API Support

Dan Bonville

One of the things our company prides ourselves on is customer support.  When offering support to clients using third-party integrations, it is automatically a bit more complicated.  Several times now we have run into issues where we are unable to see data in the School/On API, but a client is adamant that it is present in Core.  We have no choice but to ask them to contact Blackbaud to see if they can assist.  However, the consistent result of this is that Blackbaud support directs them back to us (in a way that does feel kind of "blame-y").  This is frustrating for us as we don't have insight into the Core side of things beyond what we can see in the API data.  Of course, and more importantly, this is also frustrating for clients.


I understand that a forum is a perfect way to handle discussion between partners, offering or seeking advice on best practices, etc. but it is a fairly horrible way to deal with obvious client-specific issues or bugs.  As a [paying] partner, it would be nice to have some way to communicate and discuss API issues (not how-tos etc.) with someone who is able to help us find a solution more efficiently, so we can keep our mutual clients happy, and their integrations up and running.


I have tried reaching out to Blackbaud support directly on behalf of our clients, but that doesn't seem to help.  I've been told "we can't solve this issue" and even been directed to my own documentation, despite providing clear evidence that something is amiss in the data/API.


I can understand a hesitance to support an API through some direct channel, but the delays that come from me having to email my contacts at Blackbaud and urge them to assist me in finding a solution means we can't help our clients in a timely fashion.


I'd just like to ask that a more direct form of support for paying partners using your API be offered for the sake of our mutual clients.


Thanks,

Dan

Evan York

Hi Dan,


We're sorry for the experience, and aim to do better. Blackbaud Support is now available to our Partners directly (without requiring the school to be involved!), and should be able to address most client-specific API issues/bugs. Next time you encounter an issue I would encourage giving it another try, and appreciate your patience as we work out the kinks!


Thanks,

Evan