Use Case Corner—Scribe Migrate for Microsoft CRM: Data Migration
Applications are only as useful as the data they contain, and customer data is an ongoing part of your overall CRM strategy. Scribe Migrate for Microsoft CRM, shown in Figure 13.26, combines two Scribe technology components, Scribe Migrate and the Scribe Adapter for Microsoft CRM. Scribe Migrate for Microsoft CRM enables you to populate Microsoft CRM with customer data from text or spreadsheet files, databases, legacy systems, contact managers, and packaged CRM applications without the need for custom programming. It is a valuable tool for performing initial data migrations into Microsoft CRM, but has the flexibility to be utilized on a recurring basis for ongoing list loads and bulk inserts.
Figure 13.26. The Scribe Migrate workbench interface.
Scribe's technology has been resold for more than five years by leading CRM vendors, and is used daily by thousands of end users to perform initial data migrations, recurring data loads, data enhancements and standardization, and duplicate management. Scribe Migrate for Microsoft CRM transforms, standardizes, and moves customer data into Microsoft CRM in one step. It is equipped with a variety of predefined functions for data lookups, parsing, sound matches, and bulk inserts, which increase efficiency when configuring data translations.
Migrating Customer Data
Scribe Migrate for Microsoft CRM has a graphical user interface, which is designed for nonprogrammers, and is architected to support a data-centric approach to migration and integration. It consists mainly of Scribe's Workbench component, which allows you to create and define data translation specification templates. These templates store specifications such as source and target information, data mappings, formulas, and data cleansing rules.
Upon log in, users select data objects in the source application that will be mapped to data objects in Microsoft CRM. Users can choose from more than 40 Microsoft CRM data objects, including Account, Activity, Contact, Opportunity, Quote, SalesOrder.
Connectivity
Out of the box, Scribe Migrate for Microsoft CRM provides connectivity to a variety of different sources, including ACT!, Goldmine, Exchange/Outlook, SQL Server, Oracle, and ODBC data sources. In addition to the Scribe Adapter for Microsoft CRM, Scribe has developed Adapters for other leading applications, which can be purchased separately as add-ons. Adapters are the interfaces that allow Scribe to intelligently connect to the database and process the data. An adapter can interface with the source database, target database, or both. Scribe Adapters are dynamic, reflecting any changes in a customized application automatically. All Scribe Adapters are designed to understand the data rules and business logic of applications, and provide intelligent connections to databases or APIs.
Availability
Scribe Migrate for Microsoft CRM is available directly from Scribe, or through Scribe Migrate for Microsoft CRM Certified Resellers.
A live trial of the software and more information on ordering the product can be found at www.scribesoft.com.
About Scribe Software Corporation
Scribe Software develops advanced migration and integration software technology that is primarily focused on the CRM market. Scribe's technology-based solutions make CRM applications work seamlessly with the Web, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications, and other CRM systems. Scribe Software is a Microsoft Certified Partner and a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer. For additional information, visit www.scribesoft.com.