RE Mobile App Feedback?

Julie Kennedy

Hello Community,   A colleague has inquired about possibly utilizing the Raiser's Edge Mobile App.   Can anyone provide feedback on how this has worked for them?   The reviews in the App Store average 1.5 stars.   Are there specific issues I should anticipate with regard to security, functionality, ease of use, reliability, or any other issues encountered?  Thanks for any information provided!

Rachel Slager 2

The app has warts, but it's a convenient tool our event and solicitor staff rely upon when they are out of the office.  You can view primary contact information, call directly from your phone, view gifts, spouse info, relationships, actions and notes.  As a stripped down version of RE, I rate this high for ease of use.  The aesthetic of the app is much cleaner than RE, and for some of our frequent travelling staff they like it more than going into RE.  Reliability is high too, we've noticed no lag time between the App and data in the desktop version.  It's great to sit in a restaurant with a donor and quickly, discreetly review their giving history.


Downsides: this is a records tool, so you can't view query.  If I'm remembering correctly you cannot view deceased records (an issue for our planned gift officer), or proposals.  I think you're supposed to be able to add actions and notes but we've had a lot of issues with this function.  


Perhaps someone else chimes in about events, but I feel like our add-on modules aren't viewable for Proposals, Events, or Volunteer.


 

Rosemary Hopkins 2

The one problem I run into all the time is I have it all set up correctly and sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. I get "Not Found" when logging in.   When it works, it is great for the development officers in so many ways but it is not reliable to access all the time.  If someone is going to visit a donor and they click on the address within the app and you have google maps on their phone, they get the driving instructions immediately.  You can see their giving history, relationships, contact information and much more.  All they have to do is click on the phone or email and you are connected. 

Ryan Hyde

Adding actions causes the app to crash, without fail. The action will save to the record, but then you have to log back into the app all over again. It's occasionally useful for just looking someone up, but my gift officers rarely use it becaue it's so clunky. Better to be prepared in the field or have someone in the home office to call back to. 


My assumption right now (and this is total postulation) is that they've stopped development of the app because the mobile web version of NXT is supposed to be very good. However, that leaves us who have not updated to NXT yet up a creek, so to speak. 

Amy Dana

One thing we found out the hard way - if a phone number or email is marked with the "Do Not Call" icon, it won't show up in the Mobile profile. So even if the donor likes calls from their solicitor but is on the DNC list, the solicitor can't see that number.

Barbara Van Handel

The mobile ap needs to be supported as well as Raiser's Edge. Just making new products and not supporting the others will come back to bite Blackbaud.  Eventually, who will recommend a company that does not support what they have sold.  We are not talking cheap products. Maintenance alone is expensive. Quality products and quality support is extremely important. OK... I'm off the soapbox.

Zane Magnuson 2

The app is basically designed to be a quick reference tool for Development staff when they're making calls or on their way to a meeting with a donor. It can view Query Lists and basic biographical/donation history for constituents. You will not be able to do much in the way of adding or editing information, and you cannot see some seemingly vital things like membership status.


So if you use it as that quick reference tool as described above, you'll be fine. If you deviate from that in any way by trying to use it for any other reason, you're going to run into problems.

Tatyana Leifman

In addtition to what Rachel mentioned, you cannot see soft credits in the app nor can you search by Constituent ID--only by name.  Also, you can access queries but only those that were fist saved in the Mobile query folder through a workstation. 

Karen Stuhlfeier

Was it ever promised to be more than it is?  You can look at records on it and it's an easy tool to get numbers and addresses from while on the road.


We do have NXT and that works great on phones and tablets. It's easy to access and easy to add notes and actions from. I know that not everyone can or wants to buy NXT, but it is the future and it's going to be really nice once everything has been released for it.

Hannah Wiginton

In addition to what Ryan and Barbara said, don't expect much from the RE app. The app has not been updated since Oct 2013....


As far as the Action recording that Ryan talked about, this a known issue to BB. I had a case open (still open) with them in December 2015 about the app closing every time you enter an action on iOS.


From Jeff at BB in December - "We certainly agree that all issues are priorities, however it isn’t feasible that they could all be fixed at once. The issue is known and has been reported to the development team. They are currently aware of and working on the issue. The issue has to be evaluated and resolved and then a patch or version created to contain the fix. I certainly do not pretend to know the life cycle of an issue of this nature but assure you it is a priority to us. My team has reported the behavior and will be notified when the behavior is believed to be corrected. Once we have received this notification, we will notify you. I apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience while we work to resolve this difficulty in using our software. We are continually developing and addressing issues that arise as swiftly as possible."


I'm guessing RENXT is their focus more than making sure their RE app can log actions without closing every single time. 


 

Jen Claudy

For those on this thread who haven't seen it yet...check out this Post from Jared about Discovery Calls for the Mobile App.  If you have never done a Discovery Call, you should definitely try one!  They're kind of fun, and it's a great feeling when something you suggested or gave feedback on becomes a feature in the product.

Bradley Coon

I'll agree with Ryan Hyde's comments... there are a couple of major bugs that nearly level any postitive aspect of this app (thus creating a low app score for many).  It is a shame to see so many products get 95% of the way there, then fail in the last 5% such that all of the good efforts go wasted.  Here are couple things in particular that should be fixed or added soon:


1. The app crashes (iphone) every time someone tries to add an action.  This makes the app almost worthless to our gift officers, as they often have to use the full version anyway.

2. There is no ability to filter the list of gifts displayed, or have any other kind of simple dashboard appear.  Again, that aspect makes this feature of the mobile app almost worthless, as there are too many gifts for execs or officers to filter through when making decisions on the road.