Adding Prospect Research Documents to NXT as Attachments

Lanetta Gilder

Hello all! I hope all is well! Question regarding saving prospect research documents in RE NXT. Is it best practice or common to save prospect research documents as attachments in RE NXT? Some staff is concerned about confidentiality of the sensitive information being saved on the donor's record (as an attachment - ie ResearchPoint info and other findings), while others thinks its ok. Seeking guidance and thoughts! Thanks in advance and have a good day!

Ryan Hyde

@Lanetta Gilder
Saving documents as attachments in NXT is as safe as saving any other data in RE. I wouldn't put social security numbers in there or anything, but writeups about wealth, relationships, property, etc., are all just normal things that you'd put in a donor database anyway. And Blackbaud's security infrastructure is almost certainly more robust than the local file server at your organization.

Is there some specific piece of data in your prospect research documents that your team is concerned about? Or is this just a general anxiety about data breaches?

Katherine Mannion

@Lanetta Gilder if your staff are worried about confidentiality from a “not everyone should see everything on all the records” standpoint, you can consider creating security that prevents certain groups of staffers from seeing this information.

Dariel Dixon

I agree with @Katherine Mannion. If you are worried about the confidentially between people on staff that have access to RE, that's concerning. I would imagine that there is a confidentiality agreement that is required before giving someone access to your database. That should cover all the bases.

I would argue that having the research documents on the record makes it easier for people to do their jobs @Lanetta Gilder. @Ryan Hyde asks an good question. What is on these documents that is of higher sensitivity than the information already on the record.

Joe Moretti

@Lanetta Gilder Be aware that any attachment uploaded in RE NXT will NOT carry over into Database View. This is an issue that Blackbaud has not fixed. I suggest uploading attachments into the media tab of Database View, since this will carry over in RE NXT, but not the other way around.

Lee Grisham

@Lanetta Gilder Everyone has good thoughts here! I would use whatever is the most secure platform you have available, whether that be RE or a SharePoint/OneDrive/DropBox/etc. that only the necessary team members can access. You could just put links in the attachment section to where the files are stored.

Would like to point out that all the information that most research consists of is public information. There is no sensitive or confidential information there that cannot be found somewhere on the internet already. If you have specific notes attached to that or information not to be shared with volunteers or others who may have access to the database, then that is another issue.