Thursday, July 21, 2011

Override Created on or Created by during Import

We've all had that need to import historical data, while maintaining Created On date. In 2011 - this has gotten exponentially more simple, and even intuitive!

The Goal:
Import historical data with historical time stamps and creating user information in tact.

The Hangup:
In previous versions the only supported way of doing this was via the Data Migration Manager. This tool requires an additional install, and is often quirky and user-unfriendly.

The Workaround:
I'm happy to report that this one doesn't need a workaround, since the Microsoft Dynamics CRM development team has decided to provide an easy way to handle this requirement using security privileges and the Import Wizard!

Simply update the appropriate Security Role to allow users to Override Created on or Created by for records during data import, include the Created On or Created By columns in your data and import.

Very Handy!