Record disappeared

Kristi Gessler

We had a record disappear from our database. We are trying to get to the bottom of it and are worried there may be more. (We just happened upon this one.) Has anyone experienced this before? There are only a few of us who have the ability to delete records, and we all know we didn't delete this one. Any insights you have would be appreciated!

Christine Robertson

@Kristi Gessler I would definitely stop updating RE and reach out to BB support. You may need to revert to a backup (hence why I would stop making any changes to the system in the meantime).

JoAnn Strommen

@Kristi Gessler Have not experienced that, fortunately.

Some thoughts assuming the record is still there somewhere.

• Do you happen to know when it disappeared? If you don't have monstrous db and relatively small amount of changes, you could start with records changed.
• Do you know any other pieces of data that you can search for besides last name? Wondering if someone accidentally was in record and typed over last name with different last name. If you know phone/email/address try searching for record with that data.

I would also double check all users security rights to be sure an unknown person has delete rights.

Puzzling, will keep thinking about possible answers.

Kristi Gessler

@Christine Robertson thank you for your advice. BB didn't seem to have an answer, but we can reach out again.

Kristi Gessler

@JoAnn Strommen there are great ideas. Thank you.

JoAnn Strommen

@Kristi Gessler Did anyone possibly merge it with another record?

Kristi Gessler

@JoAnn Strommen checking…

Christine Robertson

@Kristi Gessler The more data you can provide when you speak to them, the better. @JoAnn Strommen has some great questions. I would also look to see if an import changed the name or Constituent ID as well.

I really don't know of a precedent of the system deleting records, but unless you have something like Zeidman Development's Audit Trail, your best means of recovery may be reverting to a back up in some way.

Austen Brown

@Kristi Gessler - Following @JoAnn Strommen's line of thinking, have you run any Global Changes, Imports, or Global Deletes recently? For example with a Global Change, it's possible to inadvertently modify or delete records without intending to.

Kristi Gessler

@Austen Brown Nice to hear from you Austen. Great idea. Our DBA is on it and investigating and we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Kristi Gessler

@Christine Robertson Thanks Christine. Wish we could revert - but with #Giving Tuesday, lots of gift data added in the last couple of weeks. Our DBA determined the record disappeared two weeks ago. Thanks so much.

Jolene Holswich

@Kristi Gessler
This happened to us recently! The record of an active regular donor was deleted and we weren't sure if it was the only one or if there were more that we just hadn't found yet.
I lodged a case with BB. I was offered the two options of restoring the backup and losing all data added since the deletion of the missing record, or restoring the backup in a separate environment, exporting the data and then importing the data back into our RE. Natch, I chose the second option.

In order to do this they needed:
1. The ConsID and/or name of the deleted record
2. An approximate date of when the record was deleted (so the backup request would be prior to this date)
3. An authorisation form (that BB supplied) allowing them to restore the backup in their local environment to get the data you need and provide it back to you (to either manually enter or import).

I requested it as an import. The Customer Support Rep (shout out to Diem!) went above and beyond, providing files for import and step-by-step instructions.

I had also asked if they could check for other records that had been deleted without being merged into another record, around the same time period. Luckily there were none.

Kristi Gessler

@Jolene Holswich This is so helpful! Thank you Jolene for responding. Yes, the first option would not be good - especially this time of year! I will share with our DBA. I am relieved to know there were not others. It is still strange and a bit disconcerting that this happens, even if only for one or two records, and for no known reason.

Alex Wong

@Kristi Gessler
Stuff disappearing is indeed bad issue to have. Unfortunately, Blackbaud does not have a good logging system in place to track that in RE (actually I have been having FE JE batch disappearing, which is suppose to be the system that has audit trail, still working that out with BB).

for RE, there is a partner tool that you can use (not free), I think call Audit Trail.

If you or your org have the expertise to do so, and you are on RE NXT, you can create your own audit trail of when and who did what using SKY API and webhooks. good luck

Kris Proctor

@Jolene Holswich
Thanks Jolene, When I ask BB about our missing record they gave me the same options, but said the second one that you used had a cost attached to it was there?

Kristi Gessler

@Alex Wong Very good to know. Thank you for sharing Alex!