core and raisers edge integration

Laura Fleck

For anyone that uses CORE and Raisers Edge…how do you handle updating alumni data? If a fundraiser updates alumni information in Raisers Edge, (i.e., new address, phone number, etc.) and then we do a sync with CORE, the address reverts back to whatever the address was when the alumnus was a student. Can anyone tell me an efficient way to handle this?

Karen Diener

@Laura Fleck it has been a few years since I worked in a Core / RE environment, but it is a one-way update from Core to RE. So you would need to make the update in Core, which would then be pushed to RE.

For that reason - and many others - we never set up the integration. We couldn't even get through the initial linking of records because there were so many problems. I know some people use it and it works for them, but the idea that “everything will be easy because it all syncs” is misguided. It takes a fair amount of discipline to keep the data in check.

Karen

Laura Fleck

@Karen Diener Thank you so much for your reply. I suspected just what you said. Yesterday, I came to the conclusion that maybe we just don't sync and do an old fashioned import for new records. AND, I said the exact same thing you said, “Seamless transition" is not so seamless. It's unfortunate. When I called Blackbaud, their suggestion was to make the changes on the Core side. That just doesn't make sense for our fundraisers and our school. Thanks again for taking the time to reply! I appreciate it.

Erin Flowers

@Laura Fleck and @Karen Diener We have the very same issue and have opted to disconintue use of Connect RE for this same reason. I import the students into Core, I then use their Student ID as the Host ID AND their consituent ID in RE/RENXT. I also double check the parents and match up their Constituent ID with their Host ID so I can more easilly export/import updates. I LOVE being able to track updates made in Core. I REALLY wish there was a way to track specific updates in RE/RENXT too. I run a query on updated records to double check for accuracy by my Fundraisers and to ensure that all addresses match.

Audrey Morris

@Karen Diener and @Laura Fleck and @Erin Flowers - Our school found that we had such significant problems with ConnectRE it was the first thing I discontinued when I was hired. The previous employee handling the data didn't understand the pitfalls, and we ended up with 4, 5, 6x duplicates because one piece or another didn't match between the Core record and the RE one. ConnectRE also does not handle apostrophes so names like O'Connor were constantly being duplicated since Connect saw them as OConnor. The data issues from that integration may be deeper than you realize if you haven't had someone who can really comb comb comb between the two systems!

We switched to doing imports from Core to RE. It is a pain, and often misses updates because we can't do them every day (we batch every quarter or so). Data updates from RE only make it back to Core if it is a regular donor or we happen to see it, I'm ashamed to say. We just don't have the manpower to do every back and forth in two systems.

That all said - I sat in on the product update webinars that were done earlier this month, and one of the updates that Blackbaud teased was a new version of BEM>NXT integration to replace ConnectRE. They said Q2 -Q3 in the webinar I was on, so maybe we will see something that will help this significant issue! Here's a summary I found on it that gives some details.

“K-12 Education Solutions: Blackbaud shared updates on the planned release of its common records engine later this year to help private K-12 schools more deeply connect their education management portfolio to Raiser's Edge NXT. With this improved connectivity, fundraisers can easily track and engage students as alumni once they've graduated and improve fundraising efforts targeting newly enrolled families."

Knowing Blackbaud it's about a 50% chance that it will work for anything we need, but it's at least a start. Good luck!