Differences between Data Migration and Data Import

As mentioned in CRM Sdk, below is the major differences between Data Migration and Data Import.

Data migration and data import use common entity model and messages. However, there are some important differences in the feature sets of the two operations as shown in the following table.

Feature	Data Migration	Data Import
Import data into Microsoft Dynamics CRM	Yes (Only the system administrator can migrate data in the offline mode.)	Yes (All users who have appropriate permissions can import data.)
Import data into custom entity types and attributes	Yes	Yes
Use multiple source files that contain related data	Yes	No (You can only import one file at a time.)
Assign entity instances to multiple users	Yes	No (All entity instances are assigned to one user.)
Update existing entity instances	No	Yes
Detect duplicates	No (You can run duplicate detection after you migrate the data.)	Yes
Delete all entity instances associated with one job	Yes (Use bulk delete feature.)	Yes (Use bulk delete feature.)
Automatically map data based on column headings in the source file	No	Yes
Set the value of the createdon attribute for the entity from source data	Yes	No
Customize Microsoft Dynamics CRM to match source data	No (Custom entities and attributes can be created by Data Migration Manager.)	No (Customization must be done before import.)
Apply complex data transformation mapping	Yes	No
Import state and status information	Yes	No

Author: Arvind Singh

Solution Architect with 15+ years of exp. Dynamics CRM, Power Platform, Azure which includes Solution, Design, Development, Deployment, Maintenance and support experience. View all posts by Arvind Singh

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