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Question about hiring a consultant

Alison Foster

Hello - I'm in the process of hiring a RE/RE NXT consultant. Although I am knowledgeable about NXT, I do not have a robust knowledge of the backend. Does anyone recommend a test or small project that I could give to candidates to get a better idea of how well they know RE/RE NXT?

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Comments

Katherine Mannion

A professional will be able to provide references for you to check. No need to test them.

Faith Murray

There are all sorts of things that you could test – I myself have considered test items for staffer interviews, for example. However, a test has little use unless you yourself are saavy enough to effectively evaluate their performance.

There are some questions you can ask while vetting your consultants, however. Here are some things I would look for:

What types of Imports has the consultant done? Imports seem to be the area where most DBM's flounder and need to call in for consultants. A consultant who can use Import to perform data cleanup (ie, converting Notes into Actions or restructuring Memorial gifts) will likely have much more proficiency than one who only knows how to import new constituent records.
What steps would the consultant recommend when importing a messy list of 10,000 new constituents? A sloppy consultant will simply import them and rely on RE's built-in duplicate search metrics to locate donors that already exist in RE. A wise consultant will recommend performing an address update on both the messy list and your RE database before checking for duplicates, as RE's duplicate tool may not associate records if the two have common names but different addresses.
If you had a massive file of wealth screening data (including real estate, political giving, etc.), how would the consultant plan to upload that? We had a professional from DonorSearch once just import the whole ream into Constituent Notes. Properly, this type of data should be parsed out and imported individually into Prospect fields where they belong.
Ask your consultant to explain the pros and cons of NXT vs Database view. If they tell you that DB view is old hat and all processes should be switched to NXT, or if they know DB view well but won't touch NXT workflows, then they don't know their material well. Realistically, each component has strengths not found in its partner process.
Are they willing to work with you, or do things have to be set up their way? I once spoke with a private contractor who had built his own database from the ground up and sold it to another department on campus. He had put a whole bunch of his own worldview into the data structure, with the result that nobody could export a complete constituent file because “nobody should be soliciting those kinds of constituents anyway”. A consultant should serve you, not constrain his own worldview into your products.
Does the consultant provide user training to maintain any processes that he/she implements in your behalf?
Does the consultant have any documentation to prove their skills, such as a degree in computer technology, product certification from Blackbaud, or a long resume of DBM work at reputable organizations?
And of course, as already suggested, get references.

Hope this helps!

Alison Foster

Thank you!

Alison Foster

Thank you!

Karen Diener

Katherine Mannion:
A professional will be able to provide references for you to check. No need to test them.

And if you don't know RE that well to begin with, how do you know if the consultant is “right”? Consultants often give advice but you need to make the decision that is right for your organization.

Karen