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Austen Brown

Hey everyone! I'm excited to get started! Feel free to comment here or create your own topic under the “Ask an All-Star” section with your burning Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT® questions. Any and all questions are welcome!

For those that don't know - I've been working in Raiser's Edge NXT for 12 years, Power Automate for 3.5 years. I work for Prenger Solutions Group as a Database Consultant and Automation Engineer. In my free time you can find me in my study reading a book or solving a complex sudoku puzzle or two.

Michelle Andry

@Austen Brown I am new to RE and still trying to figure it all out…How can I run a report/query for my constituents and their employment information?

Austen Brown

@Michelle Andry:

@Austen Brown I am new to RE and still trying to figure it all out…How can I run a report/query for my constituents and their employment information?

It depends on where this is tracked in your system - is it tracked under relationships, an attribute, or somewhere else?

Darlynn Kitcher

@Austen Brown Hi, how can I get RE NXT to stop timing out and requiring me to login over and over again?

Dylan Medina

@Austen Brown Hey Austen! Thanks for all your support in the community! What are some queries or systems that have helped you the most with data health?

Austen Brown

@Darlynn Kitcher:

@Austen Brown Hi, how can I get RE NXT to stop timing out and requiring me to login over and over again?

Unfortunately, there's isn't much you can do about this. At least for DBV, if you know you're going to have an export in a few days that's going to take a long time - you can reach out to support and put in a request to extend your session. But that is a temporary thing, it won't extend it long-term.

Darlynn Kitcher

@Austen Brown Thank you!

Austen Brown

@Dylan Medina:

@Austen Brown Hey Austen! Thanks for all your support in the community! What are some queries or systems that have helped you the most with data health?

As long as you are using the database, there will always be data that needs to be cleaned - it's definitely an on-going process. I recommend setting a specific time to take a look at your long-term projects as well as the new data that's come in this week. For me, this is a perfect task for Friday afternoons.

Here are 20 queries I look at every week. If you have Power Automate, most of these can be automated to either completely resolve the issue or send you a notification when the issue occurs.

Constituent Query

• Any additions made to records by users
• New constituents added by NXT
• Blank address with NVA unchecked
• Country is blank on Addresses
• Address not validated, missing County
• Primary Add/Sal are blank
• Constituents missing informal Add/Sal
• Recently deceased constituents
• Review tribute record descriptions
• Constituent code is blank
• Preferred Name field is blank
• Email address with common typos
• Hard Bounced emails still active
• Required attributes missing on record
• Opportunities without a linked gift

Gift Query

• Gifts without tracking attributes
• Unacknowledged gifts/HM Tributes
• Credited solicitor/s on recent gifts

Participant Query

• Event Registrations missing a linked gift

Action Query

• Actions in the database are not assigned to a fundraiser

Jaclyn Whitelock

@Austen Brown Hi Austen, thank you for all you do! I've recently started playing with Power Automate, and have a daily gift notification flow that keeps failing due at the “list gifts” step, stating that " the SKY API service is not available in this Blackbaud Environment", however I have checked and I have the NXT Gifts connector set up- any idea what this could be?

Austen Brown

@Jaclyn Whitelock:

@Austen Brown Hi Austen, thank you for all you do! I've recently started playing with Power Automate, and have a daily gift notification flow that keeps failing due at the “list gifts” step, stating that " the SKY API service is not available in this Blackbaud Environment", however I have checked and I have the NXT Gifts connector set up- any idea what this could be?

Have you connected “Microsoft Power Platform” within the Blackbaud Marketplace? If not, use the short stack on the left corner of Web View and choose Marketplace, then search for Power Platform. Click into the card (screenshot below) and choose “Connect”.

Jaclyn Whitelock

@Austen Brown Hm, I just double checked and it was not, so thank you! However, I still get the same error when trying to run the flow so not quite sure why that would be.

Austen Brown

@Jaclyn Whitelock:

@Austen Brown Hm, I just double checked and it was not, so thank you! However, I still get the same error when trying to run the flow so not quite sure why that would be.

Has the flow ever worked? Can you share a screenshot of the action in edit mode, and then another one from a recent run with the action extended?

Jaclyn Whitelock

@Austen Brown It has never worked- however, it is a template of the esteemed Alex Wong, so I am sure the problem here is me . I am thinking the issue may be something to do with the environment or my not having set up my actual Power Automate linking correctly with Blackbaud/RE, as I have another Power Automate workflow that soley sends emails that does not involve any RE connectors or pieces, and it works without issue. During BBDevDays I did a Sky Developer cohort, so I'm wondering if something is connected to that instead of my org, but I'm not sure where that might be!

Austen Brown

@Jaclyn Whitelock:

@Austen Brown It has never worked- however, it is a template of the esteemed Alex Wong, so I am sure the problem here is me . I am thinking the issue may be something to do with the environment or my not having set up my actual Power Automate linking correctly with Blackbaud/RE, as I have another Power Automate workflow that soley sends emails that does not involve any RE connectors or pieces, and it works without issue. During BBDevDays I did a Sky Developer cohort, so I'm wondering if something is connected to that instead of my org, but I'm not sure where that might be!

I'm also thinking the connection may be the issue. Do me a favor, with your flow in edit mode, click on the ellipsis on the right corner of the action and down at the bottom choose “Add new connection” > utilize your org's database credentials to login. Save the flow and try running it again.

Jaclyn Whitelock

@Austen Brown This did it! It turns out we have both an “Org Name” and an “Org Environment One”- once I chose environment one, that fixed it. Thank you so much!

Austen Brown

@Jaclyn Whitelock:

@Austen Brown This did it! It turns out we have both an “Org Name” and an “Org Environment One”- once I chose environment one, that fixed it. Thank you so much!

YAY!! ? I'm so happy that worked!! If you have any Power Automate questions, feel free to ask them here, or within the Microsoft Power Platform forum.

Clarissa Rice Hampton 2

@Austen Brown
Hello! My team is looking for ways to automate our acknowledgment process and considering adopting an app from the marketplace to help with bulk processing of letters. We're curious if you have any recommendations for how to include information that isn't typically included in the gift record. Specifically, how can we include the high, low, and calculated average values of stock shares or DAF and IRA information in acknowledgment letters to the donor? Thanks!

Joy Prevost

@Austen Brown
I'm trying to clean up Tables - Industries. When I View Uses, I get some Constituent IDs, but I also get “Blank ID”. How do I find that ID/constituent or how to clean that up?

Austen Brown

@Clarissa Rice Hampton:

@Austen Brown
Hello! My team is looking for ways to automate our acknowledgment process and considering adopting an app from the marketplace to help with bulk processing of letters. We're curious if you have any recommendations for how to include information that isn't typically included in the gift record. Specifically, how can we include the high, low, and calculated average values of stock shares or DAF and IRA information in acknowledgment letters to the donor? Thanks!

I recommend you check out Power Automate - it has the unique ability to create an automation that is fully customized to your org's process. It can connect directly with your RE NXT database through the API, and can utilize dynamic data directly within the workflow. All of the instances you've mentioned are possible. For instance by including conditional logic, you can direct the workflow to dynamic include or exclude tax language on a letter based on a constituent/gift tag (e.g., DAF).

Here's more info on PA, it is a low-code/no-code solution - I am not a programmer, and learned how to utilize this tool: https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/13/8292. Alternatively, if you want to leverage automation without learning it yourself, Blackbaud Partners like AutomateGenius can help.

Austen Brown

@Joy Prevost:

@Austen Brown
I'm trying to clean up Tables - Industries. When I View Uses, I get some Constituent IDs, but I also get “Blank ID”. How do I find that ID/constituent or how to clean that up?

This will likely involved some creative querying. I recommend creating a query that looks for the field on constituent and organizational relationship records. Alternatively, if you are looking to combine table entries, you can utilize the “Clean up” tool to accomplish the replacement of these table entries with another option:

Teresa Bont

@Austen Brown
Hi, Austen! I'm new to development and to RE. I hope this is an appropriate place to ask this question: When looking at a constituent record, is there a way to “freeze” the constituent information across the top of the screen in RE so that, as you scroll down to see information about the constituent, that section across the top stays visible? (This would be much like freezing the top row in an excel spreadsheet.)

Austen Brown

@Teresa Bont:

@Austen Brown
Hi, Austen! I'm new to development and to RE. I hope this is an appropriate place to ask this question: When looking at a constituent record, is there a way to “freeze” the constituent information across the top of the screen in RE so that, as you scroll down to see information about the constituent, that section across the top stays visible? (This would be much like freezing the top row in an excel spreadsheet.)

Unfortunately, that's not currently possible, it's a great idea though. You should check out the RE NXT Idea Bank, here in the community. I didn't find anything related to this topic with a quick search, I encourage you to add an idea for this. Let us know what you title it, so we can show support by voting for it.

Teresa Bont

@Austen Brown
Thanks for the reply and for the link to the idea bank. As I started creating the suggestion by typing in “freeze”, a previous post on this very topic came up! It currently only has three votes, so let's give this one some love! It's called, “Freeze Name Pane on Constituent Home Page”.
Thank you!

Austen Brown

@Teresa Bont:

@Austen Brown
Thanks for the reply and for the link to the idea bank. As I started creating the suggestion by typing in “freeze”, a previous post on this very topic came up! It currently only has three votes, so let's give this one some love! It's called, “Freeze Name Pane on Constituent Home Page”.
Thank you!

Excellent! Great work! For anyone interested in voting, here's a direct link to the idea:

Austen Brown

That's a wrap! We explored a wide range of topics, including database clean-up strategies, reporting (DBV vs. WV), automation, and much more. Thank you for contributing to a great Ask an All-Star discussion!

If you didn't get a chance to post your question, feel free to send me a direct message here on BB Community.

Thanks, everyone!