Category Archives: Not Code

Blackbaud Conferences in London and Washington DC

Not Code, Opinion, , , ,

If you don’t receive my somewhat irregular newsletter (and you can sign up for it here if you want…) then you will, perhaps not have heard that I will be speaking in both London and Washington DC over the next couple of weeks.

I shall be speaking on the differences between customisations on the Infinity platform versus those on The Raiser’s Edge platform. I have a several customisations created for the conferences one of them an integration with Mailchimp, the email delivery provider. The session is not going to be technical (there will be no code) so it is open to everyone. If you are going to be at either of the conferences then it would be great to meet you.

I am looking forward to some exciting announcements from Blackbaud. Here are a couple of my predictions:

  • A public, free, release of the Blackbaud Enterprise CRM SDK
  • The dropping of the name “Raiser’s Edge” in favour of “Blackbaud CRM”
  • Free iPads for all the speakers! (possibly wishful thinking but it may come true)

Look forward to seeing you there!

Multiple Versions of The Raiser’s Edge Open at one time

Beginner, Not Code, ,

I am currently working on a project involving two different Raiser’s Edge databases. One of the problems that I thought that I would have was having to first open one instance of Raiser’s Edge only to find that I needed a piece of information from the other one. I would have to exit and sign out of the one and then log in to the other one. This to-ing and fro-ing, I thought, would drive me crazy.

Continue reading Multiple Versions of The Raiser’s Edge Open at one time →

Globally Merge Constituents using The Mergician

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If you did not get Zeidman Development’s newsletter (you can sign up here) then you would not have heard about our latest plug-in – The Mergician.  The Mergician allows you to merge constituent records en masse. Currently The Raiser’s Edge allows you to merge two records together. Built off of the same functionality, The Mergician allows you to merge all your duplicates in one process. Continue reading Globally Merge Constituents using The Mergician →

Visual Studio and Blackbaud Enterprise CRM

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I have been doing some preparation for my two Blackbaud conference sessions (in London and in Washington D.C.).  Each year I present at the Blackbaud conferences I develop some new code to show. This year is no exception and without going into too much detail I am sure this will not disappoint those who are excited to see what can be done on the Infinity platform that The Raiser’s Edge platform code only ever dream of doing!

The SDK has some great integration with Visual Studio. For starters you are given very many template items to build your own components from. Intellisense works well in both the XML specs that you have to write and also in any corresponding .NET code. Continue reading Visual Studio and Blackbaud Enterprise CRM →

RE8 and the risk for Blackbaud

Not Code, Opinion, , ,

A while ago Blackbaud released Blackbaud Enterprise CRM. For me as an observer of all things Blackbaud related I don’t remember exactly when BBEC was released. There was no big announcement but instead there were small releases of information over an extended period of time. First it was snippets of information about the Infinity platform, then announcements that various organisations had selected BBEC  and then finally mutterings of information about RE8. The gradual increase of information about the product range has, over time, increased the expectations of Blackbaud’s customers towards the release of RE8. This was no bad thing. Such releases of information, whether officially from Blackbaud or just speculation from within the community creates a buzz around the product. (Such a model has worked wonders for each of Apple’s releases). Unfortunately buzz can lead to hype which can lead to frustration. RE8 has this mythical quality about it. While most people realise that it is more than just vaporware (given the release of BBEC) there is nothing, as yet, tangible. Continue reading RE8 and the risk for Blackbaud →

RE8, Blackbaud Enterprise CRM and the case for Crystal

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There has been much discussion on various forums and between different organisation about the rumour that Crystal Reports is not going to be supported on the Infinity platform. While I don’t have any inside information from Blackbaud about this I can dispel a couple of myths.

Currently in Raiser’s Edge 7, Crystal Reports is used as the reporting engine for all canned reports. Blackbaud use components that feed their data into various Crystal Reports so that you need merely click on a button and the report appears. These reports have a predefined format and although the user can change some aspects of this it is very limited.

In RE8, BBEC and the Infinity platform the canned reports do not use Crystal Reports as the reporting engine but rather SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). This is server based and comes with SQL Server. Blackbaud currently bundles Crystal Reports with their software but this version is client based. To bundle the server version would clearly mean a greater expense for them (and ultimately their customers).

When it comes to custom reports there is some uncertainty. I am not sure how the Infinity platform handles custom reporting. I am sure that there will be some kind of function to integrate custom reports with RE8 but most probably via SSRS.

There is a lot of investment in Crystal in the community so it is obviously of concern to think that Crystal will no longer be used. This, though is not strictly the case. It should be quite possible to use Crystal against the BBEC and RE8 database. After all Crystal can run against any kind of database. Many RE7 users develop reports that run directly off of the database rather than using the custom mechanism inside of RE. This offers much more flexibility.

One other possibility that I am currently looking into is developing a Crystal Report engine to integrate with the Infinity platform. That way data can be exported from RE8 and BBEC and linked to a Crystal Report in the same way as is currently the case in RE7. It does seem a shame to waste all the Crystal knowledge out there. Watch this space…

What are your thoughts on the shift to SSRS? Do you currently use SSRS with RE7 or other products and how does it compare to Crystal Reports. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Raiser’s Edge Book

Not Code, Opinion

I have just seen a new book about to be released called:

Fundraising with the Raiser’s Edge: A Non-Technical Guide by Bill Connors. Bill was my first inspiration to go into business with The Raiser’s Edge when he was a consultant at Blackbaud and visited the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco where I worked at the time. He really inspired me to take my development work further. I have never met anyone with a better knowledge of The Raiser’s Edge and fundraising combined and no doubt this will be reflected in his book.

From Amazon.com

or

From Amazon.co.uk

Most definitely a recommended read.

Bank Validation for Blackbaud Enterprise CRM

Not Code, ,

Zeidman Development are pleased to announce a new customisation for Blackbaud Enterprise CRM. The bank validation customisation validates UK financial institutions and constituent accounts. For the financial institutions the branch name and address will also be updated. For the constituent accounts the account will be flagged as whether it is valid for direct debit processes. The customisation introduces the ability to query on constituent accounts and in doing so allows for them to be globally validated.

As this is on the Infinity platform it will most likely work for Raiser’s Edge 8 when it is released.

Check out the video at the link below for more details:

http://www.zeidman.info/downloads/BBECBankVal/BankValBBEC.html

Small improvements that I like about Blackbaud Enterprise CRM

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Blackbaud Enterprise CRM (eCRM or BBEC as it seems to be called interchangeably) is enormous. It is a big change to The Raiser’s Edge but then that is not surprising as it is not actually the replacement for The Raiser’s Edge 7. It is an application way beyond RE 7. Nevertheless you cannot help comparing the two as long as there is no RE8 to compare to. As a software developer it is a whole new paradigm. Of course even if you know how to develop software customisations for BBEC you still need to know how the program works from a user perspective. That is why I am not only learning a new development environment but I am learning a whole new program. Some of the concepts are very similar, some are different. As I learn I have come across some quite small changes that, for whatever reason, fill me with a “wow that’s great” feeling. These are not earth shattering improvements but just things that I am sure people will appreciate. So this post is dedicated to the small differences. Continue reading Small improvements that I like about Blackbaud Enterprise CRM →