What is the most difficult part of job with Raisers Edge with no prior experience?

I agree with Elizabeth that it might take a year to get used to the cycles, and that it's important to take all the training you can.  Try finding a RE user group in your area...finding other users that  you can talk things through with is invaluable.  I wouldn't worry about the certifications though.  In the early part of any new job, you're just getting your feet wet.  Certifications will come, or they won't.  Either way, your value to your organization is learning and using the database in the most efficient and effective way.  As far as being an expert?  I've been in RE for over 10 years, and I learn something new EVERY DAY!  Take a deep breath.  If you are open to learning and trying new things, it'll come.  Don't put so much pressure on yourself to learn everything at once!!


Good luck!

Katherine

Dariel Dixon:

I think the biggest thing to get when starting out is time.  It takes time to understand how things are laid out and organized in database view.  NXT just adds to the learning curve.  I think it takes about 6 months to feel comfortable with the routine stuff.  It all depends on what other responsibilities the person may have.  And how long it takes them to understand query concepts.


When I was starting out, I spent a week offsite taking the Blackbaud Fundamentals classes.  I don't know if I suggest taking them right away like I did, but the materials and the booklet were good.  I still reference them now.  I don't think setting a time expectation is fair without knowing the size of the office and the roles they may have to take on.  If you have a learn subscription, then sure, go for a cert.  If not, don't worry about it.  It's a worthwhile investment though.


It took me about 2 years to know what I was doing.  It took another year after that for me to figure out that I knew what I was doing.


The hardest part to me was understanding my team.  What they needed versus what they requested.  Once you understand the concepts and how things relate, the rest is putting it all together.

 

Annette Mcelroy‍ - As much assistance as the organization can give up front, is always an asset. I realize people learn differently, but having someone internally they can go to with questions is a great way for them to learn how the system works and how your organization uses it. Orgs can help the learning process by investing Blackbaud University/Learn Subscription for the new hire, helping them find a group of peers (locally/online - BB Community and the Facebook RE User Group are great online resources), etc.  Overall, just have patience and support the new hire the best you can. 


In my first year as a DBA, I had limited knowledge of how the system worked and read every user manual I could find.  I reached out to other organizations that were similar to mine, and found a good mentor to help me understand the intricacies of RE and best practices for the system based on how my organization needed to use it.  I joined local DBA group, and eventually stumbled upon the online forums listed above.  I appreciated my org investing in a class or two via BB University for the topics I could not figure out on my own.  As others have mentioned, I am still learning even in my 8th year of being a DBA.

To me, it was learning what people actually meant when they said they needed something, then figuring out how to get that out of or into the system.  Admittedly, I didn't spend much time doing trainings in the 5 years I've been in this position and am not certified, but the things I've discovered (and continue to) often revolve around previous people in my position coding things differently (in non-uniform ways, or not at all) or making mistakes in their entry, then determining exactly what was different (and why my numbers weren't reconciling), then developing a plan to clean/standardize coding of constituents/gifts to get what they (or I) wanted out.


Learning our organization and team's complexities and what they wanted to see regularly, then figuring out how to get that out of the system initially created huge challenges (and ate a lot of my time).  Having 3 major fund/campaign changes in 5 years led me to understanding some of our shortfalls with RE and how to work around them.  That in turn has led me to doing a lot of my analysis and data pulling outside RE so I don't have to reconfigure the entire system every other year to determine historical trends (and also vastly sped up my querying and reporting ability).


Working with a consultant in my 3rd year certainly helped, as did reading other people's postings on here to get ideas of things to look for and try in my own system.