In Dynamics CRM, one of the most frequently used features is the Data Import tool. This allows users to quickly import a variety of record types using a file and (often) a pre-defined Dynamics CRM template.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM supports a variety of file types for this import, including XML Spreadsheet 2003 (.xml), .csv, .txt, and .zip. The most common file type used for data imports is .csv. For multiple file imports (e.g. importing an account file and a contact file) the .zip type can be appropriate.
When completing data imports, you also often want Dynamics CRM to check for duplicate records and not import these potential duplicates until they can be further validated. For .csv file types, the standard duplicate detection rules will work as expected.
But, for .xml file types, there is slight twist regarding duplicate detection that should be considered. If your duplicate detection rule contains both a string and a lookup field you may not get the expected result during import of an .xml file.
When using the .xml import type, Dynamics CRM processes all lookup fields after the initial import (e.g. in an update step). By doing so, the CRM record is already created before lookup fields are set in the record. In this initial record creation the duplicate detection rules will fire, but without the lookup values will likely not register any duplicates.
Immediately after the record is created, an update occurs with the lookup fields. This will again fire the duplicate detection rules and may now result in a duplicate record being found. This duplicate situation will result in the record being set to partially imported with lookup values not set in the record. This creates a situation where records need to be corrected or removed and re-imported.
This issue does not occur when using .csv files. To be safe, it is recommended that a .csv type be used whenever possible for data imports.
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