Migrate from InStream to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales

Discovery and data audit

We audit the source InStream account for contact volume, company count, deal count, pipeline stage names, active lists, custom fields visible in the UI export, and engagement history. We extract a full contact CSV from InStream to capture all static field values, including any manually entered social profile URLs. We assess data quality (duplicates, missing email addresses, stale records) and produce a written discovery report that documents the pipeline stage mapping, the lead-versus-contact classification rule, and any unmapped custom fields requiring manual schema design in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales .

Schema design in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales

We design the destination schema in the customer's Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales environment. This includes configuring Opportunity stage values and probabilities mapped from InStream pipeline stages, provisioning custom fields (instream_contact_id__c, instream_tags__c, social profile URL fields) on Lead, Contact, Account, and Opportunity objects, and creating Record Types if multiple InStream pipelines are in use. Schema is deployed into a Sandbox org first for validation. We confirm with the customer which Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales edition (Professional at $65/user or Enterprise at $105/user) is active and whether Dataverse custom entities are available.

Sandbox migration and reconciliation

We run a full migration into a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales Sandbox using a representative data snapshot. The customer reconciles record counts (Contacts in, Leads in, Accounts in, Opportunities in, Activities in), spot-checks 20-30 random records against the InStream source, and signs off the mapping before production migration begins. Any stage mapping corrections, custom field additions, or classification rule adjustments happen at this stage. Sandbox validation typically takes three to five business days.

Data cleansing and preparation

We de-duplicate contact records using email address as the primary key, validate required fields (email, name) against Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales validation rules, and clean formatting issues (phone number formats, special characters in company names). Records failing validation are logged to a remediation sheet for the customer to correct before the production migration window. We also archive InStream contacts with no email address and no associated Deals, as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales requires an email or name to create a valid Lead or Contact.

Production migration in dependency order

We run production migration in record-dependency order: Accounts (from InStream Companies), Leads and Contacts (with the qualification-based split applied), Opportunities (with AccountId and stage resolved), Activity history (Tasks, Events, Notes via Dataverse API with chunking and exponential backoff), and Tags (as text values on Lead and Contact). Each phase emits a row-count reconciliation report. We freeze InStream writes during the production migration window and run a final delta pass to capture any records modified during the window before cutover.

Cutover, validation, and workflow rebuild handoff

We enable Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales as the system of record after the final delta pass. We deliver the InStream automation and integration inventory document to the customer's admin team, listing every InStream List, tag strategy, and any workflow logic the customer built externally that fed data into InStream. We support a three-day hypercare window for reconciliation issues. We do not rebuild automations in Power Automate as part of standard migration scope; that work is documented for the customer's admin or a separate Dynamics 365 partner engagement.