Raiser's Edge 7 / NXT migration advice

Jenny Lindvall · February 2020

After lots of stalling we have finally signed up for migration from Raiser’s Edge 7 (self-hosted) to move to NXT in the next couple of months.
Whereas I was looking into what issues others encountered during the migration process in early 2018, I gather lots have moved on since then. If anyone has gone through this process fairly recently, would you please share with me the niggles or disasters you encountered, and if there’s any preparation that can be done in RE7 to eliminate big headaches post-migration?
Any testing documents or similar that you’d also be willing to share would also be greatly appreciated.
I’m also curious about the configuration process once setting fundraisers up and working form the NXT work centre – how long did it take you to get the work centres to the state your users were happy and confident with the reasons why records were flagged to them? Is the underlying criteria easy to review/amend once in NXT?
What have the biggest challenges and/or disappointments been? Have you had to change how you do certain things due to NXT quirks?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Karen Stuhlfeier · February 2020

Try to think of it as less of a migration - and more of just getting another view of your database. You're not going to lose the database view. Before you invite everyone to be users take some time to get the feel of it yourself. I'm not sure why you say NXT quirks - you're getting a great new view of your data. It has different capabilities. Take training and learn about it. Our office thinks it's great. We've had it for almost 5 years. Most of our office uses that view exclusively. As the DBA I work in both, but I'm finding that I'm doing much more in the web view every day.

Dariel Dixon 2 · February 2020

I think it really depends on what plug-ins and other third-party tools you may use. Moving from self-hosted to hosted is the bigger migration; NXT is more like an add-on from there.

As far as the work center, it's going to take some clean-up. Past due actions will need to be cleaned up and the assignments will be more clear. But, outside of that, it should be pretty smooth.

Most of your issues will come from no longer being self-hosted.

Marie Stark · February 2020

Custom reports have to be updated for the hosting environment. It's well worth the time to do this in advance. Here is an article on how to do it.
https://kb.blackbaud.com/articles/Knowledge/50590/

There are also several steps involved in setting up the workcenters that can be done in advance.
https://kb.blackbaud.com/articles/Knowledge/73676

Jenny Lindvall · February 2020

We're pretty limited in terms of plug-ins and we don't even use crystal reports, so sounds like we're not making things too difficult for ourselves.

Dariel Dixon‍ , what are the issues you have in mind in terms of moving from self-hosted?

And @Karen,

Before you invite everyone to be users take some time to get the feel of it yourself.

Does this imply that initially most of your users were accessing the database view only, before being invited to NXT, or how did they keep their records updated in the meanwhile?

Thanks!

Jenny Lindvall · February 2020

Marie - do you know how I can find out about the other steps I can take to prep for the work centre view?

There are also several steps involved in setting up the workcenters that can be done in advance.
https://kb.blackbaud.com/articles/Knowledge/73676

Dariel Dixon 2 · February 2020

Jenny Lindvall‍ The main things I would be considering are things like speed and responsiveness. You'll have to remember that you are logging into a remote computer now, probably one that is a good distance away. There is no workstation client anymore, so things may take a little longer than they do now. Also, not having control over updates and other things. If you have any back-end connections, those will probably go away as well.

None of these things are problems, just some small perceived irritations.

Once you get migrated, don't forget to uninstall your client on your computer.

Marie Stark · February 2020

These are the steps to set up the workcenters

.For a fundraiser to appear in the Change Fundraiser list, the following must be set up:

Create a constituent record for the fundraiser. (Enter in the Database View.)
Set up a Raiser's Edge user name for the fundraiser. (Enter in the Database View.)
On the Raiser's Edge user name set up in step 2, link the constituent record created in step 1. (Enter in the Database View.)
The same fundraiser's constituent record must be marked as a solicitor (in the Database View) or marked as a fundraiser (in the Web View). (Marking it in one view will update the other view.)

Jenny Lindvall · February 2020

Thanks Marie - sorry I think maybe my understanding of the term 'work centre' isn't very well informed - I thought there may be additional configuration beyond having the canvasser relationship reflected correctly (we already do it the way described in the link) that could be done to ensure the data that surfaces is relevant. For example, I found out that any actions not ticked as 'completed' will issue a prompt in the work centre, so I'm now going through our historical actions now to ensure these are all updated.

Marie Stark:

These are the steps to set up the workcenters

.For a fundraiser to appear in the Change Fundraiser list, the following must be set up:

Create a constituent record for the fundraiser. (Enter in the Database View.)

Set up a Raiser's Edge user name for the fundraiser. (Enter in the Database View.)

On the Raiser's Edge user name set up in step 2, link the constituent record created in step 1. (Enter in the Database View.)

The same fundraiser's constituent record must be marked as a solicitor (in the Database View) or marked as a fundraiser (in the Web View). (Marking it in one view will update the other view.)

Amanda Tindale · February 2020

We migrated in November. Our main issues at the moment are slowness (it can take me several attempts each morning to get DV view to load) and the fact that some things only work in one view and not the other. For example, thank you letters, which we produce from Actions on the record, can't be produced or even viewed in NXT view, so for that reason some of us are spending a lot of our time in DB view.

We're still tidying up the work centre data so that people are comfortable using it - it's taken us a while, but that's partly due to some other system upgrades happening at the same time, and a lack of confidence/training in users.

NXT does have a lot of great features so I don't regret the move, it's just taking us time to be in a position to learn how to get the best out of it.

Jahna Balk 2 · February 2020

Migration shouldn't be too much of a headache.

When you get the remotely hosted Raiser's Edge, your account manager will probably call both the database view and web view of RE "NXT." In our office, we tend to refer to the web view as NXT and the database view as RE.

We use the "traditional" database view of RE for anything that requires data or event management, such as batch entry of gifts, generation of TY letters, import/export of data such as coding, bulk addition of attributes/actions, exports, etc. Basically, any complex function still requires the old-school database view. We also still prefer Online Express to the new donation forms.

Our front line fundraisers (Annual Fund Manager, for example) use the web view of NXT as the web view gives them an easy, modern-looking interface for simple processes, such as viewing reports and lists, looking up donor information, and adding quick notes to a file.

As DB Manager, I use both views to make reports/lists for the fundraising team, depending on the level of complexity and whether or not we need the team members to be able to access the information on their own. However, most of my work lives in the back-end traditional database view.

Raiser's Edge 7 / NXT migration advice

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