Last updated June 2014 © Copyright 2010-2014 JL Technical Group.

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Converting from ACT!

to Salesforce.com®

Using the Exporter® software

and Dataloader.io

Contents Getting Started .............................................................................................................. 1

Before you Begin ....................................................................................................................................... 1

Step 1 -- Export the ACT! data using Exporter ........................................................... 2

Step 2 -- Add Fields to Salesforce ............................................................................... 6

Adding a custom field to the Salesforce Contact Record ......................................................................... 6

Step 3 -- Import your data ............................................................................................. 9

ACCOUNT – Map ................................................................................................................................... 10

CONTACT Map ....................................................................................................................................... 11

NOTE_HISTORY – Map ......................................................................................................................... 12

ACTIVITY – Map ..................................................................................................................................... 13

OPPORTUNITY – Map ........................................................................................................................... 14

OPPORTUNITY NOTES/HISTORY– Map .............................................................................................. 15

SECONDARY CONTACTS– Map .......................................................................................................... 16

Appendix A – Preparing your ACT! Database .......................................................... 17

Finding Duplicates ................................................................................................................................... 17

Remove the Old Data. ............................................................................................................................. 18

Appendix B – How the differences are handled ....................................................... 19

Account Assignment ............................................................................................................................... 19

Blank Contacts ........................................................................................................................................ 19

Account Addresses ................................................................................................................................. 19

Groups ..................................................................................................................................................... 20

Secondary contacts (ACT! 2005+ only) ................................................................................................. 20

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Getting Started

Before you Begin

Data Clean-up -- You need to make certain your ACT! database is free of duplicate records,

does not contain blank records and contains only the data you want to bring into Salesforce.

User Set-up – You are probably not going to transfer all the users from your ACT! database

into Salesforce. You should set up the users that will be moving to Salesforce before running

the export

The Exporter will allow you to reassign ACT! users to your SFDC users.

Salesforce users must be Active Users if you plan to assign data to them.

Testing – You can run the Exporter in evaluation mode which will produce a 200 contact

sample (Selection on the Exporter Custom Controls tab). This will allow you to test a small

number before the actual full migration. After you have completed the test, you can delete the

sample by using the SFDC Mass Delete function. Search for Accounts where the AccountID

contains a dash ( - ).

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Step 1 -- Export the ACT! data using Exporter

There is a separate User Guide for the Exporter. It is recommended that you read it before

proceeding.

1. Select the version of your ACT! database.

2. Select the Salesforce.com option.

3. Select the SQL Server Instance you are using to read the database (This is required for ACT!

2005+ and above. See Exporter User Guide for more information)

4. Browse to your ACT! database and select it

5. Browse to a folder to put the exported data and select it

6. Specify how you want Accounts built.

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7. Remap the any ACT! users

8. Apply any filters

9. Click the Export button

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When the Exporter completes, there will be a folder named Salesforce_com located in the path

specified in Step 5. There will be several files, all with a .csv extension, and a folder named Auxiliary

Tables. .

See Appendix A of the Exporter User Guide for a description of each file.

All the files can be opened with Excel by double clicking on the file icon.

Before loading your data, will need to use the following files to setup your Salesforce.com org.

Migration_Summary.CSV – this is a list of the ACT! fields that did not map to Salesforce

fields. If you plan to transfer these, you will need to add them to Salesforce.

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There’s also other information in this file that enumerates how your data is distributed. This

may help you decide if you would like to apply any filters to the data instead of importing

everything. Any field that have been created by the Exporter and not part of the ACT!

database will be prefaced by X_. Where fields are part of the ACT! database but in conflict

with the SFDC database, the field will be prefaced by ACT_.

PickList.CSV– This files contains a list of fields that have pick list (drop downs) in ACT!. If

you want to use the pick list in Salesforce, you can copy the values and when you define the

field in Salesforce, paste the list into the Salesforce field.

If there are more than 200 items or the width is longer than 40, the list cannot be used as a Salesforce Picklist

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Step 2 -- Add Fields to Salesforce

You will probably not want to add all ACT! fields to Salesforce. However, you MUST add the

ACT_AccountID ( SFDC Accounts), ACT_ContactID (SFDC Contacts) and OpportunityID (SFDC

Opportunities) fields. This allows the Notes, History etc. from ACT! to be linked to its parent record

in SFDC. The following steps illustrate adding the ACT_ContactID field. Follow this procedure for

all the fields you will be adding. If you need additional assistance, the Salesforce web site has several

tutorials and videos..

We recommend that when you create the new fields in Salesforce you match the names in ACT! This will allow

the import program to auto match your fields. If you want to change the names, you can do so after the import

is complete.

Adding a custom field to the Salesforce Contact Record

Start Salesforce and select the Setup option

From the App Setup section select Customize and click the Customize your Contacts tab

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Select Add a custom field to contacts

Select New

Select the type of field you want to add

The ACT_Migration_Summary list produced by the Exporter will contain this information.

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Add the field information exactly as it appears in the list produced by the Exporter

Type the Field Name exactly as it appears in the list from Exporter. This will allow the Salesforce import wizard

to map the field automatically.

For the ACT_ContactID, ACT_AccountID and ACT_OpportunityID, select the “External ID” checkbox.

Repeat the above steps until you’ve added all the fields from ACT! that you want to use in

Salesforce.

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Step 3 -- Import your data

The dataloader.io utility is being used for these instructions. Dataloader.io is a free utility that can be

found at www.dataloader.io . While there are other import utilities for SFDC (Jitterbit, Apex Data

Loader etc.) we have found that because dataloader.io allows easy linking of parent/child records it’s

the best suited for small to mid-sized databases.

We have included sample import maps and the critical relationship fields for each of the objects listed

below. If you need additional assistance, there are demos and instructions on both the Dataloader.io

and Salesforce sites.

The order for import is:

1. Accounts (ACCOUNT.CSV) import>insert into Account Object

2. Contacts (CONTACT.CSV) import>insert into Contact Object

3. Notes & History (ACTIVITY_HISTORY.CSV) import>insert into Task Object

4. Activities (TASKS_EVENTS.CSV) import>insert into Task or EventsObject

5. Opportunities (OPPORTUNITY.CSV) import>insert into Opportunity Object

a. Opportunity Notes (OPP_ACTIVITY_HISTORY) import>insert into Task Object

6. Secondary Contacts (SECONDARY_CONTACT.CSV) – SQL only>insert into Contact

Object

The exported fields are named so that they will be automatically mapped. In the Maps that follow, the

fields that you need to use the Lookup via feature are indicated you will find each noted..

Depending on the complexity of your ACT! database, there are several extended imports that can be done.

These files are found in the Auxiliary Tables folder. If you plan to use these files, you will need to consult the

Salesforce documentation to migrate them.

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ACCOUNT – Map

Insert into SFDC Account Object

.

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CONTACT Map

Insert into SFDC Contact Object

.

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ACTIVITY_HISTORY – Map

Insert into SFDC Task Object – Included in Activity History section of the Account/Contact. This includes the

Notes and History tab information from ACT!

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TASKS_EVENTS – Map

Insert into SFDC Task or Event Object – The ACT! Activities will be included in the SFDC Open Activities

section. If you want timed events, then you can load into the Event object. We recommend using the Task

Object.

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OPPORTUNITY – Map

Insert into SFDC Opportunity Object

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OPPORTUNITY NOTES/HISTORY– Map

Insert into SFDC task Object – will be included in the Activity/History section of the Opportunity

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SECONDARY CONTACTS– Map

Insert into SFDC Contact Object – will be included in the Contact List – the Reports To field will be populated

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Appendix A – Preparing your ACT! Database

Finding Duplicates

ACT 2005+: You can use ACT! to find these records. To do this, select Scan for Duplicates from

the Tools menu.

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Remove the Old Data.

ACT! allows you to save a lot of “stuff” . Unfortunately, a lot the the “stuff” is really junk. So, you

might want to take some time and get rid of the data that you will never use.

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Appendix B – How the differences are handled

There are many differences in structure between the ACT! and Salesforce databases. The following

explains how the Exporter deals with these:

Account Assignment

In Salesforce.com, if a contact is not assigned to a company, then the record owner is the only user

that has access to the contact. Therefore, when the import files are prepared, each contact is assigned

an account using the following rules.

If a contact belongs to an ACT! Company, the account information for that contact will be taken from

the ACT! Company data. The UniqueID for the company will be placed in the Salesforce.com Site

field.

If a contact does not belong to an ACT! Company and the Company name is present in the contact’s

record, then this company name will be used to create a Salesforce.com account.

If a contact does not belong to an ACT! Company and does not have a company name in the record,

the contact will be assigned to a Salesforce.com Account called “ACT! Blank Company – Reassign”

Blank Contacts

If the Contact name is blank and there is a Company name, then the contact will be named Contact at

companyname.

Account Addresses

ACT! Companies can have three address fields. Salesforce.com only has two. When ACT! company

data is used to populate the Salesforce.com Account addresses the following rules are used:

If the ACT! Company Billing Address field is blank, the Address is moved to the Salesforce.com

Billing Address.

If both the ACT! Company and billing addresses contain data, the ACT! Company address is put into a

field which will need to be created labeled, ACT_Company_Address.

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Groups

There are no groups in Salesforce.com. However, they can be simulated using Salesforce views.

Exporter provides a field labeled Group Membership which contains a list of all the groups the contact

belongs to. To use this in Salesforce, do the following:

1. On the Contacts home page, click the Create a New View option.

2. Give the view a name –e.g., the name of your ACT! Group

3. Specify the filter for the group

a. In the Field dropdown, select the Group Membership field.

b. In the Operator field, select contains

c. In the Value field, enter the name of the group.

Secondary contacts (ACT! 2005+ only)

Salesforce does not have a similar function to ACT!’s secondary contacts. If you want to include

secondary contacts, you will need to load them separately. Secondary contacts will be linked to their

primary contact in Salesforce. You will see the primary ContactID in the Reports To: field of

Salesforce.