How does your school/organization use BBMS to reconcile with Finance/Accounting

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Lanetta Gilder
Lanetta Gilder ✭
Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 1 Name Dropper Photogenic
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion

Hello all! I hope all is well. Can anyone advise on how your organization reconciles with finance using Blackbaud Merchant Services? What did you do to transition from IATS to BBMS? What challenges did advancement/development or Finance have with reconciling? (Especially if your organization does NOT use Financial Edge) 

The reason for the question is because we are using Online Express which is supported by BBMS. Prior to upgrading to RE NXT, we used IATS. Now we're trying to decided if its advantageous to keep both processors. We are also a K-12 user, so if your school uses Core/OnSuite your input will be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks again! Take care and have a good day!

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  • Beth Green
    Beth Green ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 1 Name Dropper Photogenic
    Hi, Lanetta,


    We recently began using BBMS as we moved our website to BB hosting.  We have RE, NXT, FE and ON.  We kept our existing credit card processor because we did not want payments (for events, fees, summer programs, etc) coming through mixed in with donations, which would mean they would all come through our development office.  The finance office wants to keep them separated, so they still have separate portals for different payments in our "old" processor.  We only have donations coming through Online Express.  Hope this is clear and helpful!
  • Marguerite Gravois
    Marguerite Gravois ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 1 Name Dropper Photogenic
    We are hosted, use RE, NXT, FE and Enrollment Mgmt, and we post from RE to FE.  We created a BBMS account for each bank account that receives donations (5), a BBMS account for registrations though OLX, and will add another BBMS account for online enrollments via ON.  Blackbaud products work best with Blackbaud processors, and you can change merchant processors at any time.  You can add as many merchant accounts as you need for no additional charge.  When you set them up, name them something that is easily distinguishable in the drop down tables (ex--when sending eft files from RE, creating OLX pages, online enrollment forms, etc).  Create log ins for whoever needs to see the corresponding transactions (CFO, accountant, Enrollment Manager)--they can then log in and pull disbursement reports to reconcile to the bank statements or search for transactions.  We have discontinued posting OLX event registrations from RE--they now run through the merchant account set up for this purpose and Blackbaud MobilePay miscellaneous purchases, so are not mixed with donations.  I download them and mark Do Not Post, and the Finance Office creates a corresponding journal entry on the GL in the amount of the disbursement.  Finance is also are responsible for journaling the transaction fees.  Everyone's happy--the deposit is present on the ledger without a multitude of individual transactions (they can see the detailed report via their BBMS log in), and I am assured that cash that originated through an RE portal is posted.  Hope this helps!
  • Lanetta Gilder
    Lanetta Gilder ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 1 Name Dropper Photogenic
    Thank you Marguerite and Beth! I greatly appreciate it. 


    Marguerite, at your school, do you have BBMS accounts specifically for ON/K-12 and accounts for RE/RE NXT? Can either of you advise on how your school/organization handles transactions via ON/K-12? Are all donation/payment pages created via donation forms/pages in Core/ON/K-12? (for example PTO events, Student Life Activities are they ran through Core/K-12/ON?


    Thanks again for everything! I greatly appreciate it! Take care and have a good day!

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