Pumpkin Pie And Raiser’s Edge NXT Views
Published
Fall is my favorite time of year! Cooler weather, fall colors, and pumpkin pie. My kids love pumpkin pie with ice cream—I can’t blame them. Ice cream does make pumpkin pie oh so much better. Last year, I forgot to buy ice cream to go with our pumpkin pie, and my family was quite disappointed. The pie was still good, but the ice cream just makes it so much better. So many things in life are this way, good by themselves, but so much better with the perfect mate—peanut butter and jelly, cake and frosting, fries and ketchup, Raiser’s Edge NXT database view and web view.
Wait! Why do database view and web view taste better together? Database view is like my pumpkin pie. Pie does the job of filling our stomachs, whereas database view does the CRM (Constituent Relationship Management) job of tracking constituents, gifts, events, memberships, actions, and so much more.
And web view is like the ice cream that’s the perfect companion to my pumpkin pie. Ice cream improves on pie by improving the sweetness and depth of flavor. Web view does the same for database view—it gives a sleek, clean look to my database view information and displays information in an easy-to-use format. But web view isn’t just a pretty version of database view. Web view also provides great list functionality, helps fundraisers manage their portfolios, and even has some beautiful dashboards that can help us see how well we are doing on fundraising and retaining donors.
Depending on your daily tasks (or pie versus ice cream preference), you may spend more time in one view versus the other, or you may spend a little bit of time in each view. Database administrators and data entry staff will spend most of each day in the database view, but fundraisers and executives may only access the web view. Staff who create mailings and do analysis may spend a little bit of time in each view. For example, creating lists in web view and then generating mailings in database view. It’s just like how people feel about pumpkin pie and ice cream. Some like all pumpkin pie, some like just ice cream, and some like a little (or a lot) of both.
To help you better see where each view is used and what information you need to learn about each view to be effective and efficient in your role, we have updated our Blackbaud University Curriculum datasheet for Raiser’s Edge/Raiser’s Edge NXT. Under each topical heading, you can see which Raiser’s Edge NXT view the training covers.
Wait! Why do database view and web view taste better together? Database view is like my pumpkin pie. Pie does the job of filling our stomachs, whereas database view does the CRM (Constituent Relationship Management) job of tracking constituents, gifts, events, memberships, actions, and so much more.
And web view is like the ice cream that’s the perfect companion to my pumpkin pie. Ice cream improves on pie by improving the sweetness and depth of flavor. Web view does the same for database view—it gives a sleek, clean look to my database view information and displays information in an easy-to-use format. But web view isn’t just a pretty version of database view. Web view also provides great list functionality, helps fundraisers manage their portfolios, and even has some beautiful dashboards that can help us see how well we are doing on fundraising and retaining donors.
Depending on your daily tasks (or pie versus ice cream preference), you may spend more time in one view versus the other, or you may spend a little bit of time in each view. Database administrators and data entry staff will spend most of each day in the database view, but fundraisers and executives may only access the web view. Staff who create mailings and do analysis may spend a little bit of time in each view. For example, creating lists in web view and then generating mailings in database view. It’s just like how people feel about pumpkin pie and ice cream. Some like all pumpkin pie, some like just ice cream, and some like a little (or a lot) of both.
To help you better see where each view is used and what information you need to learn about each view to be effective and efficient in your role, we have updated our Blackbaud University Curriculum datasheet for Raiser’s Edge/Raiser’s Edge NXT. Under each topical heading, you can see which Raiser’s Edge NXT view the training covers.
So grab your coffee and fork and dive into training in the right view today! Now, I’m hungry for some Blackbaud University training and some pie!
News
Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT® Blog
10/03/2016 4:23pm EDT
Leave a Comment
I understand and am sorry for the frustrations. We are working on building out web view to be better than database view ever was. By doing this, we cannot duplicate some web view functionality in the database view because we want to focus our development efforts on getting web view completed. We will get there like John says, and I believe that the investment now will be very worth it later.
If there are specific areas that you find most frustrating, please let me know, and we'll address the area and some ideas/tips in a future blog.
Melissa