A Must Have: Scribe Software - Data Migration Tool for Microsoft CRM

So, it is the 11th hour on a super big and high visibility Microsoft CRM project and guess what - the client decided they need to migrate a ?just identified? legacy system's data over to their new Microsoft CRM (Please note that this is NOT one of our Workopia's clients, but someone else's project that we are lending a hand to help - name will be undisclosed to protect the innocent!) And on top of that - their primary Microsoft CRM consultant on the project is no longer with the company.... You also probably asking how come they "didn't know" about another legacy system earlier??? Oh well...

So, you get the picture - 100% reaction mode!!! No easy way out of this one either, the timeline is FIXED!!! Now, I know the more experienced consultants out there know that this sort of situation happens all the time in our industry (not on my watch!). But, no biggie right! "Just go in and fix it" and if it was easy, they wouldn't need folks like us...

Long story short, the whole team pulled through. I have to say - that the folks I'd worked with on this project exemplified some of the top-notch, get things resolved characters I'd respect. No BSing around, get straight to the point, make the needed decisions and get on with it!

Ok, reading up to this point, you must be asking what the heck does this have to do with Scribe Software??? Well, speaking from my 12+ years of experience in this field, data migration at the 11th hour requires a few "must" haves without one checking oneself into a ?mental? motel afterwards:

1. Someone that really knows how the "whole" data migration process works, been in the trenches and SURVIVED so that the team feels confident during the "dark, dark hours" of data migration journey

2. A tool that is quick and easy to work with - so your team doesn't spend time "fighting the tool" and guess which tool I'm talking about and recommend - yup - Scribe Software!!! And make sure that someone in your data migration team KNOWS and is TRAINED on how to use the tool properly.

11th hour on a project and the Scribe tool performs like a champ... I will elaborate more on this later...

3. If you have questions or needed data, your team can get'em ASAP, even fast is not good enough! No long paperwork or time barriers here - can't afford to! If they don't know what they want and can't give you access to it at the 11th hour.... then they ain't gonna get it... (and you should just walk away to avoid being abused!)

OK, so more on Scribe Migration tool - for $495, your client get to use its feature for 45 days, not bad at all! Let's face it, the cost of most data migration project is on the 80/20 rule - 80% on the people's time! So spend the money and get this tool. It is Graphical!!! Mature and Flexible.

Two things on this Microsoft CRM project that Scribe really stood out:

1. Certain field ("responsiblecontactid") in the Case (incident) object is not accessible by the out of box Data Migration Framework (DMF) tool... Oops. But Scribe could.

2. Very flexible as it allows "multiple" ways to bring data in. For example, we've tried one approach but it didn't turn out well AND we don't have much time to trouble-shoot (remember it is the 11th hour!), so we've tried another approach and it worked. This really helps because Scribe doesn't lock you down to one way, and if that way doesn't work, you have "options" - great for the 11th hour project!


Now, what about the out of box Microsoft CRM Data Migration Framework (DMF) vs. Scribe Software tool you'd ask? Here is my take on it:

1. DMF is faster than Scribe since Scribe uses 100% Microsoft CRM SDK to access and manipulate the Microsoft CRM data, how much faster? ? I don't know, never benchmark it yet. So, on large data migration volume with millions and millions of records, the speed of DMF maybe of an advantage

2. DMF is not Graphical and thus require more "training", requires more SQL knowledge (not a bad thing for Complex Data Migration projects)

3. DMF is "FREE", well, included with your Microsoft CRM license anyway

So, the bottom-line - I think that if you can use Scribe for your data migration as the first tool option, USE IT, and if it doesn't work then use DMF.


Frank Lee
Workopia, Inc.

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