F9 Excel Add-In Replacement

Patti Rutledge
Patti Rutledge
Eighth Anniversary Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT® General Discussions

When BB decided to sunset the Excel F9 add-in, they recommended we contact their “partner” Mission Bi. We entered into an agreement with them for $7,400 for a solution that would replace F9. That was back in March and we still don't have a working solution. They are non-responsive to emails and phone calls. Did anyone else contact Mission Bi to replace the F9 functionality?

Comments

  • Lara Woytowich
    Lara Woytowich
    Eighth Anniversary Name Dropper Facilitator 1 Loyalty Badge

    I talked to them, but was not impressed with responsiveness, cost, or time it would take. I ended up going with Power Cloud Reporting - it is an excel add on that was built specifically for Financial Edge. It's much cheaper and links to NXT (no database build) - you do have to have Office 365. I will say though that in the mean time I have built some reports directly in to Financial Edge NXT itself, and I am pretty happy with it. I may or may not renew the Power Cloud Reporting. PCR essentially mirrors what NXT does in chart organizer, but it is done in excel directly.

  • Sheri Neal
    Sheri Neal
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 1 Loyalty Badge

    We contracted with Mission BI in March as well, so now we pay Infor (F9) as well as Mission BI to use F9, since we don't have our FE data on the local SQL server anymore (we just converted to NXT). We have had the same experience with Mission BI, their initial contact was to let us know they were experiencing functionality problems and were currently fixing it, but no subsequent contact, no implementation and no further information. We used F9 extensively, it produced some reports we can't easily get out of FE, it was relatively fast and reliable. Our IT dept is contacting Infor (F9) this week to see if they know what is going on, that might be a recourse for you too since we pay Infor F9 for the licensing and annual maintenance (Mission BI only provides a database for F9 to connect to since F9 cannot connect to FE NXT).

  • Patti Rutledge
    Patti Rutledge
    Eighth Anniversary Facilitator 1

    Thanks for the information, Lara. I have also built reports in NXT to facilitate our monthly financial statements that are done in Excel. I might check out Power Cloud.

  • Patti Rutledge
    Patti Rutledge
    Eighth Anniversary Facilitator 1

    Good information, Sheri. I'm also pushing back on BB to assist us with getting a refund from Mission Bi since BB recommended Mission Bi to their customers. We'll see how it goes.

  • Timothy Hoy
    Timothy Hoy
    Third Anniversary Facilitator 1

    Patti, I purchased F9 from Mission Bi way back in October and there was no movement on the project. The consultant from Infor was ready to get started on the project but was held back since Mission Bi hadn't completed their part. I requested a refund two months ago, and they agreed, but I haven't heard back since. They don't reply to their emails. I think Mission Bi is certified Blackbaud vendor, so is there any way Blackbaud can help?

Categories