Timeline to convert from Database to NXT

Kathy Riske

Does anyone know the time for converting from RE7 Database view to RE NXT? We never can get an answer from Blackbaud. 1 year, 2 years, or what????

Karen Stuhlfeier

It doesn't really convert - it just opens up a web view of your database. It doesn't take long at all if you're already hosted by Blackbaud.

Kathy Riske

Maybe I should have worded that differently. When is the database view going away and we will strictly be using NXT?

Karen Stuhlfeier

It doesn't go away. You still have a database view. They haven't ever announced a date that would go away and there are a lot of things you still need the database view for.

Kevin Hardy

No one but Blackbaud knows that timeline but I'm going to say the database view will be around for at least the remainder of the decade while they build up web view functionality.

Might be fun to start a pool on this ?

Kathy Riske

Thanks Kevin! I think we should start a pool!!! ?

Patti Posey

Not until they build out all the functionality that you do in database view in to NXT. For us, we find it is so limited for what we are doing. I spend all my time in database view. My major gift people use NXT, but myself, gift processor and Operations Mgr use database view.

Kathy Riske

Thanks @Patti Posey - I am in the same boat. We had a team meeting this morning and the question was asked. Thought I'd reach out to this wonderful community.

Veronica Renzo

I completely agree with you Patti!

Larry Wheeler

I remember some at Blackbaud (maybe just sales/marketing) telling us around 7 years webview would be fully functioning separate entity - that was in 2016. Webview has gotten better, but here it is still just a pretty covering for the fundraisers and Deans.

It all reminds me of ‘back in the day’ when Windows was going to be distinct from DOS. It didn't happen for a long time. Computing technology is almost always more powerful, and less user friendly, in the most basic state.

Webview has a long way to go before it can be used without database view. I believe that SKY API will have to be fully fleshed out before there is a chance for database view to go away.

David Ritchie

I would agree with Larry, they have to finish building out all the functionality in web view. I had used Ellucian Advance and they converted their platform to the web, and it took about 10 years for them to fully convert all functionality.

There are many processes that we have to do in DB View. Plus partners like Omatic still have not fully converted over their tools to support NXT processes.

I bet we are easily 3-5 years away.

Kathy Riske

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I primarily use the DBV like many. We just can't seem to get an answer from the Blackbaud team, so was asked to reach out to this community. I appreciate the feedback!

Dariel Dixon 2

I don't know if it's in Blackbaud's best interest to have it go away completely anymore. They have struggled to build NXT to a truly independent platform, and since NXT is based on RE7, I think it will just always be there.

Unfortunately, I don't see it happening anytime soon. Just from a PR standpoint.

JoAnn Strommen

Unfortunately, it's a selling point for their sales people to get people to switch. At my former org, the sales call convinced our IT guy that we needed web NXT because db was going away. They spent the thousands of $ to upgrade. It is a small community-based org, no gift officers, no real need for most modules. Nice and pretty but db view had been fine for 9+ years to track and deal with donors.

Judith Minder

I agree with all of those who are concerned about RE7 being discontinued and replaced by NXT. For those who do gift entry, and the daily operations of data entry RE7 is critical. If these daily tasks are not built into NXT it will be challenging to keep the integrity of the data.

Kathleen Eastman

I definitely agree with your decade prediction and I'm not sure if BB knows really. I'm sure things have not gone as they had hoped.

Faith Murray

Yes, it has several years to go. More than likely it will be a slow and painful transition as they push people bit by bit into using webview processes, saying things like: “Database view Action attachments are going away, please convert to using webview attachments.” (Oh right, that just happened.) ?

I'll be sad when database view goes away, IF it does. Analytical people like DBMs like their info in nice, neat, compact boxes where they can easily see what they need. Database view does that. Webview is like the little brother's messy bedroom where clothes and toys are piled in random corners. Tasks take longer to do because they require more clicks, more layered windows to open to get at what you need.

I recently read a fascinating article from a philosophy/psychology professor talking about how the modern person's brain has been wired differently than in previous generations – trained by lifelong internet usage to “skip” from one keyword to another while reading, absorb highlights more rapidly and multitask, but unable to perform deep information analysis. Older scholars view this as a mental decline toward reflexive awareness, while younger scholars consider this an evolution in favor of multitasking. Webview, in being designed as an “intuitive” platform, follows the modern internet psychology. But that's why it's poorly designed for DBMs who desire more informational depth.

Sorry for waxing all philosophical on everybody, lol.

Jenny Marquardt

@Faith Murray very well said!!!