Financial Edge NXT

I would like to see NXT have all the functionalities that the database view has. I cannot do everything I need to do in just NXT, so we have to use the database view daily.

Pros

I like most of the reporting. I also like the functionality in the database view. I really like the last invoice input view in NXT to help me keep my obligation description consistent.

Cons

NXT does not do everything I need it to and there are a lot of mouse clicks to finish a transaction, although I am seeing improvements as time goes on.

Pros

The ability to create new customers, make deposits, and create statements is extremely easy with this software. Of course, the success of any program is dependent on the proper training

Cons

It is sometimes a little difficult to look up a payment when searching by certain criteria. Running a query on a specific set of customers can be difficult if you don't use certain filters. Despite some of the cons, I am satisfied with this product.

Financial Edge NXT is well suited for educational institutions.

Pros

We are a private school and use Financial Edge NXT for our daily accounting/finance operations. Very self explanatory and easy to use.

A variety of reportings available.
Easy to add new vendors in the system.
Adding a new invoice is fairly simple.

Cons

Hope they quickly change to the web view faster, so we don't have to switch between web and database view.

Good option for RE users

Pros

Easier to navigate, and smoother than traditional FE program. Available on the go, and not locked to a system

Cons

Not the easiest to learn, but this is more a function of Financial Edge overall, and not exclusive to NXT

Quite a complex software in the Raiser Edge grouping. So if you have the manpower and finances to use this platform it will be very useful on lots of levels but not for the faint-hearted small non-profit to go alone with Blackbaud.

Pros

Blackbaud is the platform we use to collect our donations online or at least to manage them and account for them. We are such a small enterprise that our fees are paid for by a collective/support agent so we are not encumbered with fees to Blackbaud. We pay fees direct to the agency. Good for collaboratives to ease the expense.

Cons

Too complex to set up especially on several devices. I do not quite understand the relationship with Citrix Receiver, but I have had problems re-downloading that software and connecting it to Financial Edge platform.

Pros

The reports and dashboards are very helpful in providing a snapshot of fundraising efforts. The software is intuitive and easy to use. It's also helpful to be able to log on remotely and work off-site.

Cons

The price is high, especially for smaller nonprofits. There is not as much functionality as Financial Edge.

Listen, price is always a concern, but so is the time you'll spend manipulating reports in Excel when you work with lesser software packages. I guarantee you, pit me on Financial Edge against an accountant on any other software, and I can get the job done at least twice as fast, and if it's QuickBooks, five times as fast, and without ever having to go into Excel to do anything.

Pros

I've worked with Blackbaud's Financial Edge for over 2 decades now (even back when it was called Accounting for Nonprofits), and it's the best for nonprofit accounting. Its chart of accounts can be changed at any point to accommodate as many segments as you need (I have worked with as many as 4 segments), and reporting of any kind is easily accomplished with the variety of accessible reports and queries. A lot of journal entries that you'd need to create in other software packages are easily handled through invoice entry in accounts payable, at the time of invoice entry, through miscellaneous distributions. Customer service is excellent as well.

Cons

The annual support for customer service is a bit pricey, and designed to keep you on the hook forever (if you don't pay for a year, because you don't think you will need support - and after the first year or two you may not - as soon as you need support, you've got to pay a large percentage of all the years you missed). Not a con, but Blackbaud's products get a bad rep from bookkeepers who are more used to the silliness of QuickBooks than the accountant's dream that Financial Edge really is.

Pros

The FE NXT webview is a great improvement over the database view and I am looking forward to the continued delivery of new features as they role them out.

Cons

Cost. The software does allow for more complex reporting than some others I have used but the cost continues to rise and due to the development and we continue to review the ROI year over year.

Pros

It was the average accounting software. you can expect what you expect.
The system is great for small to medium sized organization.

Cons

You can only add 10 budget year.
The budget tool is optional and the use is limited.
Everything is limited for the certain level of users

Pros

Easy to use. Very straight forward. Customization, you can access it wherever and whenever you need. Very user friendly, if you have questions or not sure where to look for something support is always there to help but there is also classes available and a lot of 'how to' documents. With the ability to duplicate an invoice it makes it easy to enter in multiple invoices for the same vendor if very minimal changes are needed. As a company with a lot of credit card activity the credit card feed that is currently in testing is great! It used to take 3 days to enter in all of our credit card receipts now it only takes half of a day since all I have to do is code the receipt that get's pulled in directly from the credit card company.

Cons

There is no module for accounts receivable or payroll so both of those individuals do not use it. And there is no FAST way of entering a bulk amount of invoices at one time so the database view is more beneficial for accounts payable.

Pros

Blackbaud has created a real community. You can talk with people in your industry, from others, and anyone who works for Blackbaud. Support is great and their followup is refreshing.

Cons

I wish they were based here in Atlanta. BB HQ is awesome and I wish they were closer, but it gives me a destination when I am looking to go to SC.

Pros

Everything is on one screen when entering an invoice or adding a new vendor which makes it super fast to use. I also like the fact that I can start typing in a GL account and it will pop up with a list.

Cons

I am not able to use papersave with it just yet so the drag and drop/ upload feature is obsolete to me.

Financial Edge does everything we need in office except for a few minor things. However, because the annual cost has gotten so high, it does not feel like we get much value for what we are paying anymore.

Pros

Software is powerful and fairly easy to use. Support is generally quick and helpful. Can do everything from payroll, to AR to AP.

Cons

Very expensive. Annual cost has gotten to the point where it almost matches what it would cost us to implement another software suite entirely.

Hope to get more information during the BBCON this year. I plan on attending!

Pros

Advanced General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable Banking functionalities are most beneficial for our company.

Cons

A bit costly for a company of our size, but we are definitely considering and exploring the feasibility of implementing this year.

We were pushed into FE after our original program, Fundware, was "sunsetting". In hindsight, we should've researched other programs before settling with this one.

Pros

I guess if not being "too complex" is a pro, that would be it for Financial Edge. It is a simple product and doesn't have too many bells and whistles so its pretty easy to pick up on.

Cons

Hmm where to being....
I will preface this by saying that our implementation of FE was a nightmare. They had people leaving the company left and right and in our 3 month implementation and data conversion, we were passed along to 3 different Project managers. Because of this we were playing a constant game of catch up and I don't think we were ever really given a good training of how to use the product. Also, employee support is HORRIBLE with this product. Blackbaud parcels out their support to 3rd party companies and we were working with Zobrio. They were of no help to us. The prduct doesnt intergrate with our other platforms well, so importing info in to our GL is a process that could be made much easier. We also used them for payroll for a while which was an absolute nightmare. Our W-2's were wrong due to wrong info being imported during our data conversion. We also spent many late nights working on payroll issues in the program and again, had no response when calling Zobrio or Blackbaud. ( Blackbaud did get back to us once and worked well with us, but it was quite an undertaking to even get to a person at Blackbaud. The accounting side of the software is probably the best, but overall, I am sure there are much better accounting programs out there.

Overall Blackbaud stores all your information and makes your accounting transparent and easy to input.

Pros

Blackbaud is a very clear and straightforward software which helps track all donations, and donors and dates and amounts in which the last donations where made. It can also pull reports depending on different queries which can be great for board meetings and financial reveiws.

Cons

Blackbaud Financial Edge's only downfall is the complication on which to easily pull a querie. For new users or users that don't use the software on a regular basis to pull reports it can be tricky to pull new queries and can occassionally even delete or change previous queries.

Blackbaud really values users' opinions. It connects all non-profit users together. It also emails me helpful tips every week.

Pros

Very good customer service. Comprehensive training program. I took all courses and mastered the software within 3 months. Those courses gave me an in-depth view of the software and simplify my work process. Financial Edge has easy-to-use features that meet our organization needs. I like the query function, VCO and various reports. VCO allows me to build reports in certain format, and query allows me to extract data quickly. The query function helps me survived this year's auditing. When an account was off, I used query and easily found the problems to fix it.

Cons

It logged me out and ran very slow sometimes. I'd like it to be able to communicate with excel easily.

Pros

Easy to use and similar style across all Blackbaud products. Many different features and functionality of the product line.

Cons

Reporting can use some upgrades. We are needing to build crystal reports for some of the items we need to report on

Blackbaud products are so innovative

Pros

FENXT is next level. I love the professional design and the fact that nearly every accounting feature that you could possibly ask for is available in the software or as an add-on. It makes reporting and compliance a breeze

Cons

I would like more report customization, but I know this is coming in the pipeline. This is the only con...

Pros

Easy to use and view since it's cloud based. As long as your Financial Edge data is clean and procedures has been established using FENXT is really easy.

Cons

Being in Canada noticed that certain rules for finance is focused on the American concepts and not CRA regulations.