FACTS Enrollment vs. BB Enrollment

Mary Zieten

So, due to an… interesting set of circumstances, we currently use FACTS for our tuition management, and can't move away at this point. Our business office started to look into FACTS enrollment, despite us using BB Enrollment Management since the 15-16 school year.

Their major concern is with getting the accounts set up in FACTS without them having to use a manual process. My major concern is with then bringing all those students into BB if we make this switch.

With that in mind, I have some thoughts and questions. Is anyone using the FACTS enrollment and then BB LMS? What does the import process look like? I did a search and only found one post that seemed to suggest it's a bit convoluted, and I'd like to confirm that.

My thoughts re: a compromise on this would be to have the parents sign the contracts in FACTS, which would then force the parents to set up accounts for both in order to sign the contract and pay the deposit.

If you have a plan/process for taking data from BB to FACTS, please share that! The less manual the process, the better, but honestly, anything less than actually typing in all the info would be better than nothing!

Thanks in advance!

Mary

Adrian Skrentny

@Mary Zieten

We have been using Blackbaud for many years and just moved academics into K-12 Education Management System 2 years ago. Our Business Office decided not to do Tuition Management and parents pay through creating a FACTS account. We keep these completely separate at this point in time. Parents complete contracts in Blackbaud Enrollment Management and then are provided instructions on how to setup a FACTS account to make payments for tuition. We don't do any importing between these two systems. Just thought I would add how we handle this situation.

Mary Zieten

@Adrian Skrentny
Thank you. That's what we do at this point, as well. Unfortunately, we seem to have a breakdown in that process, and we're not sure what it is. What sort of instructions do you provide to your parents after they sign the contract, if you don't mind sharing.

Kathy Hannon

@Mary Zieten we do similar to @Adrian Skrentny We do import the deposit amounts into FACTS -usually run the file after main 2 week reenroll period, then our Student Billing person uses the “Reconcile Deposits” area and “Handles” those that have come in after the big import (EM-→Enrollment-→Contracts). Our returning parents accounts are rolled over - or new parents are told that they need to set up a FACTS account, especially if they are doing FA. Sometimes the Student Billing person needs to contact them when she goes to add the Deposit from Reconcile Deposits. Hope this helps

Adrian Skrentny

@Mary Zieten

Here's the communication we do:

They get a PDF of how to sign a contract. One of those steps is the FACTs account.

Choose your payment plan carefully.

ALL TUITION PAYMENTS (single and
ten month) are made through FACTS.
You must create a FACTS account to
submit tuition.
If you are selecting the Single Payment
option:
• Select “Yes” or “No” for Tuition
Insurance.
If you select the 10 Payment Plan:
• Tuition Insurance is Required
To create your FACTS account visit:

<<Link>>

After this document goes out, our Admissions team sends out a reminder email 2-3 weeks later:

Very Important - Enrollment Process - Final Step

Dear Parents,

This is an important message about the final step in the Enrollment process.
Our records show that you have selected the payment method on your enrollment contract but have not set up the FACTS account as of yet.
It is important to set-up your FACTS account right away. This is the final step in the Enrollment process. This information was in the acceptance email sent on March 3.

Follow the steps to enroll in FACTS (page 2) or for the FACTS link Click here <<link>>.

Please email me once your FACTS account is set up.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mary Zieten

@Adrian Skrentny
Great, thanks so much!