Dynamics 365 Human Resources customer migration

Applies to these Dynamics 365 apps:
Human Resources

Customer migration is a "lift-and-shift migration" (movement) of a customer database to the finance and operations infrastructure. Automated migration tooling is used for it. The result is a new finance and operations environment that uses the customer's Human Resources database.

Human Resources migration TechTalk

To learn more about migration tooling, prerequisites, migration steps, and considerations, see this TechTalk: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Human Resources Infrastructure Merge.

Prerequisites

User access and permissions

• The Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services user should have the Organization admin role.
• The user should be able to create Azure DevOps projects or use an existing Azure DevOps project.
• The user should have access to create an Azure DevOps Personal Access Security Token, or should have a token that is available to use.

Dataverse environment backup (Sandbox)

• Optional but recommended: Refresh the existing Human Resources sandbox environment by using a copy of the Human Resources production environment.
• Create a new Dataverse environment by using the Power Platform admin center.
• Copy the existing Dataverse environment, which is linked to the standalone Human Resources, to the environment that you created in the previous step.

Dataverse capacity

1. Use the Summary page in the Power Platform admin center to verify that Dataverse storage has enough available capacity for the environment copy.
2. If there isn't enough available capacity, use the guidance for freeing up storage space to reduce the overall consumption. Customers can also add additional storage capacity.

Customer migration process

Create a Lifecycle Services project for Human Resources migration

The first step is to create a new finance and operations Implementation project in Lifecycle Services. The customer will have an existing Human Resources Lifecycle Services project. The existing Human Resources environments will be migrated to the new finance and operations implementation project.

To create a new project, follow these steps.

1. Sign in to Lifecycle Services as the designated service account user.
2. On the Lifecycle Services home page, select Create/new (+).
3. Select finance and operations apps as the product.
4. In the Project purpose field, select Implementation.
5. Enter a project name and description.
6. In the Project custom type field, select Microsoft Dynamics 365 Human Resources migration.
7. Select the checkbox to agree to the terms and conditions.
8. Select Create.

After you've created a new Lifecycle Services project, follow these steps to set up and configure the project.

1. Select Project onboarding to complete the project onboarding. For more information, see Project onboarding.

   • Select the same region as your current environments. This selection won't affect migration.
   • For legacy systems, select Other.

2. Complete the project settings. As part of this step, you should configure the SharePoint Online library, Azure DevOps, and Azure connections if they are required. For more information, see Lifecycle Services (LCS) user guide.

Migrate a Human Resources sandbox environment

Prepare to migrate the sandbox environment

After a new Lifecycle Services project has been created, and the project onboarding process has been completed, you're ready to migrate your first environment. Before you start this process, we recommend that you refresh the sandbox environment that you want to migrate from your production environment on the standalone infrastructure.

Prepare a Power Platform environment

• In the Power platform admin center, create an environment with a database to use for sandbox migration, or select an existing environment.
• Copy an environment to refresh the Power Platform environment that is used for mapping.

Migrate the sandbox environment

1. Sign in to Lifecycle Services as the designated service account user.

   Note

   We recommend that you use a named user account. The signed-in user should have the Project owner or Environment manager security role in the standalone Human Resources Lifecycle Services project.

2. Open the newly created Human Resources migration project.

3. Review and complete the appropriate phases of the migration methodology and the project onboarding.

4. On the project dashboard, in the Default: Standard acceptance test pane, select Migrate HR.

5. In the Select environment to migrate pane, select appropriate Lifecycle Services project and the originating Human Resources environment (from your source standalone Human Resources application).

6. Enable Map to new Power Platform environment, and select the appropriate Power Platform environment. Then select Next.

7. Complete the Deployment settings (finance and operations – sandbox) wizard to confirm details and customer sign-off, and then select Deploy.

The environment state will show the progress. The state will be changed from Loading to Deploying to Deployed.

Considerations and assumptions

A Human Resources sandbox environment exists in a Lifecycle Services project on the tenant that has the following characteristics:

• The Human Resources sandbox environment isn't linked to an existing merged environment. Only one migration at a time can be in progress for a given Human Resources environment.

• The number of sandbox environments that are allowed at a time is based on Human Resources licensing. If enough licensing has been purchased for the tenant, additional sandbox environments will be listed in the Environments pane of the project.

• Migrations must be done to environments of the same type. In other words, only sandbox-to-sandbox or production-to-production migrations can be done.

  Note

  Only Human Resources environment types are considered when the production or sandbox status is determined. If the environments are incorrectly categorized (that is, a production environment is marked as a sandbox environment, or a sandbox environment is marked as a production environment), contact Support.

• If the migration isn't successful, a failure error message will be shown, and a Delete button will become available. Use this button to delete the failed migration. You can then remigrate the environment.

Validate the sandbox migration

After the sandbox migration process is successfully completed, create a detailed testing plan to verify and sign off on all business processes.

Before you begin testing, validate the following details:

• Confirm that the migrated environment is accessible at the URL that is generated.
• Confirm that users can access the migrated sandbox.
• Confirm that the Dataverse environment that is associated with the migrated sandbox environment is accessible.
• Spot-check different data to confirm that the most up-to-date data is available.
• Complete the critical business processes for validation.
• Confirm that your security policies are applicable.
• Confirm that batch jobs are triggered as expected.

For more information, see FAQ for self-service deployment.

Migrate a Human Resources production environment

After you've finished migrating and validating a sandbox environment, follow these steps to migrate the production environment.

Prerequisites

• The Subscription estimator should be completed.
• The Human Resources migration Go-live readiness assessment should be completed.
• The user initiating the Production migration in Lifecycle services should have a System administrator role on the Power Platform.

Migrate the production environment

1. Sign in to Lifecycle Services as the designated service account user.

   Note

   We recommend that you use a named user account. The signed-in user should have the Project owner or Environment manager security role in the Lifecycle Services project.

2. Open the new Human resources migration project.

3. Review and complete the appropriate phases of the migration methodology and project onboarding.

4. On the project dashboard, in the Production pane, select Migrate HR.

5. In the Select environment to migrate pane, select the appropriate Lifecycle Services project and the originating Human Resources environment (from your source standalone Human Resources application). Then select Next.

6. Complete the Deployment settings (finance and operations – sandbox) wizard to confirm details and customer sign-off, and then select Deploy.

The environment state will show the deployment progress. The state will be changed from Loading to Deploying to Deployed.

Post-migration considerations

• Apply the latest quality updates to your environments.
• If you're using virtual tables, reconfigure the endpoints. If you're using Human Resources virtual tables in integration scenarios, see the Human Resources virtual tables in integration section for more information.
• Reconfigure dual-write integration. Evaluate which entities must be enabled.
• Consider using virtual tables to replace dual-write for integration.
• All remaining standalone Human Resources environments will automatically be deleted ten days after successful migration of the production environment to the finance and operations infrastructure.
• If Power BI is needed in the migrated finance and operations environment, complete the steps in Administration overview.
• If you're configuring integration with finance and operations apps, see Migration considerations.

Dual-write integration

Prerequisites

Follow these steps to install Dynamics 365 Human Resources common tables.

1. Go to the Power Platform admin center, and select the environment.
2. In the Resources section, select Dynamics 365 apps, and then select Install app.
3. Select Dynamics 365 Human Resources common tables, and install the latest version.
4. Verify that the installation was successfully completed.

Follow these steps to add dual-write permissions.

1. In the Power Platform admin center, confirm that the dual-write Dynamic 365 Human Resources and Dynamics 365 Human Resources common tables solutions are installed.
2. Select your environment.
3. In the Access section, under Teams, select See all.
4. Select the business unit that has the same name as the environment, and then select Manage security roles.
5. Select System administrator and Human Resources administrator permissions, and then select Save.

After the relevant maps are configured, follow these steps.

1. Go to Data management > Dual write UI.
2. In Integration key, confirm that the correct keys are set. If any of the keys differ, update them.
3. For modified integration keys, you must stop the map, refresh, and then select Start map again for the keys that were updated.

Set up Microsoft Power Platform dual-write integration

1. Go to the Power Platform admin center, and select Environments in the left navigation.
2. Select the previously copied/refreshed environment, and confirm that the state is Ready.
3. Go to Lifecycle Services, and confirm that the status of the migration project is Deployed.
4. Under the migrated environment, select Full details to review additional details and set up a dual-write application.
5. In the Dual-write application configuration pane, select the checkbox to agree to map and sync data between databases, and then select Configure.
6. When a message box notifies you of successful dual-write configuration, select OK.
7. You can monitor the progress of the configuration in the details.
8. When the configuration is completed, select Link to Power Platform environment to sync the available data entities.
9. When the status indicates that the environments have been successfully linked, go to the Power Platform admin center to review and select the appropriate data entities.
10. In the left pane, select Dynamics 365 apps > Resources.
11. Confirm that the status of the dual-write Human Resources app is Enabled.
12. Select the dual-write Human Resources app, and then select Install.
13. In the Install dual-write Dynamics 365 Human Resources app pane, select the appropriate environment to install the package in.
14. Select the checkbox to agree to the terms of service, and then select Install.
15. In the Dynamics 365 app environment, the status will be Installing while the installation is in progress. It will be updated to Installed when the installation is completed.

Review and apply a dual-write solution

1. In the new finance and operations environment, go to Data management > Dual-write.
2. Select Apply solution.
3. In the pane, select Dynamics installed solutions, Dual-write applications core entity maps, and Dynamics 365 Human Resources maps. Then select Apply. A message confirms that the solution is being applied. After the solution is successfully applied, all the available table maps will be shown.
4. Review the available table maps to select and run the integration by using dual-write.
5. When you run the dual-write integration for the first time for table maps, select the Initial sync checkbox. If there's an existing integration from the source Human Resources environment, you don't have to select the Initial sync checkbox when you run the integration for table maps.

Human Resources virtual tables in integration

1. Configure the finance and operations virtual entity. For more information, see Configure Dataverse virtual entities.

2. If you're using Human Resources virtual tables in any integration scenario, all virtual tables have the prefix "mshr" in a Human Resources standalone environment. In a finance and operations environment, the tables have the prefix "mserp." You must update the integration so that it uses the virtual tables that have the "mserp" prefix. The changes will be specific to your integration codebase. A global search to find "mshr" and replace it with "mserp" can help.

3. After you've updated the prefix to "mserp," you can enable relevant entities by using the Available finance and operations entities catalog Dataverse table.

4. If you can't update the prefix from "mshr" to "mserp" for the integration, a temporary solution is to point the Human Resources data source configuration to the finance and operations data source configuration that is used for authentication.

   Follow these steps to install the Dynamics 365 Human Resources Virtual Tables app and use virtual tables that have the "mshr" prefix.

   1. Go to Power Platform admin center.

   2. On the Environments tab, select the Dataverse environment that your finance and operations instance is connected to.

   3. In the Resources section, select Dynamics 365 apps.

   4. Select Install app.

   5. In the Install Dynamics 365 apps dialog box, find and select the Dynamics 365 HR Virtual Tables app, and then select Next.

   6. Agree to the terms of service, and then select Install to start the app installation.

      Note

      Installation of the app might take several minutes.

5. Uninstall Dynamic 365 HR Virtual Tables app. All prefix entities that have the "mshr" prefix are removed from Dataverse.

Recommended practices

This section outlines recommendations for migrating from the standalone infrastructure to the finance and operations infrastructure.

• We highly recommend that you work with your Microsoft Dynamics partner to get help with your Human Resources environment migration.
• Plan appropriate time to do full user acceptance testing (UAT) on the sandbox migrated environment.
• Plan and document the detailed steps to migrate integrations to the migrated environment.
• Create a detailed checklist to outline the cutover process for your migration.
• Plan an appropriate amount of downtime for your business while you do the migration.
• We highly recommend that FastTrack-qualified customers work with their FastTrack solution architect to get help overseeing the migration process.
• We highly recommend that you refresh your sandbox environment in the standalone infrastructure before you do the first migration. This refresh should include your Dataverse environment that is connected to the sandbox environment that you plan to migrate to.
• We highly recommend that you use a service account when you deploy, migrate, and create your Lifecycle Services project.
• Plan to upgrade the sandbox environment for UAT validation on the latest general availability (GA) release. For more information, see considerations.