Blackbaud Data Warehouse: 4.0 Recap
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There's a lot of exciting activity amongst our Blackbaud CRM customer base these days, with several organizations making the move to version 4.0. With that in mind, I thought it'd be worthwhile to recap all the investments we made in the Blackbaud Data Warehouse with version 4.0, and to provide a look ahead through the rest of 2015.
As product manager for the Data Warehouse, I view any investment in the product to fall in one of the following categories:
Application Features
Every organization has a fundamental need to report on revenue for a given period (ie, week/month/year) at a summary and detailed level, yet departments and staff members drive unique requirements for how the revenue data should be filtered and presented. Prior to version 4.0, Blackbaud CRM customers relied on custom reports to view this information. I'm happy to say that the Giving List Report in version 4.0 offers a more affordable and flexible alternative. This report is sourced from the Data Warehouse.
We also introduced three new ad-hoc query source views in version 4.0 that are sourced from the Data Warehouse:
You can refer to the following resources to learn more about these Warehouse-sourced application features:
The most powerful Warehouse-based SDK feature in version 4.0 is rolling date query filters. Developers can add this filter option to date fields in custom query views against the Warehouse, allowing end users to filter queries based on dates or date ranges that are relative to when they run the queries.
Also in the 4.0 SDK, developers can now write custom search lists sourced from the Data Warehouse.
Developers can refer to the What’s New for SDK 4.0 – Data Warehouse section on Blackbaud Developer Network , or view the 4.0 SDK Overview, for more details.
Data Coverage
Version 4.0 includes more than double the number of Data Warehouse tables in version 2.93, and nearly triple that of version 2.9. Many of the newly available tables and fields in version 4.0 were made in direct response to feedback from customers, and to support the new Warehouse-sourced query views.
Key additions in version 4.0 include:
Also as of version 4.0, the Data Warehouse now has support for all attribute and smart field data types, along with a better user experience for managing attribute categories and smart fields within the Blackbaud CRM application. Refer to the 4.0 New Features Guide for details.
Infrastructure
4.0 Service Pack 1 features a new Reconciliation report, allowing you to quickly reconcile item counts between your transactional database and your data warehouse, and to view and manage exceptions. Refer to the 4.0 New Features Guide, Feb 2015 Quarterly Roadmap Review, or Mar 2015 Spotlight for details.
Looking ahead to 4.0 Service Pack 3, we're working hard to provide some ETL process performance optimizations.
As you can see, there's a lot of great stuff related to the Blackbaud Data Warehouse in version 4.0. I hope you take advantage of these enhancements, and I look forward to hearing your feedback on how we can continue to deliver positive impact to your organizations.
As product manager for the Data Warehouse, I view any investment in the product to fall in one of the following categories:
- Application Features: offer out-of-box application functionality sourced from the Data Warehouse
- SDK: enable developers to write custom functionality sourced from the Data Warehouse
- Data Coverage: expand the number of available tables and fields, to minimize custom extensions
- Infrastructure: leverage SQL Server features; solidify the ETL process
Application Features
Every organization has a fundamental need to report on revenue for a given period (ie, week/month/year) at a summary and detailed level, yet departments and staff members drive unique requirements for how the revenue data should be filtered and presented. Prior to version 4.0, Blackbaud CRM customers relied on custom reports to view this information. I'm happy to say that the Giving List Report in version 4.0 offers a more affordable and flexible alternative. This report is sourced from the Data Warehouse.
We also introduced three new ad-hoc query source views in version 4.0 that are sourced from the Data Warehouse:
- Constituents
- Revenue
- Revenue Recognition Credits
You can refer to the following resources to learn more about these Warehouse-sourced application features:
- 4.0 New Features Guide
- Giving List Report
- Constituent Query & Rolling Date Filters in Query
- Revenue & Revenue Recognition Credits Query
The most powerful Warehouse-based SDK feature in version 4.0 is rolling date query filters. Developers can add this filter option to date fields in custom query views against the Warehouse, allowing end users to filter queries based on dates or date ranges that are relative to when they run the queries.
Also in the 4.0 SDK, developers can now write custom search lists sourced from the Data Warehouse.
Developers can refer to the What’s New for SDK 4.0 – Data Warehouse section on Blackbaud Developer Network , or view the 4.0 SDK Overview, for more details.
Data Coverage
Version 4.0 includes more than double the number of Data Warehouse tables in version 2.93, and nearly triple that of version 2.9. Many of the newly available tables and fields in version 4.0 were made in direct response to feedback from customers, and to support the new Warehouse-sourced query views.
Key additions in version 4.0 include:
- Groups & Households
- Marketing & Letters
- Solicit Codes & Mail Preferences
- Revenue Filters
- Planned Gifts
- Sponsorship
- Recurring Gift Amendments & Status Reasons (4.0 SP1)
Also as of version 4.0, the Data Warehouse now has support for all attribute and smart field data types, along with a better user experience for managing attribute categories and smart fields within the Blackbaud CRM application. Refer to the 4.0 New Features Guide for details.
Infrastructure
4.0 Service Pack 1 features a new Reconciliation report, allowing you to quickly reconcile item counts between your transactional database and your data warehouse, and to view and manage exceptions. Refer to the 4.0 New Features Guide, Feb 2015 Quarterly Roadmap Review, or Mar 2015 Spotlight for details.
Looking ahead to 4.0 Service Pack 3, we're working hard to provide some ETL process performance optimizations.
As you can see, there's a lot of great stuff related to the Blackbaud Data Warehouse in version 4.0. I hope you take advantage of these enhancements, and I look forward to hearing your feedback on how we can continue to deliver positive impact to your organizations.
News
Blackbaud CRM™ and Blackbaud Internet Solutions™ Blog
04/15/2015 10:09pm EDT
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