Database View vs. Web View

I'm not sure there is a complete list of these tasks. As new features and functionality are constantly being added to NXT Web View, it's ever evolving and changing.

I don't know if the question is what can you do in which view, but what should you do in one view and not in the other. Each has their quirks and idiosyncrasies that may work better for your organization versus using the other view.

Geoffrey Goodfellow

Although it is not easily located on the Blackbaud website, I have the following website bookmarked which compares the features available in database vs NXT. I find it very helpful.

Reuben Schmitz

The link you included here is a Financial Edge comparison - did you have one for RE7 as well?

Rachel Bock

The question was what you should do in one view or the other. I am pretty familiar with the features and functionality, but I was just trying to get an idea of how others are using the two views. I know it will be different for every organization.

Dan Snyder

@Rachel Bock you are correct that it is different for each organization, but here is a basic overview for us:

Only webview: Actions and List sharing. We still may build a static query in database view, but we try to make them a list in webview to share rather than ask folks to go into database view to look at a query or export it to Excel.

Only database view: Media uploads, gift entry, data updates (addresses, email, phone as there are fields we use that are not visible in webview).

Both: There is not much I would say we do in both, but prospect status updates occur in both and consent entry. Again, none of these are hard and fast except Media uploads. There are times I might add an email if we did not have one at all before and we have a few automatic recurring gifts that we have to process in webview, but some basic areas.

I agree with @Dan Snyder. Media uploads are database view only for us.

Any type of batch processing is done in DB view as well as any type of screenings or appends. We do not run our NCOA through web view at all. Also, any relationship editing is done through database view.

I actually don't mind doing some light data entry in web view, as long as it's only a couple of records or so. Depending on the type of data entry, I find web view to be more easier to navigate. Actions are one of the easiest things to enter through web view. Constituent addresses in web view will pull from an internet database, so they will autofill in some data automatically which is helpful.

Since web view has come along, all of my database view dashboards are now defunct.

All of these rules have come through trial and error. If we see a problem with how other people have run things, we watch and take notes so we don't make the same mistakes. Continue to read here on the community and in other places so that you can see issues before they arise in your system.

Marie Stark

Only database view - gift entry, custom and standard reports, exports, data cleanup.

Only webview - lists, fundraisers enter actions and opportunities, address finder. I agree with @Dariel Dixon that database view dashboards are no longer used.

Both - gift receipts, entry of new constituents.

Rachel Bock

Thank you everyone for your input! I really appreciate it.

Database view only:

record updates especially phones and emails. (Note that the “date last changed” changes for ALL phones when one is changed in webview, thereby rendering the field useless.)
media attachments. We do not use webview attachments at all, since these are not protected during data backups and are therefore at risk for permanent data loss.
Gift batch entry. The NXT features simply aren't robust enough to provide for Business rules, pledges, robust constituent matching for event gifts, or other anomalies.
Queries for any type of mailing list. We may use webview Lists for fundraiser activities, but for mailing lists, we use DBview because it offers so much more in the way of search criteria and outputs for optimal segmenting.
Financial reports. The way webview calibrates its pledges vs pledge payments and planned gifts as committed/non-committed income doesn't provide enough user choice to match it up cent-by-cent to our financial records. So, we stick to database view for Financials.
Global processes, including imports, global changes, duplicate constituent matching, and Address Updating. My understanding is that webview address update doesn't allow you robust options in filtering your addresses to be updated, or in downloading the data file for review before committing updates.

Webview only:

As others have said, Dashboards went away with webview's much nicer reporting functions. Although we won't use them for exacting financial reports, they do make a very nice tool for getting a general snapshot of performance trends.
Mapping. One of my favorite tools in webview is the mapping function in Lists. I often pull a static query over from database view, run it through webview's mapping tool, and then re-save it as a new static query in database view for finishing up our mailing lists or major donor prospecting.

Both:

Actions and notes are both easy to use in webview and database view. I'll bulk add Actions in database view, but our Gift officers usually prefer to do one-at-a-time processing in webview. Our CEO and President only have access to webview, not database view, and enter all their contact notes that way.

Madeleine Holdsworth

Faith's summary was spot on. I would also add you need to educate your team as to what is done in database view and what isn't. You can also create your own business rules for your department. We went live with NXT in February of this year and there were people on my team who were gung ho to use NXT for everything….I had to rein them in. Especially on the list capability and reporting. We only create constituents and gift batches in database view.

Alexandra Blasy

Great summary, Faith! Thank you!

Knowing there are some limitations between fields in webview vs database view? How has that changed or impacted your procedures for your team? For example, in webview for actions, notepad type is no longer an option vs in database view it is.

Appreciate any insight you or this group may have.

Thanks!

The different fields in webview have impacted our processes in minor ways. Even when we only had database view, Blackbaud was always coming out with new features, and so I think changing processes and the resulting cleanup will always be an evolving task for the DBM.

I try to balance what is most effective for the people using the software. If I, as the DBM, am responsible for pulling all the lists, and the field I need is not available in webview, then that data must continue being entered in database view. We have done this for phones (as I mentioned below) with Date Last Changed. If, however, a fundraiser needs and uses a feature more than I do, such as Actions, then I may jump a few hurdles - such as restructuring data - to allow them to enter items efficiently in webview instead.

Not having Notepad types in webview IS a downer. In this case, I would suggest distributing a limited list of Notepad Summaries that accomplish the same goal. In Database view, the Notepad Type, Description, and Title are often redundant. The only real benefit of the Notepad Type is the fact that it is a drop-down table, and so facilitates easy data searches. Your workaround will likely involve mandating what phrases may be entered into the Notepad Summary in webview so that it can capture the same information you need for data pulls in queries.

Blair Phillips

@Rachel Bock I am new to NXT. Is there an updated list that answers your question from 2021? It seems like a lot of information I'm finding about different tasks in web vs. database is outdated. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

@Blair Phillips Welcome to the community. To answer your question, there is no list for these tasks, as new features are constantly being added to NXT. I would look into the regular product updates and roadmap to see which features are currently in development for web view. Also, you may want to try to see which view does the task the best for your organization. Just because you can perform a task in NXT doesn't mean it's the optimal way for your organization, and vice versa.

Dan Snyder

@Blair Phillips What @Dariel Dixon said. Since you are new and looking to see what works for your organization, each time you go to make an update or pull a list etc, see if that works in webview (NXT) as an additional option or if it might be easier to do in one view vs. another. You are already the expert on your business processes and will generally have an idea if one view is better than another for a particular task.

The only thing that you really should only do in database view, IMHO, is adding Media since that is a one way one time sync from database view to webview.

@Dan Snyder
Seconding Dan's recommendation here. In other words, tell yoru users to NOT add Attachments in webview. They will not be searchable, queriable, or exportable.

Also, recurring gift and pledge management is still being fleshed out. Still better in database view for the time being, due to the ability to reschedule installments, etc. I understand they are actively expanding that in webview though, so it might change in the near future.

@Faith Murray I thought if you add attachments in database view, they do not populate in web view. Has this changed?

@Rose Dixon
They will populate in webview the first time you create a media file in database view. Successive edits to the same file, however, will not transfer over. Still better than no transfer at all, which is what you get going from webview to database view.

@Faith Murray I lost the battle of where documents are stored. Our frontline fundraisers prefer webview as it's easy drag and drop.

JoAnn Strommen

@Rose Dixon Tried replying earlier but wasn't working. As @Faith Murray said they are accessible in webview. Yes, loading in webview is much easier.

Just another thing to consider, should your RE crash/have to be restored, media files entered via webview will be lost. Only those entered from db view will be restored is what I have been told.

@Rose Dixon, ouch! I feel for you!

See if you can get your Director behind you. Your fundraisers should not have the final say in database operations. @JoAnn Strommen is absolutely right - database restores currently will not save webview-only data, as far as I understand. And while one might be tempted to think restores are an unlikely problem, it's worthwhile to note that every import tutorial or KB article warns: “back up the database before performing an import”. I've done countless imports with no problem, but there was one time, way back before we switched to NXT, where I did have to ask our IT to restore a previous database version because an import went wrong. It can happen. Then, all your webview attachments are lost.

@Faith Murray I've asked BB support several times where attachments should go - db view or web view and they've said web view, which is why the front line team still does it that way. I hope they are also saving to our shared drive!

@JoAnn Strommen I've said all of this to them. You'd think since they DID lose all attachments in a prior software program before I got here (and before we converted or RE), they would agree to upload in db view. But they just don't want to. Also, as I mentioned, BB has told me and one of the front line fundraisers that attachments should be uploaded in web view, so that's what they do! I don't upload any attachments. All of our donation scans are in our shared drive, not linked to each gift/constituent record.

Alex Wong

I think the issue that needs resolving is not blackbaud support saying what. The issue is data backup.

There is no reason why Blackbaud product is not properly backed up. We pay a lot of money for RE NXT and expectation is that if something were to happen (physically to location of the server and/or digital corruption to data) that it can be FULLY restored.

I will speak to my account manager about this, and encourage everyone to do the same to make Blackbaud do the right thing where a restoration is a FULL restoration of database view data and web view data. This is not a feature request (no Idea Bank submission), rather it is a requirement for data security and disaster recovery.

JoAnn Strommen

@Rose Dixon ? Wow, you're between the rock and the hard place.
I find that support staff will promote use of RE NXT/web view whenever possible even if it may not be the best option. It's taken a lot of criticism. And I wonder if all support staff know that documents stored there would be lost.

Hard to believe they still don't want to do the extra work when you say they lost everything once.

Yes, no one plans to have to restore. But we had to once at my previous org as well.