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Snowflake and Microsoft Expand their Data and AI Partnership

Posted on 2023-06-26 - 6:15 pm by
Microsoft and Snowflake Logos

Snowflake and Microsoft, announced a press release at Snowflake Summit 2023 that they are expanding their partnership promising substantial advancements for data scientists and developers. This enhanced collaboration is set to seamlessly merge Snowflake’s Data Cloud with Microsoft’s Azure ML, extending its capabilities through the potent combination of Azure OpenAI and Microsoft Cognitive Services.

This strategic alliance means that Snowflake and Microsoft Azure shared customers will gain access to the cutting-edge frameworks of Azure ML, a streamlined process for machine learning development right through to production, along with integrated continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) processes.

But this partnership doesn’t stop there. Snowflake is setting its sights on creating even more meaningful integrations with a host of Microsoft offerings, aiming to elevate the user experience even further. These plans include closer ties with Purview for advanced data governance, Power Apps & Automate for simplified, low code/no code application development, Azure Data Factory for efficient ELT processes, and Power BI for intuitive data visualization, among others.

The end goal? To foster a seamless ecosystem that capitalizes on the synergies between Snowflake and Microsoft’s product suites, unlocking new possibilities and delivering unparalleled value to users.

At DataTools Pro, we couldn’t be more excited to see our favorite data platform, Snowflake, with new enhancements that make data management easier. Azure balances powerful data management with scalable cost that makes sense for our clients. Additionally PowerBI continues to advance its dominance for Business Intelligence. We have been working with Snowflake and Microsoft together for years and have built a toolkit that can help you jumpstart Snowflake and Azure integration.

Learn how to use Azure Data Factory and Snowflake Together

We have created free interactive step by step tutorials to help you get started!

Create a Snowflake Data Source in Azure Data Factory

Create a Data Pipeline to Connect Salesforce to Snowflake

Publish your ADF Pipeline, Data Sets, and Triggers

Create an ADF Scheduled Trigger

VIEW ALL TUTORIALS

Azure Data Factory for Snowflake Articles

More Getting Started Tutorials

3 Common Salesforce.com Data Migration Issues to Avoid

Posted on 2022-12-25 - 7:07 am by
Salesforce data migration pitfalls

Data migration can be a complex process, especially when moving to a new system like Salesforce.com. In this article, we’ll explore 3 common Salesforce.com Data Migration Issues that you should avoid at all costs. Whether it’s poor project planning, communication gaps, or lack of engagement from business stakeholders, these challenges can all contribute to a less-than-successful migration. But with the right approach, Salesforce.com Data Migration can be a smooth and efficient process.

Issue 1: Poor project planning and expectations

One of the biggest challenges of Salesforce.com Data Migration is poor project planning and expectations. Without clear communication and process gaps between the Salesforce development, business, and data migration teams, a successful migration becomes less likely. In order to avoid this pitfall, it’s important to establish crystal clear expectations between all parties involved.

  1. Salesforce team and data migration specialists need to communicate changes to the Salesforce.com data model in the final weeks leading up to go-live. This sets best practices for managing Salesforce and prevents un-intended, time consuming issues.
  2. Data migration specialists and business stakeholders need to agree what data is migrated from the old business app into Salesforce.com. In some cases this mapping exercise will surface missing fields or functionality.
  3. Delivery team and business stakeholders should work together to ensure training occurs with real data if you are moving your entire process from an old system into Salesforce.com.

Issue 2: Attempt to fix too many data quality while moving data

When migrating data from one business application to another, such as Salesforce.com, it is important to address any data quality issues that may have been previously ignored. This is because automations and validation rules in the new system may highlight these issues. To ensure that the data migration process is as smooth as possible, it is best to perform extensive data quality adjustments in the source system or after the data has been migrated.

Additionally, Salesforce.com offers a vast ecosystem of solutions and apps, one of which is Cloudingo, which can be a valuable tool for data cleanup during migration. By cleaning the data at the source or after migration, you can ensure that the data is accurate and consistent in your new system.

Issue 3: Manual, human initiated data movement

If your Salesforce.com developers or consultant suggests using DataLoader and Excel for your data migration, it is important to keep in mind that this approach is definitely not be suitable for complex migrations. It is crucial to thoroughly test the migration process in a sandbox environment, running end-to-end migration many times before migrating to production. With that said, you also shouldn’t need to spend a lot of money on technology to migrate your data. Here are some free data tools for Salesforce.com that you can share with your tech team.

Have a Salesforce Data Migration Blueprint for Success

There are lots of resources on the web including the ones we provide for free. Here are key components that you should build into your own successful data migration plan.

  • Project timeline + milestones
    Having clear milestone and working backwards from “go-live” no less than 6 weeks will help you avoid under-scoping your data migration into Salesforce.com.
  • Data migration object inventory
    Scorecard to track and report progress and issues through the entire migration lifecycle
  • Data mapping docs
    Excel / Google Sheets with data mapping and definitions is how a lot of data mapping gets complete. Now we are working on Data Tools Pro free utility to help with the work.
  • End to end migration checklist
    Complete, documented data migration checklist of all steps that need to occur for migration.
  • Business continuity plan
    Not typically a part of data migration but something that helps align expectations for what happens on day 1. There are no-redos on migration once users start updating data in Salesforce.com.

Need Help Planning ?

Our Salesforce.com migration Blueprint and Services are designed with these common issues in mind.

We have a free assessment and checklist to guide you down the path to success!

Get Started
Salesforce Data Migration Plan to Success

More Salesforce Data Migration Resources

Salesforce Data Migration Tool Review

Posted on 2022-11-01 - 1:04 am by
Salesforce DevTool Chrome extension provides ERD and

Free Salesforce DevTool Extension for Chrome

Salesforce DevTools extension for Chrome is by far the most useful Salesforce data migration tool for administrators looking to inventory objects and fields. For data migrations in particular this tool has been so valuable as a time saver and provided foundation and inspiration our own Salesforce Migration tools.

Generate Salesforce Relationships Diagrams (ERD)

In DevTools, similar to exporting an Excel file, you can also export a Salesforce ERD, giving you an entity relationship diagram with a few clicks.

Download Salesforce Fields to Excel

In DevTools, you can search and select a list of objects, then download the field definitions directly to Excel.

Salesforce.com entity relationship diagram generator

Workbench: Great for Salesforce Data Migration

Workbench for Salesforce.com is a very useful free that offers the most functionality for working with Salesforce data. With a variety of administrative functions you can execute a wide range of tasks including but not limited to

  • Testing SOQL queries
  • Explore your data model
  • Explore the Salesforce Rest API
Salesforce workbench allows you to query and test APX

Workbench Trick: Mass Delete Records in Salesforce

Inside of Workbench, you can run APEX code, so one helpful trick is deleting data from a SOQL query which opens the door to not only delete more than the 250 cap but more importantly allow deletion of records for custom objects.

Here is an example code snippet shown above that would delete 10,000 accounts where we can specify any conditions like records created after 11-20-2022.

delete[SELECT id FROM Account WHERE CreatedDate > 2022-11-20T01:01:01Z LIMIT 1000];

Need more Salesforce Data Migration Tool Recommendations?

We are here to help provide recommendations for free and premium solutions to move salesforce.com data into Salesforce.com. Feel free to check out our Salesforce.com Migration Assessment for to lean on our experience.