RE/LO Connector - Omatic

Hey Pam, You can select multiple LO donations forms when importing via Omatic. We import all of our forms at once.


You can also run multiple imports into the same batch. Omatic lets you choose whether to import to an existing batch or a new batch. That feature is helpful if you want to treat gifts with soft credits differently, but still commit them in the same batch, for example.

You kind of just have to get in and see it. I'm not sure how the old Blackbaud RELO connector works, but with Omatic, you can send all gifts to a batch, so you can review everything before committing. You can send all of your different LO forms to the same batch in RE with just one Omatic "import profile". If you have really different forms, and you want different import profiles to handle each form individually, you can still send the gifts to the same batch, and commit them all together.


I'd talk to Omatic. They have a bunch of free webinars on their website that give you a peak at the back end. You could probably get a personal demo, too. I can't imagine using RE and LO without having Omatic.

It's definitely possible. Here are some screenshots:

I'm hoping my Omatic rep will contact me for a demo.


Thanks so much

Mimi Plato:

Hi everyone,


We are using Raiser's Edge, which is hosted on our server, and Luminate Online. We have a custom connector which was developed by Blackbaud 5 years ago. The connector is outdated and limiting, that is we have to manually upload data from LO to RE each day and only certain information syncs.


Blackbaud has recommended that we switch to Omatic. Does anyone have any experience working with Omatic in general or specifically with LO and RE? Or have other suggestions for RELO connections?


Thanks, Mimi

robert badley:

So here's my 2 cents on this.


When looking at importing transactions from LO to RE there is just no comparison between RELO and the IOM LO connector. True RELO brings in gifts but if you want to do any other coding or testing or setting of defaults in RE when you import a gift then RELO is hopeless. We have a number of gift and constituent attributes that we update with ever import along with things like language preference based on donation forms used. We also use data dictionaries to standardize addresses. There is so much more that we can do if only we had time to set it all up.


Having said that there is one area where RELO is superior and I miss very much and that is keeping LO in sync when changes happen in RE. We are able to export RE data to LO but sadly when I merge records in RE IOM is not able to recognize this and do anything about corresponding duplicates in LO. The result is that there is a lot of manual cleanup that needs to be done in LO to take care of duplicates.

Hi Robert,


I totally agree with you, 100% We are also using IOM connector to transfer data between RE and LO. We have 30+ profiles running on schedule just to sync the two systems. All of them are customized using data dictionary, regular expressions, TSQL calls and their API to automate gift processing and follow our business rules. In short, we are in full control.


In regards to merging records in RE that does not merge in LO, we are experiencing that too. We opted to have duplicate profiles in LO that our constituent's created by registering using different emails but cleaner RE. Also, when we were using RELO, we found out that the merge that is happening in LO is not the same as the manual merge that is built-in in LO. Certain information were not coming over to the survivor record. There were times the personal pages of our fundraiser disappear and we have to ask Blackbaud to reactivate their record.


Leo

We considered the IOM/LO connector, but decided against it (at least for now)... 1) we have been having some issues with LO and are not 100% sure we're keeping it!, 2) for the reason stated above about the lack of duplicate management, 3) the learning curve (we only have one person on staff who can "do stuff like this") and 4) the fear of the number of profiles that we'd need to set up and the time involved in running them!


Those of you who have the IOM/LO connector, particularly the user who says they have 30+ profiles, can you tell me about the logistics of operating those imports? You said they're "scheduled"... does that mean you have them set to run by themselves without user interface?


Finally, we are a large 11-hospital healthcare system, and we have lots of events (golf tournaments, galas, etc.). Would this mean we'd need to have a different profile for each event that we set up?


FYI, Blackbaud told us that they are working to bring the two databases (RE and LO) together in roughly the next two years. (You'll notice that LO Beta looks almost exactly like NXT!) When that happens, this integration issue will go away!

Robert, as to the comment about the RE-LO roadmap, my colleague and I laughed and said the SAME THING.


Would you mind if I connected with you by email to talk further about your experience with the IOM/LO connector?

Hi Robert,


Here are the data that we are pulling from LO:

• Constituent's Biographical
• Team Raiser Registration
• Team Raiser Gift
• Donation (general donations, recurring payments and tributes)
• Recurring Gift (pledge)
• Event (ticketed and non-ticketed) registration
• Surveys
• Team Raiser Survey

Here are what we are pushing to LO:

• Constituent's biographical
• LO Groups

Leo

Hi Robert,


Question, are you using the LO automated duplicate management?


Leo

Leo, thanks for list of import and export profiles. We do use the scheduler but we kick off all of our RE imports manually because we want to have some say in matching to existing records. For exports from RE to LO we tend to do them via the scheduler overnight.


This works fine for updating previously linked records in RE that have changed but we have had to suspend our export of new RE records to LO because we found that when families use the same email address the export would overwrite details of already existing LO records. An example is Jane Smith (smithfamily@gmail.com) has a record in LO from some prior contact and then her husband John Smith has an interaction with us and we add his record to RE with the same (smithfamily@gmail.com) email address. When the IOM-LO synch happens it matches on email address only and so Jane's record gets overwritten with the details of John instead of a new record being created.


We do use the automated duplicate management functionality but I was just speaking with a colleague today and I realized that we do not understand entirely how this process works and I am now trying to find some documentation on it. Are you aware of any documentation on it?


Robert

Hi Mimi


Did you ever implement Omatic for processing luminate gifts? Curious as to your impression if you did or reasons why you didn't.


Thanks!

Marie

Hi Pam! We just recently (Jan) made the conversion to Omatic. We have had some bumps and are still working the kinks out. Some things we have learned are:

1. There is no automated updating of records between the two systems like RELO does.

2. If you have more than one fund code/campaign and are doing tributes you will have to manually enter those on you batch. Or that’s what they have us doing which is bizarre to me. So if anyone out there has a solution to that I would love to hear it!

3. If you have existing recurring gifts, there will be some manual work in the beginning to get those working with IOM.

There’s more things I know but just not thinking of them. I do prefer IOM over RELO bc there is so much more control over your info. If you have any questions you can email me at csegear@kidneyfund.org and I will be happy to help if I can.