Friendly reminder to send us questions for the Blackbaud RE NXT Product Managers

Bill Connors · May 5

The RE NXT PUB just finished moments ago, so a friendly reminder to please send us the questions you'd like to ask the Blackbaud RE Product Managers during our Q&A session with them on Friday. You can post your questions in reply to this post, I'll do my best to follow them, or you can send them to me directly and anonymously at https://billconnors.com/contact/. If you haven't signed up for that Q&A session, you can do so here: https://blackbaud.registration.goldcast.io/webinar/fec95d34-4cc8-417c-acfb-f556f1a5ff2c Thanks! Bill and my colleague LJ

Joe Moretti · May 5

Will action tracks and Action Reminders in RE NXT work the same way as in Database View?

Bill Connors · May 5

Noted, Joe, thanks!

Joe Moretti · May 6

Have another one. The difference between the Solicitor Performance Analysis in Database view vs the Fundraiser Performance in RE NXT on the home page. I noticed when I ran both reports for a fundraiser, the amounts were way off. In the Solicitor Performance Analysis report, you can choose GIFT TYPES. In the Fundraiser Performance, you can only choose between Calendar Year and Fiscal Year and include an amount that constitutes a major gift, but you cannot choose a gift type, which seems bad to me. The only way I was able to get the database report to match the RE NXT report was to take out pledges and include Pay-cash, along with cash gifts. This is problematic and is this going to be taken care of down the road?

Bill Connors · May 6

Got it as well, Joe, thanks!

Peggy Gibbs · May 7

I have several things that I would like to know:

Will all reports currently available in the database view eventually be available in RE NXT?

Also, I loved the initial batch for gift processing in RE NXT but hate the new grid format. Will we be able to choose one or the other in the future? I had been using RE NXT for all my gift batches, but since the change, I have gone back to the database to enter batches of gifts.

Andrea Wilson · May 7

I have a couple of questions based on the info in the features grid: RE:NXT Features Grid

Will REQueue module be replaced with something of equivalent value - the features grid seems to imply it's just not being built into WebView and we've got several critical routines dependent on this functionality.

Where will bank relationships be? again the features grid seems to imply it's not being considered, we use this to manage standing orders and direct debits.

There hasn't been much mention of the standing order import functionality that currently exists in DBV, will that be transferred across? (it is slightly different to direct debit management).

When will permissions be sorted out properly; eg in database view we have users who can add non-constituent relationships to organisations. However in WebView overall permission to create full constituent records is required in order to complete the same task - permissions we're not keen to open up to all users.

Also - what plans do they have to allow users to continue processing Direct Debit/EFT batches (automatically generating the batch etc)? These are direct debits already in place and/or received outside of BB online donation forms.

Thanks @Bill Connors ☺️

Lee Grisham · May 7

Will there be an actual full integration with RE and FE? I see the potential for connecting the gift and its batching to a journal entry to actually help with the auditing process, which at this point is difficult due to the struggle with web view batching. Expenses from events and appeals could also be directly linked to their appropriate budget line items in FE to track spending.

Bill Connors · May 7

@Peggy Gibbs Have you seen the Features Grid that BB announced and made available Tuesday? It lists the reports that are and are not coming to the web view. It's here and requires you to log into BB.

BB has already said that they will not be bringing back the former web view batch "form" view over the new grid view. Most users didn't like the form view and were begging for the grid view, so BB has not indicated any plans to bring back the form view. Sorry. You can advocate for it in the Idea Bank, but as no one else has asked a similar question I don't plan to ask Anthony that tomorrow, sorry again.

Thanks for your questions, though, much appreciated!

Bill Connors · May 7

Andrea and Joe, thanks for your questions. I've gotten several dozen questions via emails to me, so I'll see what I can do about your questions, but as others are not asking similar questions, I'm not sure we'll be able to get to them. These are great questions, however, so we'll see what I can do and if I can't get them in, please continue to ask them! Thanks again.

Tatyana Leifman · May 7

I'll add to Peggy's question about reports. I've looked at the list of reports that will not be coming over and I am wondering what is the reason as I do not see currently anything that fully replicates or replaces at least some of them (I'm particularly interested in the Appeal Analysis, Appeal Comparison Summary, Appeal Performance Analysis, Fund Goal Summary and Fund Summary List). These reports are already broken in dbv (you get Error in report (997) when you try previewing them). I don't see any easy way to compare or pull information about 2 or more appeals in WV. The dashboard for an appeal looks all shiny and pretty but it doesn't provide easy way to control for which gift types are included and, equally important, seeing exact numbers rather than rounded figures.

As for Fund Summary List, I may forgo asking for it if the search function in WV's fund list (or appeal list, for that matter) is fixed. Our organization has hundreds of active funds (and equally as many inactive). Waiting for the system to filter by each character as it is being typed in is like water torture. It's much quicker to export a fund list and sort it in Excel…

Tatyana Leifman · May 7

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/313626#Comment_313626

EDITED: the reports are not broken in DBV, turns out it was a local issue that cleared up with logging out and back in.

Bill Connors · May 7

Thanks, Tatyana. I've added your thoughts to an existing reporting question though I have to tell you it's a little lower on the list of questions and will only be asked if there's time. But it's on the list, promise! Thanks.

Nanette Gantz · May 8

Will Online Express expire once the database view is turned off. I thought the answer was yes but at the payment processing update, they said that Online Express is part of the Unified View.

Darlene Mathisen · May 8

I have a concern more than a question about the volunteer section in NXT vs Database view: In NXT all I see are the hours and over how many years- In DBV I can see what specific date and occurrence hours were for(ie: an event, summer camp, or retreat weekend) plus much more. Is this something in my settings? Is NXT not going to be able to give me pertinent volunteer information such as exact date or program?

Lee Grisham · May 8

@Darlene Mathisen See the bottom of the Constituents section here. They are bringing more things over at some point between this year and next, but will have to wait for it to be available.

Bill Connors · May 8

Nanette, I haven't finished that PUB yet, so I don't know what was misstated or misheard, but OLX is part of dbv and will be going away when the dbv goes away next year, everything else from BB has been clear on this, including in the RE PUB on Tuesday.

Thanks, Darlene and Lee for your question and answer!

Darren Rich · May 8

Why is it taking so long to add full Membership functionality to NXT? Blackbaud loves talking it up, but it's still not fully ready. We continue to do a lot of work in database view because of Membership. I've got to believe we're not the only organization where this functionality gap is what's preventing us from really taking advantage of NXT.

Suzie Capps · May 8

If there is still time for questions ;) UK charities are currently unable to move gift processing across due to the limited Gift Payment Methods that have been brought across to web view both 'Business cheque' and 'Voucher' are absolutely essential to being able to determine gift aid / tax relief for donors - which is most definitely a Core Business process! We are unable to plan our Finance team's move to web view without knowing this is coming. When raised, it seems this is not planned, which will be very troublesome when/if database view is retired (and will cause UK charities to move away from BB).

Rachel Cavalier · May 8

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/313599#Comment_313599

I'd like to put in my vote for Andrea's bank relationships and Direct Debit questions!

Bill Connors · May 8

Thanks, everyone, for all the questions you provided for today's Q&A with the Blackbaud RE NXT product managers! I'm so sorry there wasn't time to ask them all, but I hope you found the answers to those we did ask were helpful. Thanks again!

Friendly reminder to send us questions for the Blackbaud RE NXT Product Managers

Answers

Categories