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New Decision Release: EMS

Heather Cullen

Hi Friends - I am unfortunately striking out with Support. It appears as though the new decision release in EMS is forcing us to choose a mail merge template in order to save decision types. We do not use mail merge templates and havent historically when pushing decisions. We only use the Comment (now Body) feature.

Is this a bug or is this something we need to change our process to accommodate?

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Mary Fernandez

Interested in the answer as well - we do not use mail merge either. Our Comment (Body) feature used to even have a welcome video embedded and now with this new function, it no longer displays the video.

Our first round of decisions goes out in two weeks so I am scrambling now.

Thanks, Heather, for bringing this up!

Heather Cullen

Mary, I was able to code in a video for a client but I can't change it to the new video for 26-27 because it is forcing the mail merge. It is rather irritating! I am going to submit something in ideas as I believe the product owners are looking there and not in this discussion area.

Mary Fernandez

Hi Heather! Thanks for letting me know! I didn't see where I could code the new video (the old format had a button on the top left corner of the Body box for html coding). May I ask where you coded the new video?

And yes - without the mail merge, I wouldn't be able to "save" the new Decision anyway.. so irritating!!

Glad to know that I am not alone in this!

Ami Naik

So far I have created a blank template and attached that and unchecked the publish button, but it still shows view decision. I am having a hard time believing that a mail merge template is required. When I added a mail merge template it doesn't even show up anywhere. I am not sure if this is fully functioning the way it's suppose to. Also why is the mail merge field required. We don't want any decision to show up in the user profile. Have you all found a way to turn this off completely from displaying the decision box.

Mary Fernandez

Hi Ami - I have not found a way yet - however, I noticed that the DECISION tab in the Candidate Progress page is gone now so I am really curious to understand where the families will find the decision, especially if the mail merge template doesn't show up anywhere.

Heather Cullen

At all - It appears this has actually been fixed! I just went in to confirm and was able to save without a mail merge template! Thanks Blackbaud Team for fixing this quickly!

Heather Cullen

@Mary Fernandez I am happy to meet to show you. My email is heather@cullenconsultingservices.com. I do own a consulting business but I won't charge you! Just don't want you to get thrown off by my business name.

Ami Naik

I really think BBID needs do a full detailed video on how to set this up with the video embedded. I typically can figure this out quickly, but they have made it more complicated for no reason and the video doesn't show up anywhere when you add the URL. The way they are displaying in the release is nice, but it's allowing us to program anything in that format. They have at least removed requirement for the mail merge template thank god, but where do you add the video and a message for the family. All a parent can see is there is "decision available" box to view above the checklist. When they click on that it goes to the option you set up where they can accept, decline or defer etc… However, they don't see any type URL link or the video I set up for them. This is has been really frustrating release.

Mary Fernandez

@Heather Cullen I am so glad to hear that the mail merge portion has been fixed! I am going to attempt to re-do our release with video but based on Ami's post, it looks like we still have some things to iron out! I would be happy to reach out to you, and I really appreciate your willingness to help me!

Thank you both so much! This has been frustrating, and with our release date coming up fast, I was not expecting this change right now!

Jamie Benemerito

Has anyone figured out how to embed the video? I am able to see it when I'm editing the decision type, but once I hit save the video disappears. @Heather Cullen @Mary Fernandez @Ami Naik

Sarah Honey

@Jamie Benemerito, I have an open support ticket about the html button removal. It took a while for the support agent to actually admit that the html button was in fact missing. Per the last update, they told me that Blackbaud's product development team is reviewing the issue. We have our first round of decisions this Friday so the timing is not great.

Until the issue is resolved, we have the url to our welcome video linked in the decision comment instead of embedded. You might be able to just add the html code directly into the decision comment but I'm not sure how reliable that would be.

2025-12-02_09-13-19.png

Ami Naik

I have not been able to see the header or the video also. If you say open is current window then the link works with HTML only. However, the video or the body header certainly doesn't show up after it's saved similar to what they are showing in the release. I don't think this is working the way it's intended. Nothing works if you say open in a new window. I wish there was a way to completely turn this off when we add decisions. It shows to the parents there is decision even when we don't publish them. It basically allows them to click on a decision and then it doesn't display anything, because we don't publish the decision. Does anyone know how to turn this off completely, so it doesn't show that there is a decision?

Jamie Benemerito

This update could not have come at a worse time. We are releasing decisions today and now need to rework our entire setup! We use mail merge letters but they no longer display to the end users (candidates), and according to support, this is intended behavior. They did not provide detailed instructions regarding the new update, and the screenshots in the 'What's New' release notes are misleading. Extremely frustrating! 😡😡

Sarah Honey

@Jamie Benemerito I completely agree! We also had to rework our setup at the last minute by copying our admissions letters into the decision comment. That's interesting that support told you that that it was intended behavior. When I submitted a support ticket regarding the letters not showing up anywhere, they told me that it was under investigation. Very frustrating.

Mary Fernandez

@Jamie Benemerito @Sarah Honey I am so sorry that everyone is having the same issues! Our school decisions are going out this Friday and it sounds like the best -not ideal - solution at this time is to just copy the wording into the Comment section. Is that what you are all doing? As for attaching a video, I am assuming adding the HTML is the only way for now?

I think I would have preferred to keep my video and lose the confetti 🙄

Mary Fernandez

@Ami Naik Agreed on the comment about the parent page - shows "Decision Available" and then the link leads nowhere. So even though our Publish date is not until this Friday, one parent who works at the school clicked on the Decision and an option appears for them to "Accept Offer or Decline Offer" - even though there is no decision posted! In essence, this parent found out they were accepted this way… not good. Blackbaud needs to fix this asap!

Ami Naik

@Mary Fernandez you should uncheck the publish option so they are able to anything apart from decision available and when they click on it there will be nothing there. Currently this is all you can do. The only reason they were able to see the screen shot you sent was because under "Candidate decision options" you forgot to uncheck "Publish". This will prevent them from seeing any decisions. You have to do that under each candidate decision options you have. Don't publish them yet until this stuff is fixed.

Mary Fernandez

@Ami Naik Thank you so much for that! With the new look, I didn't even know where to find that publish button.. took me a sec! Thank you!!

Jamie Benemerito

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/309060#Comment_309060

We copied the mail merge letter wording to the comment section and added a link to the video. Embedding the video does not work once you press save.

Ami Naik

@Mary Fernandez we add official notes with the congratulation note plus the link to a landing page where they can see a welcome letter from either head of school or admission director along with instruction on that landing page on how to accept the contract. It works really well. We also have an official notes template for denials and waitpool. The only candidates parents receive the landing page with video/letter and a contract is the acceptances. It quick, because you can efficiently send all acceptance at one time and all denials at one time and so on. Feel free to reach out directly to me and I can walk you through how we complete this process. Whenever this new decision launch works the way it's suppose to then there will not be need for a landing page.

Ami Naik

@Mary Fernandez ideally copying the wording into the Comment section of decision set up would work, but with the new release even that is not working. I have an open ticket also regarding what is not working. To top it of the contract doesn't show up even if they click accept in the new launch. So there is something wrong in the programming of this launch for sure. The only time the contract shows up is if you uncheck display option of "when a candidate accepts, show contract", which should be working yet it's not.

Mary Fernandez

@Ami Naik Thank you for telling us that. I tested with the contract as well and the yellow banner doesn't show up after clicking on Accept. That is definitely not working the way it was meant to.. and I hate the fact that families already see that there is a contract before they even get to the Decision text and the confetti 🙄. Our decisions launch on Friday so I hope they can fix the "show contract" issue before that… uggghh

Ami - you have been invaluable.. I appreciate you!!

Mary Fernandez

The contract shows up before the decision text. Blackbaud, please fix this!

Jessica Sellman

Is anyone also having trouble with the mail merge function? We use it, but it will not allow me to pull any of my saved lists. Since we can no longer sort the list of individual students, even by entering year, this is a serious obstacle to being able to complete the mail merge.

Sandra Bush

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/309116#Comment_309116

This changed literally halfway through my testing yesterday. The first time i tested it it looked like your image, not it just shows "decision available" without the contract visible. I wrote help last night asking for some clarification about behavior to the parent - of course the response was not useful, but as i read this today I think it may be in response to this request. I echo someone's note above that the screenshots/help information they have provided is very unhelpful. I also noticed that the confetti works even if the decision is a deny which ooof. And, if anyone has any further info on the video embedding… I, too, would love some assistance/update on that! Thanks all. happy to know i'm sharing these frustrations with others! ;)

Brian LeBlanc

It sounds like the visibility dates are not working across the board. I contacted support last week when I noticed that decisions were still available to accept after the expiration date; I didn't realize that it was also an issue with publish dates.

So, I guess this is my way of warning everyone that the same issue also exists with expiration dates that you all have encountered previously with publish dates. Be careful! They have told me that they're working on fixing it and it "appears to be a defect". Which…I mean, great, but Blackbaud, this is on y'all to prevent these "defects," and to not release them at a very sensitive time of year!

Heather Cullen

Hi All - It appears HTML was added back into decisions albeit for some, a day late and dollar short.

However, now I am noticing an issue with the household salutation placeholders. We have info populated in all the salvation fields and non of them are pulling into the decision comment body. I will be submitting a ticket soon but wanted to see if anyone has come across this. @Brian @Mary @Ami Naik @Jamie Benemerito

Ami Naik

You are correct none of fields are pulling into decision comment body or the hyperlink. I received an update yesterday regarding my topic that they are have found some sort of solution and to look for an update on Tuesday. However, today's release didn't include the update. They keep update emergency phone number etc.. etc.. I wish they would fix this issue first considering we are in the midst of contract season. I don't know who prioritize stuff for them, but they don't seem to understand why this is such a major issue for all of us. At the moment I like our process better, where generate a personalized external official note template with congratulatory message and a hyper link to a push page, which has a letter from head of school and instruction/links on how to accept the contract. The push page is a landing page with a video, so it looks very nice.

Ami Naik

I received another message today saying this is fixed, but I sent them a video back showing that the contract is not displaying and the only thing that's fixed is the hyperlink and the ability to type a message. They can see accept, decline button, but they click on it and it only shows thank you for submitting the decision. Contract is no where to be found. You have uncheck "When a candidate accepts, show contract" in order for them to see the contract with the yellow bar. So not sure why they think it's fixed.

Ami Naik

Hi All, This feature we have been discussing has made some headways now. The enabling of publish date allows us to control when the decision is visible to a parent also. The only thing that's not working is the embedded video. Has anyone had any luck or created a source code where the video is visible to the parents view? I am able to see the video when I set everything up, but in the parents view it doesn't show up.