Article

How to manage a phased Microsoft Dynamics CRM and GP upgrade and migration to the cloud

by Brad Trevaskis
Software Engineer, Crestwood Associates,

We recently came upon a challenge from a client who needed to upgrade a complex Microsoft Dynamics CRM environment and migrate it, along with a large number of Dynamics GP databases, to the cloud. They had a large user base and were concerned that all of the training and end user support happening at once would be disruptive.  

The customer had complex integrations running between Dynamics CRM and Dynamics GP and needed to upgrade both applications. However, their requirements were to do the CRM upgrade first and to take a phased approach - upgrading 6-12 business units at a time. As part of the cloud migration, they needed to migrate a single GP company with each corresponding CRM business unit, along with the associated integrations for each. 

Not your average approach 

A typical server move or upgrade approach would include the GP system database, typically called DYNAMICS, and all company databases. For this scenario, though, we needed to be able to move chunks of GP company databases while somehow keeping the DYNAMICS database in sync between their on-premise environment and the new cloud hosted environment. We reached out to the Dynamics partner community as well as Microsoft, and no one had encountered this scenario before. 

To address the needs of this unique client situation, we turned to our development team and brainstormed along with our senior technical consultants. Our development team built the Crestwood Data Migration Utility to allow us to migrate data from one database to ...

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About Brad Trevaskis

Brad joined Crestwood as a Software Engineer. Based in Wisconsin, Brad brings with him over 4 years of development experience and a strong focus in highly functional web applications integrating directly with Microsoft Dynamics GP. Brad has worked as a Software Developer as well as an IT Support Analyst in the warehouse, distribution, automotive and consulting industries. He possesses 7 years of customer service experience and specializes in database (MS SQL Server) backend development, dynamic web development, process improvement and automation as well as over 4 years in IT Support. Brad studied Applied Mathematics and Computer Sciences at University of Wisconsin-Stout and received his degree in Web and Software Development from Western Technical College.

Areas of knowledge and experience include:

  • .NET developer specializing in highly functional business applications.
  • 5+ years' experience developing high powered applications integrating with Microsoft Dynamics GP
  • 5+ years' experience in TSQL, VB.NET, ASP.NET, C#, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and multiple scripting languages
  • 6 years Customer Service Experience
  • Expert in Microsoft Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Word and Outlook
  • Knowledge in Java, RPG IV and C++
  • Advanced math skills (Calculus 3, Linear Algebra, Advanced Statistics 2)
  • 3 years' retail sales experience
  • Training program development

Education:

 

  • Western Technical College, La Crosse, Wisconsin - Degree in Web and Software Development
  • University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, Wisconsin - Studied Applied in Mathematics and Computer Sciences

 

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