Common Records Engine

Jess Moxsky · July 2025

Have there been any updates on the announced Common Records Engine? The latest information I can find is from 2024, with no new updates or ETA yet in 2025. We're very eager to simplify our processes wrt getting records matched across systems.

Shirley Wagar · July 2025

@Jess Moxsky I'd love an update on this as well. Connect RE is clunky, and I never trust the record matching, so “spot checking” and data correction are almost always required.

The initial announcement about the Common Record Engine sounded promising, but I haven't heard much about it at all during the last few PUBs.

Jess Moxsky · September 2025

Bumping my own thread - as we are now solidly in Q4 2025, are there any updates or release timelines for the Common Records Engine?

Karen Diener · September 2025

You should get an email about the Product Update Briefings, but check this page too. They should be coming up October or November - they are usually held after BBCON which is in early October this year. That will be the best way to get an update.

Carlene Johnson · September 2025

As @Karen Diener mentioned, the PUBs are the best place for the next update. K-12 PUB will be Tuesday, November 18th, 2025 as will the Raiser's Edge NXT update. Online Giving & Data Intelligence PUBs are later that week. Be sure to tune in!

Kate Pearson · September 2025

We are considering unlinking alums and past parents from Core, so that the data is no longer synced, it's been very difficult to manage the data on both sides. But now I'm concerned that unlinking will cause more work when Common record is enabled. Does anyone have any idea if records will need to be relinked?

John Xeller · September 2025

Our institution signed up to be early adopters of CRE. There was a webinar over the summer that targeted an August rollout to the early adopters. After a couple delays in the rollout, we were then notified that a much smaller group of institutions would test the initial release (and that we weren't one of them), then a few more would get a second release that broadened the number of synced fields compared to the initial release, and then it would become generally available in a third release with yet more synced fields. We haven't heard anything since August, but back then, initial release was seemingly imminent, second release was scheduled for fall 2025, and general release was targeting end 2025/early 2026. Here's hoping clarity is around the corner!

Audrey Morris · September 2025

Would also appreciate any updates on this - we held off buying an Importomatic subscription this year anticipating their Q2/3 release of CRE. It's worrisome that they scaled it back hard, it makes me think there were major issues with the data coming over. Thanks John Xeller for your info!

Bianca Gonzalez · December 2025

@Kate Pearson I am curious where you landed on that decision, we have been considering the same. However, I am also hesitant to as this seems like a great fix with less work in the short term, but I wonder if it will create more work for us in the longterm. Would love to connect and chat about this with you!

Shirley Wagar · April 15

Are there any updates on the Common Record Engine feature? I believe they may now be calling it "Total School". There are help resources available (https://webfiles-sc1.blackbaud.com/files/support/helpfiles/education/higher-ed/content/total-school-setting-up.html), but I don't think the the product has made it out of the preliminary stages of EAP. I'm sure there will be more information provided at the Product Update Briefings in May, but I find it odd that they've updated their help resources without announcing when the product will be generally available.

Carlene Johnson · April 15

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/312901#Comment_312901

You may find this thread helpful as well. The title is about Connect RE but there is discussion of CRE in there as well.

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/310433#Comment_310433

Shirley Wagar · April 15

@Carlene Johnson I know that's what Blackbaud is intending (Connect RE is horrendous), but I noticed recently that they're now promoting it as Total School.

I read their FAQs (https://kb.blackbaud.com/knowledgebase/articles/Article/207274), and there's still no mention of release date. It would be ideal if it was released by the end of the current academic year so that we could sync incoming students and parents with RE NXT. Using Connect RE for one more year is a "worst case scenario" for us!

Carlene Johnson · April 15

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/312904#Comment_312904

Ugh - so sorry. I didn't realize that my post/link only included one comment. Here is the link to the full thread where BB has chimed in on a few things. @Stephen Boyle indicates in that thread that it will be available in June. Lots of good information in that whole thread!

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/84677/connect-re-in-nxt

Stephen Boyle · April 15

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/312903#Comment_312903

The General Release for Common Records Engine is June. It is still on track. It is a complete replacement of Connect RE - not just a rebranding. We will likely have one last wave of schools added to the EAP here in late April.

There are a number of artifacts already created for clients:

Webinar - Get Started with Common Records Engine
Course - Preparing Your Data for the Common Records Engine | eLearning / Blackbaud University
Course - Using the Common Records Engine | eLearning / Blackbaud University
Help files - Overview/FAQ and Common Data
KnowledgeBase - Total School Solution/Common Records Engine (CRE) - FAQs

Hope that helps.
Stephen

Shirley Wagar · April 15

@Carlene Johnson Thanks for this! I'm looking into the CRE from the Education side, so it didn't even occur to me to read the RE NXT discussions! There's a lot of great detail in your thread, so thanks again for sharing it with me!