Coming June 27: New Login Screen Prepares For Blackbaud ID

We hope you are already aware of our ongoing early adopter program (EAP)  for Blackbaud ID, which is Blackbaud's authentication service.

In preparation for the general availability release, we need to make a change to the log in screens for all schools with the June 27, 2018 release. Even schools who are not currently enrolled in the EAP will see a slight change to their login screens with this month's release.  

Specifically, users will enter their Username (as they did previously) and then they will now select Next. The solution uses that information to check how the user authenticates into your school's solution. Then, the user is prompted to enter their Password to log in. 

Previously, users did not select Next to access the password portion of the login experience. This change enables your Blackbaud solution to check for multiple modes of authentication based on a username lookup process. Since most parents and students are not in school during summer, we believe now is a good time to make this necessary update.

Tip: See more of Blackbaud ID in action in this webinar. 

Although the release of Blackbaud ID for staff and students will be generally available to all schools later this fall, we strongly recommend you get a jump start; start authenticating via single-sign on (SSO) with the EAP. We recommend Blackbaud ID because it:

• improves the single-sign on (SSO) experience for schools that want to manage application authentication through their network credentials.
• replaces our existing LDAP integration.
• enables your school to set up SSO to Google, and replaces our Google Apps SSO integration.
• gives you more control with your Identity Provider (IdP); you can enable 2-factor authentication or manage a user’s access to reset their password.
• will be necessary later this year for admins to use the online chat/case central links (from the help panel).
• will be required for new features available via early adopter programs. For example, Blackbaud Mail will require authentication via Blackbaud ID.
• enables you to single sign-on with Smart Tuition and NXT solutions.
• is the way of the future. We have more work to do before we expect schools to offer this experience to parents and candidates, but within the next year we expect this to become the preferred authentication method for all users.