How Product Records Are Imported

The product catalog A compilation of all products that are available for sale. is composed of several record types:

• Product An item in the product catalog. Products can be linked to other records, such as quotes, campaigns, and cases.
• Price list A group of the specific prices that can be charged for each unit in the unit group of a product. Price lists are used to determine the pricing in a quote for a customer. A default price list can be added to a product.
• Unit group A compilation of the different measurements that a product is available in. A unit group contains the base unit in which a product is available, for example, a two-liter bottle. It then lists all the different increments that this base unit is packaged in for sale, such as an individual two-liter bottle or a case of 6 two-liter bottles, and also indicates which measurement is the primary unit.. When you enter a unit group record, you also create records in the unit A measurement that specifies in what quantity a product will be sold. record type.

A product cannot be entered unless it is associated with a unit group and default unit. In addition, including a default price list for each product is recommended.

Many other customer relationship management systems do not have all of these record types. Before you can import products, create these records types and direct your source files to the new records.

There are two approaches you can use:

• Create unit group, unit, and price list records in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Then create the required columns in your source data, and use the Import Data Wizard to map the data.
• Use transformations Types of mappings used to modify data before migrating it.Transformations include concatenation, split, replace, substring, assignment, and date modifications. in your data map A file that contains information about how data from a source system corresponds to data in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. to fill-in this data. Download the For Full Data Export data map or the For Report Export data map to look at the section for the product record type.

  Work with Data Maps

The rest of this topic describes using the Import Data Wizard to map the data.

Required Preparation in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Create unit group, unit, and price list records in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

1. In the Navigation Pane, click Settings, click Product Catalog, and then click Unit Groups. For more information about the Unit Groups form, click Help, and then click Help on This Page. Units are created as part of creating Unit Groups.
2. In the Navigation Pane, click Settings, click Product Catalog, and then click Price Lists. For more information about the Price Lists form, click Help, and then click Help on This Page .

Required Preparation in Source Files

Edit your products source file:

1. Make sure that your source file contains the following columns, at least: ID, Unit Group, Unit, and Price List.
2. For each record, in the ID column, specify an ID for the product.
3. For each record, in the new Unit Group column, enter one of the unit group names you entered in the Name field in the Unit Groups form.
4. For each record, in the new Unit column, enter one of the unit names you entered in the Name field in the Unit form.
5. For each record, in the new Price List column, enter one of the price list names you entered in the Name field in the Price List form.

Mapping in the Import Data Wizard

Map your new columns using the Import Data Wizard as follows:

• Unit Group. Map to the Name field.
• Unit. Map to the Name field.
• Price List. Map to the Name field.