Case study · Professional services
Moving CRM without losing the history
Companies move from Salesforce to Dynamics 365 to consolidate on Microsoft or to reduce cost. This is how we migrated accounts, opportunities, activities and customisations with history intact, rebuild integrations and switch over without a gap in sales activity.
Project overview
A like-for-like-plus CRM migration to Dynamics 365.
- Industry
- Professional services
- Client
- Confidential
- Solution
- CRM migration
- From
- Salesforce Sales Cloud
- To
- Dynamics 365 Sales
- Timeline
- 12–20 weeks
- Team
- 5 people
- Data
- Records, activities, attachments
- Cut-over
- Weekend switch
Expected business outcomes
What the client set out to achieve
Success is measured by continuity: nothing lost, nobody stopped.
-
100%
Of agreed records migrated
Accounts, contacts, opportunities and activities reconciled record by record.
Against a migration scope agreed at the start
-
Weekend
Cut-over window
The final migration runs over a weekend after two rehearsals.
For a CRM of this size
-
Varies
Licence cost change
Depends on the Microsoft 365 agreement and user types.
Calculated per company during discovery
Business challenges
Why the client moved
Most moves are about fitting the rest of the Microsoft estate.
Productivity
Staff work in Outlook and Teams, and CRM feels separate.
Integration
ERP and reporting are on Microsoft, CRM isn't.
Customisation
Years of Salesforce customisations nobody fully understands.
Cost
Licensing reviewed at renewal time.
Timing
The renewal date sets a hard deadline for the migration.
Proposed solution
What the migration covers
A migration is also a chance to drop what nobody uses.
-
Customisation review
Objects, fields, flows and validation rules reviewed: keep, simplify or drop.
-
Data model
Salesforce objects mapped to Dynamics tables, including custom objects.
-
Data migration
Records, relationships, activities and attachments migrated with IDs kept for reference.
-
Integrations
Marketing, ERP and telephony integrations rebuilt on Dynamics.
-
Reports and dashboards
Key reports rebuilt in Dynamics and Power BI.
-
Training
Role-based training focused on what changes for each team.
Project requirements
What the client asked us for
The request was 'move everything'. We recommended moving everything that was used, which was much less than everything that existed.
The renewal date drives the plan, so rehearsals start early enough to leave margin for surprises.
What the project had to deliver
- 01Complete, reconciled data
- 02Only customisations that matter
- 03Integrations rebuilt
- 04A calm cut-over weekend
Key challenges & considerations
What made it harder, and what we did
-
Undocumented Salesforce automations
What we did
Every Salesforce automation was listed and questioned, and only the ones still in use were rebuilt.
-
Large attachment volumes
What we did
Attachments were migrated in bulk to SharePoint and linked back to their records.
-
AppExchange apps without a Dynamics equivalent
What we did
Each AppExchange app was replaced with a standard feature, a Power Platform build, or retired.
-
A fixed renewal deadline
What we did
Rehearsals started early, so the final weekend cut-over ahead of the renewal date held no surprises.
What we watched for
- Start rehearsals early
- Question every customisation
- Keep Salesforce IDs for reference
- Train by role, not by feature
Development process
Review, map, rehearse, switch
Two rehearsals before the real migration.
-
Discovery
Salesforce org analysed: objects, automations, integrations and usage.
-
Design and build
Dynamics configured and integrations rebuilt.
-
Rehearsal one
Full data migration to a test environment and reconciliation.
-
Rehearsal two and UAT
Second migration with user acceptance testing on real data.
-
Cut-over
Final migration over a weekend, with support on Monday.
Technology stack
From Salesforce to Dataverse
Proven migration tooling and Microsoft's CRM platform.
CRM
- Dynamics 365 Sales
- Dataverse
- Model-driven apps
Migration
- Data migration tooling
- Azure Data Factory
- Reconciliation scripts
Integration
- ERP connectors
- Marketing platform
- Telephony
Reporting
- Dynamics dashboards
- Power BI
Quality assurance & deployment
Tested by the people who use it every day
A CRM succeeds when people choose to use it. Every process was tested with real users on real scenarios, and data migration was rehearsed until the record counts agreed.
- Scenario testing with users from each role
- Migration rehearsals, with record counts reconciled
- Integration tests for every connected system
- Security roles checked against real job roles
- Solutions moved between environments as managed releases
Deployment
- 01Rehearsal two and UATSecond migration with user acceptance testing on real data.
- 02Cut-overFinal migration over a weekend, with support on Monday.
- 03Phased go-liveOne team or region first, then the rest, each wave with training by role.
- 04Hypercare and warrantyDaily support through the first weeks, and six months of free bug fixing.
Final deliverables
Same history, better fit
Users log in on Monday to Dynamics 365 with their accounts, opportunities and history in place, working inside Outlook and Teams.
The CRM is simpler than before, because customisations nobody used were left behind.
- Reconciled data migration
- Simplified customisations
- Rebuilt integrations
- Trained users on day one
Handed over to the client
- 01Configured Dynamics 365Production and test environments
- 02Solutions and integrationsAs managed, documented releases
- 03Migrated dataWith record counts reconciled
- 04Training by roleWith short guides
- 05Six-month warrantyFree bug fixing after delivery
Success metrics
How success is measured
| Measure | Outcome | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|
| Of agreed records migrated | 100% | Against a migration scope agreed at the start |
| Cut-over window | Weekend | For a CRM of this size |
| Licence cost change | Varies | Calculated per company during discovery |
Verified reviews
What clients say about our Dynamics work
Verified reviews from our clients on the same kind of work, published on Clutch.
-
Custom Software Development
Web-Based Coupon App Development
The work produced by the team was of exceptional quality.
Jon Thies
CTO, Model Rocket Feb 2022 – Mar 2023
-
Custom Software Development
Mobile & Web Platform Development & Design
Silver Scintilla was responsive, respectful, and enjoyable to work with, quickly addressing any questions or requests.
DeShawn Brown
CEO & Founder, Lithios Jun 2021 – Nov 2022
-
Custom Software Development
Web-Based HRM System Development
Silver Scintilla provided the best solution with scalable functionality, personalized features, and robust security.
Suheb Khan
Director, Collaborative Insight Technologies Jul 2020 – Jun 2022
Free discovery call
Have an idea? Let's turn it into AI-powered software.
Book a free discovery call with our experts. Share your idea and we will help you shape the scope, timeline and budget, under NDA.
- Free consultation
- NDA before we talk
- Transparent estimate