Configuration Migration Tool

In order to Export\Import Data from any D365 Org to another D 365 org – Microsoft has provided us with Configuration Tool which is available via CRM SDK. The purpose of the tool, pros \ cons and differences with other tools are mentioned in this document below.

Purpose:

The Configuration Migration tool enables you to move configuration data across Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement instances and organizations. Configuration data is used to define custom functionality in Customer Engagement apps and is typically stored in custom entities. It has ability to transport Data along with configurations so that Date Time values, Drop downs , Lookups will be imported to other org without any issues.

Flow :

Steps :

1.       Download CRM SDK Tools folder from NuGet

2.       Open Tools folder and click on Data Migration Utility as shown below :

3.       Click on DataMigrationUtillity to open Tool

4.       Tool will open as below ( Click on Create Schema which we will be using later to export data from CRM )

5.       Provide Login details to select the org from where you need to export data as shown below :

6.       Select respective Solution and entity and select Columns which you need to export as shown below :

7.       After selecting Entity and fields – click on Save & Export

8.       Once after clicking on Save & Export – the below screen will pop-up where we need to provide data file location so that the configurations will be saved as Zip file in local machine.

9.       After few minutes , all the records will be exported as Zip file along with Configurations.

10.    Once the export is complete – all the steps should show Tick Mark as shown below to confirm completion of Export

11.   Download the zip file and in the same way, you can Import this data to multiple Organizations without any issues.

12.   In above screenshot, the export time is showing as 5 hours , cause there were many interruptions in middle like Locking system.

13.   If any Errors in Data Export\Import – Check c:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\DataMigrationUtility\<Version>. For Error logs.

Pros of Config Tool :

1.       Allows Migration of data from one CRM Org to another Org without any additional configurations \ Logging to multiple orgs

2.       Can handle 50,000 + records in an easy and effective manner

3.       Will export configurations as well along with data – so that Data Quality can be maintained and will take care of any issues with data.

4.       All the metadata values will be exact in comparison to the Org from where data was exported.

5.       All the Guids for records will remain same when importing it in other org so that if any customizations done on Guids will work as usual.

6.       Microsoft provided tool – hence support provided by Microsoft if any customers use this tool

7.       Ability to resume data export \ import when any disturbances during this process

8.       Any failures in Export \ Import – will be shown in Tool logs \ CRM System Jobs

Cons :

1.       Scheduled Import \Export not available

2.       Export\Import can be done only for one Entity at a time

Differentiation \ Conclusion:

When using Native Export\Import or XrmTool Box or Config Migration Tool – I haven’t found much differences, expect metadata validations in Configuration Migration tool. In order to assure data quality during Export and Import – configuration tool is preferred, but for small data exports\Imports – Native Export\Import will work better.