Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT Reviews

We use the full suite of modules and like the integration and support. Payroll is more challenging.

Pros:

Help and support tools / resources are great. Chat support is responsive and gets a solution to the problem.

Cons:

Payroll leave time management configuration is challenging for our organization that has a complex leave time structure.

Great cloud based accounting system for non profits!

Pros:

I've been using black baud for almost 10 years, I love the ease of using the AP side. It's very easy to get from viewing a vendor, to adding a new invoice and checking for purchase orders, all in one window (with tabs).

Cons:

The only thing I don't like, it seems there are updates (which is great, but sometimes complicates things). It loses the alignment on my checks pretty drastically and doesn't save the alignment for a new run. I'm not sure if there's a glitch. It does time out kind of quickly if you aren't constantly using the system.

Financial Edge NXT Not Ready for Primetime

Comments: After seeing the NXT demo, it was clear that moving to the new platform would provide our business with all the functionality we were missing in our on premise thick client version. THIS WAS A BIG MISTAKE! Although during the demo it was clearly stated that some of the modules would not be moved from the old version to the new, it was not stated that features in the NXT migrated modules would not be available... so if you are working in say AP and rolling along with your work, you might hit a feature set that does not exist in NXT and requires you to switch to the Citrix version think client. It turns out that only a small percentage of the system has been migrated to NXT. This plan to migrate the modules and functions within the modules in realtime is a massive failure. The performance hit moving to the cloud was intollerable. GL uploads take twice as long even after assessing bandwidth and attempting to do the uploads on the local Blackbaud servers in the cloud. Its as if they did not build the environment robust enough to support the client base. There were features that simply did not work. Printing is problematic and the WebPortal for purchases and requisitions simply does not work. It fails with a web browser error. They said they fixed it as they had identified a node that was not turned up (you would have though they would have a monitoring tool to know this was the case) but this did not solve the problem in the end. Screen lockups, and crashes began to occur and yet there was no one who could effectively analyze the issues and solve the problems. We now have to roll our database back to our on premise version and search for a new solution. We will not be using Blackbaud. Their support is horrendous; forget telephone support your could be on hold for an hour or more; we were able to get on chats but that took some time as well. It was not until we started yelling and escalating that we finally got some response because the number of open incidents was ridiculous. I'm sure their bread and butter CRM and Grand management apps are probably fine but hosted Financial Edge/NXT definitely not worth the money.

Pros:

None...

Cons:

Product just does not work.

Financial NXT is a must!

Comments: We use multiple Blackbaud products within my company, including Raiser's, NXT which is very intuitive, WordPress, TeamRaiser, Merchant Services.

Pros:

Overall great foundation for management of accounting, grants, other projects. They give you the ability to customize your dashboard and views. Easily monitor accounts and generate detailed reports. Allows you to process financials in smoothly, not manually. You could even set budgets for next several years.

Cons:

All Blackbaud products are very pricey but it's worth the cost. We use so many different Blackbaud products. Customer service could be improved. They send you lots of video tutorials and knowledge base articles and some of the features are kind of cumbersome to understand.

FE and RE are standards for managing your data

Comments: RaisersEdge allows my organization to keep track of tens of thousands of individual records. Without these we wouldn't be able to interact successfully and efficiently with our clients, donors and partners. Financial Edge allows us to produce accounting reports and maintain our large assets.

Pros:

RaisersEdge is easy to use and store data. RaisersEdge has vast capabilities and reliability. FE makes the process of accounting and check printing very easy. Both products integrate well with other software

Cons:

Even though RaisersEdge has many different tools - you may not be likely to use many of them regularly. Instead I find I reuse the same tools and end up bypassing a lot of what I could do, instead sticking to the essentials. Those extra functionalities just are not that useful to me

Good product but still a work in progress.

Pros:

The system is geared towards non profits. it is very easy to use. Being able to log into the system from anywhere is a huge plus.

Cons:

Third party integration is still lacking compared to most other major accounting platforms. Unless you have a tech department willing to invest time into the api it is hard to do your own in depth analytics out of the box or connect the software to other systems. If the desktop version wasn't available for those in the cloud, I am not sure how any organization could do in depth analysis without the ability to query the database. The product is still a work in process as they work on moving features from the desktop version to the cloud based system. They also do not support multiple currencies which is a big con as an international non profit.

I use NXT for my staff to see vendor history, but use Classic for all AP transactions.

Pros:

I like NXT for the look and feel and that I can pull reports into a good excel format. My staff love that they can see vendor history and payments.

Cons:

There are functions that I need that I can not use in Financial Edge NXT. Therefore my got to is Financial Edge classic for my daily weekly and monthly tasks.

Moving your database to the cloud?

Pros:

The actual move from our local database to the Blackbaud servers was seamless: Have everyone logout, make a backup, upload. Easy as that.

Cons:

We did find that the citrix receiver is a bit slower and cumbersome to connect to the servers. In hindsight, we would likely have stayed with an on premises scenario and continued to access our local compy via Remote Desktop Connect (even though it was not supported by Blackbaud).

Good software

Comments: For my work, I don’t need pretty screens. I need the numbers to be easy to find and correct. This software does just that n

Pros:

I like the ease of use of this product for financial management. It is simple and to the point with easy page to page layouts.

Cons:

It is very basic. It gets the job done but doesn’t have any wow factors or a very visual appealing interface.

One if the easiest of the Black Baud software.

Pros:

It tracks every transaction that you have made from online donation form, Raiser's Edge, and Raiser's Edge NXT. You can search by dates, batch numbers, names, and eve amount. So it is very versatile with how you would like to search things. Financial edge is really straightforward and easy to set up.

Cons:

If you are in a work place that is really large Financial Edge sometimes goes really slow. i spoke to our tech about it, be he said it is just the website/software and our building.

Maximizing Time and Effort - Minimizing Paper

Comments: If you are having issues, contact support staff. Work with them. If you need to refine your initial setup do so earlier than later, you will appreciate it the long run.

Pros:

The integration between Altru (our sub-ledger), BB Merchant Services and FE/NXT is superb in my opinion. You have the ability to track a transaction backwards and forwards. We use the visual chart feature to create our budget in five different views - relating to the grants we are using, thereby eliminating errors in data collection by excel spreadsheet creations not getting updated. Someone mentioned that thinking about the creation of your organization and GL was a big con for them. I disagree. We came on board with expert advice from BB and created a cohesive database that allows us to close the month within two-three days. I think the effort that is put into creating a tool should be as important as the information that you hope to receive from its use.

Cons:

A few spotty delays when I an running an exceptionally detailed report as you watch the Jeopardy button go around in circles.

Financial Edge has given us an edge up

Comments: Financial Edge has been a great experience; we have streamlined data processes and improved our reporting cabability more than 10 fold. We love the project and grant data management pieces as well. The newest addition of Credit Card payment/processing has been a WONDERFUL thing for our office. Our CFO and Accounts Payable Staff can easily see where we are at any given moment in regards to AP/AR balances. Paying invoices is really easy and the load from tables funcationality for GL Disbursments is helpful as well. Financial Edge also has the capabilty to create recurring invoices for those AP invoices that are the same month after month. We are integrated with Raiser's Edge as well and that process is very easy as well.

Pros:

Ease of use in Query and Report Parameters

Cons:

Some of the more intricate invoices can be cumbersome, but that is only for a few items that we have. I wish the Vendor integration with Raiser's Edge was more robust, but it works for us ok.

Save yourself a lot of trouble

Comments: This could be such a great product but I'm so very disappointed with the service and unwillingness to help, since we decided to leave blackbaud, that it doesn't even matter how good the software is.

Pros:

Blackbaud is quite comprehensive, flexible and useful, unfortunately the poor customer service and outrageous cost does not qualify it to be a good choice for any institute.

Cons:

Once blackbaud lures you in you are trapped, then they raise the prices , sometimes by three times the original amount, and your company suffers. Absolutely not a good option for non profits!!!

Great product for Non Profits

Pros:

The versatility of the product was great. You are able to track data on several levels using account numbers, and several transaction codes that you are able to define yourself. Despite all of that information that was housed individually, the software also would allow you to consolidate information across multiple entities. Report writing was fairly simple as were day to day processes of entering journal entries, AP invoices and AR invoices. A nice feature of the reporting was that you were able to create one report and filter it by the transaction codes before running the report. This meant you did not have to have 100s of reports for different scenarios. Instead you could create one report and filter it each time by the transaction codes or entities you were interested in viewing. We also integrated the software with PaperSave which allowed us to go paperless.

Cons:

The support was not always the best. If you had an issue, sometimes the support had a difficult time understanding your issue and resolving it in a timely manner.

Comments: Blackbaud's FinancialEdge is fantastic. We here at Evangel University has been using FE since 1997 and have no problems to speak of. It is very easy to use; very easy to customize your account number structure; very stable. You can create any report you want, from very detailed to summary information. All this is capable through the Chart Organizer. It has the capabilities to create PivotTables, charts, and update with just a click of a button. It has a dashboard which allows you to put reports, queries, or charts on one page and all the user has to do is hit a button to update - which saves me a lot of time when individuals call me to send them updated information. We purchased the option to have View-Only Access. I have setup our department heads and admin assistants with the option where they can view their GL accounts and create reports and queries on what they want, when they want. The best feature is that they can view the activity in their GL account anytime with current information. If you have to send out reports, which I still have to do for some, it's all done with the Accounting Que module. This feature is the best thing about the Financial Edge. I start the que and it runs by itself in the background, and I can go about my day. No more spending hours generating and distributing reports. It will run just about any report or process, including posting to Accounts Payable. You can set up your que to run anytime you want. Support is excellent. With the few problems I have had, they always were on top of it and never went more than a day or two with out hearing from them or receiving a solution. They have the capability to log into your machine and fix, or show, where the problem is. Top notch people that are easy to understand; they speak in common terms not that techy stuff. I recommend Blackbauds Financial Edge to anyone looking for an excellent and stable accounting software.

FENXT is Getting There

Pros:

It's web-based format is simple to use and navigate. The product is quick and responsive and their GUI does a good job at delivering content in an easy to see/read format. The chat and email support is very helpful and their response time to initial inquiries is one of the best in the business.

Cons:

FENXT is a step up from the Education Edge product but it is still in its infancy. Blackbaud's development model is sound, but they need to continue to develop their current products in lieu of adding additional features. The data support team can get bogged down, causing delays of days before data can be corrected.

We didn't need a Ferrari to do the job of a Ford.

Comments: Be certain of what you need and what is a reasonable price to pay for your organization... so that you don't get locked into a long contract that becomes a drain on your fundraising efforts instead of supporting your efforts.

Pros:

It probably has every feature and more than you'll ever need or want. It's especially good for very large organizations that have large budgets and lots of donors to track.

Cons:

My organization is small... we don't need all of the bells and whistles that come with this software and it is way to expensive for the portions that we do use. This really was a ferrari... when a ford would have been more than capable... we opted for a better suited software for our size organization and much more budget friendly for our needs.

Simple to Use

Pros:

We use both Financial Edge and Raiser's Edge and both are set up the same way. It's very user friendly. It's very easy to search for an invoice. I like how you can quickly access a recently viewed vendor.

Cons:

Sometimes when the same vendor sends more than one invoice and the invoice numbers are just slightly different, F.E warns you that it might be a duplicate invoice when it's not, the numbers are just similar to each other. The online support link from inside FE does not open.

Overall easy to use and pull data

Pros:

Overall Financial Edge NXT is easy to use. I mostly use it to query transactions. It is easy to pull the data that I need.

Cons:

Setting up queries is not intuitive. However, once you have set it up you can use the same one over and over again. I wish the output downloaded to a different version of Excel.

Powerful

Comments: I would like to see NXT have all the functionalities that the database view has. I cannot do everything I need to do in just NXT, so we have to use the database view daily.

Pros:

I like most of the reporting. I also like the functionality in the database view. I really like the last invoice input view in NXT to help me keep my obligation description consistent.

Cons:

NXT does not do everything I need it to and there are a lot of mouse clicks to finish a transaction, although I am seeing improvements as time goes on.

FE and all

Pros:

Easy to use and similar style across all Blackbaud products. Many different features and functionality of the product line.

Cons:

Reporting can use some upgrades. We are needing to build crystal reports for some of the items we need to report on

Solid financial reporting software for a mid-sized org, relatively easy to learn.

Pros:

- Love being able to run reports including un-posted transactions - Love being able to attach documents to journal entries in NXT view

Cons:

- Journal entry template is clunky to use & requires a lot of clicking - Journal entries are listed "backward" in NXT (compared to database view) - Can't view the entire journal entry on one screen in NXT & only see line numbers once the entry is posted in NXT view

Raiser Edge Platform

Comments: Raiser's Edge is a very useful tool for any Non-Profit Business owner who wants to keep track of their donation and any important contact in the database.

Pros:

I like how easily it can track donors donation and give us a complete data of the earnings for the month

Cons:

It would be nice if we can scan a business card and easily enable to automatically populate the person information in the system

We Love Blackbaud's Products

Pros:

Blackbaud has created a real community. You can talk with people in your industry, from others, and anyone who works for Blackbaud. Support is great and their followup is refreshing.

Cons:

I wish they were based here in Atlanta. BB HQ is awesome and I wish they were closer, but it gives me a destination when I am looking to go to SC.

Training is Essential

Comments: I'm still learning NXT and all I can say is anyone considering the investment to also look at the total investment and purchase the training package. Your Employees will thank you!!

Pros:

I love the training level that Blackbaud has in place I think that to be successful with Blackbaud a training package to meet your companies needs is essential. At the end of the day Blackbaud wants your success with their software and they offer the solution in awesome training opportunities.

Cons:

The software has many different moving parts and being the only employee in the ar/ap deparment makes some processes a little cumbersome. I think the software is designed for larger non-profits.