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Frequently asked Questions for ACT-to-BCM

I am switching from ACT 6.0 to BCM 2007. During the importing process I get the error message "Some errors occurred while your data was being imported. Wrong file version”

Open the “.bcm” file converted from ACT File, change its header's version from "3.0" to "3,0" (or the correct format according to the Windows locale, you can check that in control panel->regional and language options -> Standards and formats)and try to import that “.bcm” file again.

I would like to convert ACT 9.0 to BCM.

The SP1 release supports conversion of ACT 9.0 to BCM

I have ACT 6.0 on an XP machine. My new Vista 64 computer has BCM 2007 but will not allow me to install ACT. Do you have any ideas on how to migrate to BCM on the new computer?

On the Vista 64 machine, copy the ImportUtility folder from C:\Program Files\Microsoft Small Business\Business Contact Manager and paste it into the XP machine. Run BcmImportUtility.exe on the XP machine, and convert ACT data into a bcm file.  Bring this .bcm file into the Vista 64 machine and convert all your ACT data.

Converting ACT 6.0 gives the choices: Contact, Group, and Product. I would like to convert "Company"(ACT) to Account"(BCM), but it's not listed.

Company Field in ACT started from ACT 7 onwards.  It is not there in ACT 6.
Posted: Monday, May 19, 2008 11:40 PM by bcmteam

Comments

dave_dth said:

I am trying to import an ACT 6.0 database into BCM 2007, the database converts fine to a .bcm file but when I try to import the .bcm into BCM 2007 it stop half way through and generates a log file one of the most common error is “Field is unknown or this field value is not settable”. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I can also send on the log file if required.

# June 10, 2008 12:14 PM

bcmteam said:

Hi Dave,

Does this error completely stops the import process? Can you please check your bcm database and verify how much data has been imported. Also if you know the record that causes this error message please backup your ACT database , delete that record ,rerun the migration and import the data to bcm.

Thanks,

bcmteam

# June 30, 2008 9:07 PM

surreytm said:

I have had many problems using the conversion wizard from Act to BCM.  Virtually all of these problems seem to relate to the date/time format.  I am in the UK, with English (United Kingdom) set as the system region.

Can someone advise what settings are needed in order to get a successful conversion from Act.  I am finding that the entire history is showing the date of the conversion, rather than the date held in Act (needless to say the conversion log is full of errors) and clients are unhappy that the timestamp is lost on conversion.  

I am very keen that the conversion works well, as I am wanting to move as many clients as possible to BCM, but this hurdle is a problem for me.

# August 20, 2008 2:10 PM

surreytm said:

I am having problems converting data from Act to BCM as the error handling does not seem to cope with certain erroneous entries.  For example, Act will allow a date entry to contain a year of 6901, whereas BCM won't.  Rather than change the entry, the import bombs and then it is labourious digging through the log file to find the erroneous entry.

Is there any chance of building some interraction into the import routine so that transactions could be fixed on import, rather than crash-> start-again.

# August 20, 2008 2:13 PM

bcmteam said:

Hi Surreytm,

     Can you please tell us where exactly the conversion fails. Is it during the converting the Act file to BCM file or while importing the BCM file?

Thanks,

Bcmteam

# September 15, 2008 6:56 PM

cybermedic said:

OK,

I am trying to convert ACT 9.0 (2007) into BCM 2007 SP1.

I have an ACT database with 2463 contacts in it when ever I try to convert the data with out and history, e-mail, attachments or any other sub catagories it works fine when ever I try to include and or all of the history ites it gets to contact number 2457 and hangs.  If I try to delete that contact and any others after that it still hangs I have evey tried to delete the last 25 contacts and no mater what I do it gets the the sixth from the end and hangs...when I check the BCM Export utility log this is what it shows (Type,Message,RowKey

Contact, System.Exception: Failed to get entities)

Im stuck any ideas?

# October 7, 2008 2:49 PM

davidHC said:

I have just coverted an ACT 6 database to BCM and been partially successful.

I want to delete it and start again.

When I follow the guideline the table of databases is empty (I know it exists as I can see entries in the calandar etc).

How else can I delete it please

# October 10, 2008 11:08 AM

davidHC said:

Further to my last entry I have noted the following points.

Please could you let me know how to solve them...

1. the ACT notes fields have all transferred to BCM "subject" heading as one long string of text and not under the comments field

2. The meeting "created dates" all appear to be set to the date I made the conversion from ACT to BCM

3. The majority of my "meetings" as shown on the ACT screens appear on the BCM screens as blank entries

I am keen to move to BCM and encourage my clients (i advise on start-up businesses) however want to ensure it works for myself first hence taking the trouble to write to you.

I have read Lon Orensteins book however cannot find the answers to the above questions in there.

I look forward to your reply

p.s. could you let me know if I am using this service correctly - it is my first time using a BLOG and I cannot find a way to start a new subject - this seems to be tagged to previous ones - is this correct?

# October 10, 2008 12:01 PM

davidHC said:

I have just read a previous entry.

I, too, reside in the UK.

Does this bring particular issues to be considered?

If so can you advise on how to deal with them?

regards

Dave

# October 10, 2008 12:03 PM

Gian said:

Like DavidHC and Surreytm:

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE respond to this email(I have 30+ people to service):

1. the ACT notes fields have all transferred to BCM "subject" heading as one long string of text and not under the comments field

2. The meeting "created dates" all appear to be set to the date I made the conversion from ACT to BCM

3. The Created By field is the current user and I've lost all info on the ACT users who created the history entries.

# October 31, 2008 9:50 PM

bcmteam said:

Hi Gian,

 BCM has some limitations in importing data from Act to BCM db and all the problems you are facing is due to those design limitations.Currently there is no workaround for all the issues you are facing. We will defenitely consider your feedback while designing the future versions. I apologize for the problems you are facing and will try our level best to solve those in future releases.

Thanks,

bcmteam

# November 3, 2008 5:11 PM

djamerson said:

I would like to know if BCM 2003 is compatible with SQL Server 2005?

# December 23, 2008 11:05 AM

bcmteam said:

Hi,

Yes, if you apply BCM 2003 SP4 Patch, it'll update to SQL Express 2005.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=DE34E31D-9DFF-48E0-AB05-2A839DBAD6FF&displaylang=en

Thanks

Vinit [MSFT]

# December 29, 2008 7:00 PM

Kdecker said:

Do different versions of Act import in to BCM better than oters?  

I have Act!2000 and the notes history items all import as the same date.  I know there are websites that offer a "perfect" import for a price, so I believe it is possible.  If someone had any additional information on how these conversions are performed this would be very helpful.  Or if the BCM team is working on correcting this issue in a future update.

Thank you

# February 10, 2009 11:44 AM

emtaylor517 said:

Trying to convert from ACT! 2006/8.0 to BCM 2007

The data conversion tool doesn't list ACT! 2006/8.0 in the choices - it only goes up to ACT! 2005/7.0. (I do have SP1 for Outlook.)  If I try to choose ACT! 2005/7.0, it gives me an error message saying that

the "specified file is not a valid database for the currently installed version of ACT (2005)."

I even tried to create a new database in ACT! and then import the data from the other ACT! database into the new one - and then tried importing the new one into BCM, but that didnt work.  Should ACT!

2006/8.0 be an option in the data conversion tool?  I can't figure out why it's not listed.

Thank you for any insight you can provide!

# February 16, 2009 5:47 PM

bcmteam said:

Hi emtaylor517,

  Support for Act 8 was added in Service Pack 1 for BCM. If you have not installed it yet , please download and install from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=94C32ABF-5481-460D-805D-6C274AC1D194&displaylang=en .

Thanks,

Bcmteam

# February 16, 2009 6:11 PM

bcmteam said:

Hi Kdecker,

Thanks for pointing this out , We will consider your comment while designing  our future updates.

Thanks,

Bcmteam

# February 16, 2009 6:21 PM
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