Copy data between Dynamics AX instances

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

This walkthrough illustrates the following tasks:

• Define the format of your source data
• Define a processing group
• Process data from source to staging
• Validate the data in staging
• Export the data to a file
• Import the data
• Validate the data in target

Prerequisites

To complete this walkthrough you will need:

• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, or Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3
• Data Import/Export Framework
• Demo data for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, or Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

The following diagram illustrates the path that data takes during the export and import processes.

Define the format of your source data

1. Open Data Import/Export Framework > Setup > Source data formats.
2. Click New, enter a name and a description, and then select AX from the Type list.

Define a processing group to export data from Microsoft Dynamics AX

1. Change the company to CEU.
2. In Data Import/Export Framework, click Common > Processing group, and then click New to create a new processing group.
3. Set the group name to Export-Cust and add a description.
4. Click Entities to select the entities to include in the processing group.
   1. In the Select entities for processing group form, click New, and then, for an entity name, select Customer.
   2. In the Source data format field, select the Microsoft Dynamics AX source data format that you created.
   3. Click the Select button, and then in the DMFCustomerTargetEntity form, on the Range tab, for Field, choose Created date and time, and for Criteria, enter > 9/1/2007, and then click OK.
   4. Close the Select entities for processing group form.

Process data from source to staging

1. In the Processing group form, select the Export-Cust group that you created, and click Get staging data. The Create a job ID for the staging data job form opens.
2. By default, an ID for the job is generated. If needed, you can modify the ID and add a description. Click OK. The Staging data execution form opens.
3. In the Staging data execution form, click Run. The Get data from source to staging form opens.
4. In the Get data from source to staging form, click OK to run immediately. The source data is copied to the staging tables.

Validate the data in staging

1. In Data Import/Export Framework, click Common > Processing group > Execution history, and then select the job that ran.
2. Click View staging data.
3. Review the staging data to validate that it matches the source.
4. Click Validate all to verify that all the related reference data is correct and present in the system.

Export the data to a file

1. In Data Import/Export Framework, click Common > Processing group, and then select the processing group to work with.
2. Click Export to AX, enter a file name, and then click OK. A .dat file of the data identified by the processing group is created.

Import the data

1. Open a client that is connected to the instance of Microsoft Dynamics AX that you want to import data into.
2. Validate that the current company is the one that you want to import the data into.
3. Click System administration > Common > Data export/import > Import.
4. On the General tab, select the data file that you want to import.
5. On the Batch tab, select the batch group that you want the import file to be processed with. All import jobs are run as batch tasks.

Validate the data in target

Verify that the customer data from the original instance is now displayed in the All Customers form. Click Accounts receivable > Common > Customer > All Customers form.