Clean your purchase data before your Dynamics AX 2012 migration
Microsoft's extended support for Dynamics AX 2012 R3 ended on 11 January 2023. Companies still running it are already past the point of receiving security updates.
Where the data breaks
- Running an unsupported system means years of customised data are sitting on a platform Microsoft no longer patches.
- Procurement category hierarchies grew ad hoc across business units, so the same spend can sit under different categories depending on who set them up.
- Supplier and product records are spread across legal entities, often duplicated under different names in each one.
What it costs to leave it
Bad data doesn't stay behind when you migrate. It gets carried into the new system, where it causes extra test runs, a delayed go-live, and spend reports nobody trusts once the dust settles.
Where this fits in your migration
Plan and choose a partner
The business case is agreed and an implementation partner is chosen.
Assess the data
What exists, what to move, and what state it is in. Pearstop starts here, by checking and classifying your purchase and supplier data.
Design the new system
Processes, fields and how old data maps to new. Pearstop maps the cleaned data to the new system's fields.
Test the move
Before go-live, your partner tests the move by loading the data into a trial version of the new system, often several times. We hand over the cleaned data in the format the new system imports, so those tests don't fail on bad records.
Go live
The new system goes live for your teams.
Run
New invoices stay classified, so reporting doesn't slip back.
A mid-sized migration often takes six to twelve months; larger SAP and Oracle programmes often run a year or more. Data problems usually show up during the test runs, when there is least time to fix them.
Your teams, who own the data.
Keeps systems, access and integrations running through the move.
Sets up the new system.
Cleans and classifies the data.
The data that matters in a Dynamics 365 migration
- The procurement category hierarchy, which usually needs consolidating onto one standard rather than carried forward as-is.
- Vendors in the global address book across legal entities, where duplicates are common.
- Products and released products, which need checking for consistency before they move.
- Choosing between a data upgrade and a fresh start changes how much of this needs doing, and when.
What good data looks like
- One record per supplier, with no duplicates across entities.
- Every spend line labelled to one standard (UNSPSC or your own).
- Item and material descriptions written the same way.
- Units of measure consistent.
- Inactive suppliers and items flagged, not migrated.
- Every field mapped to the new system and documented.
- One procurement category hierarchy mapped to UNSPSC.
- Vendors de-duplicated across legal entities.
How Pearstop handles it
The data doesn't need to be clean first. AI classification handles the clear cases, and a person reviews anything uncertain. UNSPSC labels are mapped to Dynamics 365's fields, in the format your migration needs. New invoices stay classified after go-live, so reporting doesn't slip back into the same mess.
Work with your partner
Most migrations run through an implementation partner. We work alongside them, or directly with you. Your partner sets up the new system; we give them clean, classified data in the format their import tools need. Nobody's scope changes, and your partner's team can spend their time on the new system instead of fixing records.
Why start early
Bring us in when you assess the data, not after the first test run fails. You find duplicates, free-text lines and missing categories while there is still time to fix them, nothing has to be cleaned twice, and the test runs go faster because the data goes in cleanly. Some problems only show up once you look closely at how the data behaves, which is why it pays to work with someone who handles this data every day.
Frequently asked questions
Should we upgrade our AX 2012 data or start fresh in Dynamics 365?
Either path benefits from cleaning first: a data upgrade carries forward the same inconsistencies unless they're fixed beforehand, and a fresh start still needs someone to decide which of the old records are worth re-entering.
How do we clean procurement categories before moving to D365?
Map every existing category, across every legal entity, to a single standard such as UNSPSC before the move, so spend reporting in the new system is comparable across entities from day one.
Related reading
Send us 200 lines
We'll classify a sample of your purchase data and send it back so you can see what good data looks like before you commit to cleaning the rest.
