config. Tables: specifies whether to exclude configuration tables (Worksheet lines, Configuration Filters, Questionnaires, and Templates) from the package. Select the check box to exclude these types of tables.

For all selected lines on the configuration worksheet, the Package Code field is now filled in with the code of the newly created package, and a checkmark is placed in the Package Exists field. The package now contains all the necessary tables, but can be additionally modified as follows:

·         Limit the number of fields to be exported with the package.

·         Determine whether to validate the fields before applying the value, when configuring a new company.

·         Determine the processing order of the fields.

·         Filter the table data to be exported with the package.

·         Connect configuration templates to be used when applying data into the new company.

Removing a table from the worksheet does not automatically delete the table from the package. Also, removing a table from the package, does not automatically delete the table from the worksheet. However, the connection to the package will be lost, and the Package Code field on the worksheet line will be empty again.

The following video will demonstrate how to use the configuration package.

To apply a configuration package to a new company, you must first export the package from your default company. The configuration package is exported as a .rapidstart or .Excel file and contains the following:

·         Configuration worksheet

·         Configuration package card

·         Table data as filtered on the configuration package

·         Configuration questionnaires, regardless of whether the related table is added to the configuration package

·         Configuration templates, regardless of whether the template was linked to the master table on the configuration package.

Configuration Templates:

        Configuration Questionnaires: