Deceased record finder db vs webview

JoAnn Strommen

Can anyone who has used both options share about experience. I'm a bit leery about some of the automation and not knowing what it specifically does. I have read KB 192399 regarding the differences between Deceased finder in NXT and ‘RE Data Health Center’ (db view).

We have a number of record changes that occur and notifications that are made based on data on deceased's record. I will definitely need a query of results. Can that be pulled from webview?

Is deceased date loaded to Bio1 the actual date of death or screening date?

LOL - "adding new record triggers screening" - find that ironic as person just donated or graduated. Pretty likely they are living.

Unclear about deceased constituent rules in webview - will need to do some research as to what those are.

Would love to hear thoughts from those who have utilize both versions.

JoAnn Strommen

@JoAnn Strommen No replies yet. ?

So has anyone used web view deceased record finder? What was your experience?

Leslie McGeady

@JoAnn Strommen
Hi JoAnn - I have not used this and share your same reluctance. Anxious to hear others' experiences.

Alison Munson

@JoAnn Strommen
I have used this in both DB View 3 years ago. It was the first time we ran. It was a painful experience for uploading and researching the reports that were sent back to us. In NXT it is awesome!! I was able to hand this off to our donor services coordinator because it was so easy to use. She has been with us for 20 years and knows the donors, but is extremely limited on using tech. She had no problems using the NXT version.

Lee Grisham

@JoAnn Strommen I don't see anything about automatically updating records when I view it in NXT. I don't like to mark them as deceased in NXT at all as there are some strange rules that are easier to do in database view, especially around Spouses.

It also notes the record better in DB view than NXT as the information is not presented clearly in the Custom Field tile. Lack of information/different information in DB view.

Another poorly implemented transition from DB to NXT. ?

Terri Nackid

@JoAnn Strommen I think it's fabulous! We check every suggestion and only mark if we can find an obit online. But, it's very timely and works great for us! Several times we have found out about an important donor that we wouldn't have known otherwise!

JoAnn Strommen

Thank you all for the responses. I have decided to run it from database view.

Rationale:

• I like having the info in as an attribute for reference.
• So many people are not publishing obituaries, researching can be daunting either way. A large # sitting waiting for review on my webview data health screen would cause me stress. LOL
• I'm sure some of the automation of webview would be nice but we have other data that needs to be changed with death of a constituent. In addition to recognition addressee listings, one example is our alumni memoriam listing needs to be added as an attribute.
• We have business rules using query in db view, don't want to have to deal with deceased settings in webview right now.

We have so many alums with duplicate names both ways can be a challenge to find correct records. I have turned research from previous deceased record runs over to our student employee. I want to have a csv file I can give them where they can note their findings as they do not have access to RE or RE/NXT.

I may experiment with marking a few records as deceased while in webview to see how things go, but until we are fully staffed and I have more time I'm opting to stick with the familiar.

Thanks again for your input.

Karen Diener

Just wanted to chime in on what I find to be a really useful thread! Thank you to everyone for contributing with thoughtful responses and specific reasons why you use either the webview or database view version.

And thanks to @JoAnn Strommen for adding her final decision and the rationale behind it. This is all incredibly constructive and I wish more posts were like this. A+ all around!! ?

Karen

JoAnn Strommen

I ran the DeceasedFinder via db. I little frustrating getting results uploaded as directions in KB/user guide etc. are a bit out of date and data did not upload the first time.

I was a bit surprised by number of wrong results we had that were categorized as "Death Certificate" - most reliable. We have DOB for our records and apparently that is not used in the search process.

Other surprise is the multiple attributes created on many records. Majority of records received the same category/description/date/comment info in multiple lines. Some had seven of the same attribute.

Was beneficial to run it. I have # of alum I was not able to confirm but did confirm at least 10. Will work with our student worker on researching records with other constituent codes.

Thanks again for the input you shared.

Valerie Van Selous

@JoAnn Strommen I am in midst of using this service for the first time and am finding it very easy to use and very accurate. I work off a list of contuents provided by the service where we have the choice to mark deceased or not. I have decided to mark deceased those with a “matched to obituary date” or “confirmed by birth certificate” identifyier. Before making this decsion, I manually looked up about 30 names to see if I could find the obituary and always did. I still check occasionally. There are some records that have no identifyer and I plan to do research on these at a later date. As I am the sole manager of the database, this is not an automatic solution for me, but it is better than nothing! I hope that this helps. I am curious to know if this service offers updates or is this list it or do we have to run it every so often?

Karen Diener

@Valerie Van Selous:

@JoAnn Strommen I am in midst of using this service for the first time and am finding it very easy to use and very accurate. I work off a list of contuents provided by the service where we have the choice to mark deceased or not. I have decided to mark deceased those with a “matched to obituary date” or “confirmed by birth certificate” identifyier. Before making this decsion, I manually looked up about 30 names to see if I could find the obituary and always did. I still check occasionally. There are some records that have no identifyer and I plan to do research on these at a later date. As I am the sole manager of the database, this is not an automatic solution for me, but it is better than nothing! I hope that this helps. I am curious to know if this service offers updates or is this list it or do we have to run it every so often?

Did you submit your data via database view or webview? If it was database view, you will need to proactively submit. Webview may be automatic - I don't have any current clients using it, so can't say for sure.

This is also very likely to be a paid enhancement too. I don't believe it is automatically included in your subscription like AddressFinder is. If you need it - great! But know that Blackbaud is going to charge you for it every year whether you use it or not.

Valerie Van Selous

@Karen DienerThanks for the feedback! We did pay for the service. We bought a Data Enrichment package, and signed a two year contract. Once activated, the service automatically combed through our records and with in a day or so I had a list of names in the Data Health center to go through and I am! I just don't know if I should expect to get updates, though I have not received any so far, a factor to consider if you want to keep up with deceased donors in a consistent way. I do believe that in two years, we will not be automatically charged and we can evaluate if we want to keep the service.

JoAnn Strommen

@Valerie Van Selous This KB article comparing db (left) and NXT (right) covers all your questions. Knowledgebase

1. Article
2. 192399

Valerie Van Selous

@JoAnn Strommen Thanks again. The article that you shared is the one I used to decide whether to go with the DB view or the Web view. I know that the service is always running in the background, but if a constituent were to pass today, how soon would I be notified? The Finder ran a few months ago and there have been no updates. I just think that it's strange that no one in our database has died since July (the month that we installed Deceased Finder.) I appreciate the time you have spent thinking about this!

Karen Diener

“I do believe that in two years, we will not be automatically charged and we can evaluate if we want to keep the service.”

Do not assume this. They will most likely add it to your renewal subscription automatically. In fact, if you decide it is not worth it, you will actually need to contact Blackbaud 45 days in advance and ask them to remove it.

JoAnn Strommen

@Valerie Van Selous It doesn't screen “in background” unless there is a new Preferred Address or you're adding a ‘new record’ (Does anyone intentionally add a new record of someone who is deceased????).
Entire db only screened annually as I understand.

Valerie Van Selous

@JoAnn Strommen My apologies! As the above screenshot describes, the Finder service is constantly running in the background! I imagine that I at some point I will get new records to review. For now, I am happy to let people enjoy living for as long as possible! ?