Leaving Dynamics for a simpler CRM: what to check

Before migrating from Microsoft Dynamics to a simpler CRM, review what your organization built on top of it: the fields that were added, the rules that did things on their own, the connections to other systems and each record's identifier. What you find decides what gets imported, what gets redone by hand and which job now needs a named owner.

Picture a fifteen-person consultancy that has used Dynamics for years. A partner did the implementation and added custom fields and rules, and the people who asked for them no longer work there. The team decides to move to something simpler, exports the clients and finds that nobody knows what half the columns mean.

Every installation is different, depending on its version and on how whoever set it up configured it. So this list focuses on what your team uses; how to export is something the person who runs your current installation knows.

Take stock of what your team uses

Ask each role which screens, lists and reports they open in a normal week. Sales will name some, collections others, and whoever handles requests others again. Whatever nobody mentions probably does not need to travel.

With the export in front of you, put each column in one of three boxes: used and filled in, exists but is almost always empty, or nobody knows what it is. The third box saves the most time, because it forces you to ask before importing something nobody understands. If you want a general rule for deciding which data to bring, it is in what data to bring when you switch CRMs.

Custom fields: which ones have a place in the new CRM

Fields added over the years are the hardest part of a heavily configured system. For each one, ask whether anyone makes a decision with that piece of data.

If the answer is yes, first check whether it already has a standard place. In AgentticCRM the client record holds the legal name, the tax ID, the billing address, the currency and language you write to them in, and the person on your team who handles the account. If the data does not come built in, you add it to the client record and it becomes available to the whole team. If nobody decides anything with that field, leave it in the export.

Automatic rules that will move to a person or another feature

A heavily configured system often does things nobody remembers asking for: notifying someone, assigning a record, sending an email, flagging a date. When you leave it, those actions stop happening, and nobody notices for weeks.

List everything that happened on its own and, for each rule, write down how it will carry on. Some have a direct equivalent in AgentticCRM: tasks that repeat every week, month, quarter or year; recurring invoices; payment reminders before and after the due date; follow-up reminders on the client record. The ones with no equivalent go to a named person. The migration guide is there to write down each decision.

Connections to other systems

Check what came into the CRM from outside and what went out to other systems: website forms, email, accounting, invoicing. For each connection, decide whether it gets rebuilt, replaced or is no longer needed. Anything that arrives through an AgentticCRM form is already in the CRM with no spreadsheet in between. General accounting stays with your accountant, because AgentticCRM records proposals, invoices, payments and expenses tied to the client and does not replace an accounting system.

Identifiers and a test load

Keep the column with each record's identifier in the export. In AgentticCRM's data import, each record keeps the identifier it carried from your old system, so if you fix the file and import it again, what is already there gets updated instead of duplicated.

You upload the file exactly as it came out: Excel, CSV, TSV, text, Markdown, Word or PDF. AgentticCRM proposes what each column maps to, you choose which sheets and columns go in, and you review row by row. Every row arrives marked as new, as an update, or flagged with what it is missing, and nothing is saved until you confirm. Before a big load, save a recovery point so you can go back if something does not fit.

The order we recommend is clients and contacts first, then the service catalog and the team, and closed work last. A ChatGPT or Claude connected to your organization brings in that history with its original dates and status, and loading it sends no email to your clients.

During the migration you may need to hand a large export to someone outside, such as the consultant helping you. That is what our piece on sending large files to a client with control is for.

Frequently asked questions

Does AgentticCRM import directly from Dynamics?

The import works with files. You export from your current system and upload the file as it came out, with no exact template required.

What happens if I import the same file twice?

Nothing is duplicated. Each record keeps the identifier it came with, and the second load updates what is already there.

Do old tickets keep their conversation?

Yes. An old ticket comes in with its conversation, and each message stays under the name of whoever wrote it.

What happens to the file I upload?

Seven days after the load finishes, the file and the contact details it carried are deleted.