Sustain Review from Sacred Heart

Every time I call I get great customer service. Love the new update! The ease of use is very easy. Customer rep is always so nice and willing to help me in any way.

Pros

The ease of use. The new update is easier to add attributes in and user to see what they donated without clicking a lot. i also like in the reports you do not have to get out of them and reenter to pull another report.

Cons

I would like to learn more about cleaning up the software. The previous Development Director entered several of the same address in different ways which makes a lot of extra addresses and sends several copies of things to the same address. I have ran reports and cleaned up a lot of the database but it still needs cleaning.

Great Customer Service Experience

In terms of Alumni Relations the software is geared more toward fundrasing, but with the great level of customer support I have received, it does the job.

Pros

Ease of use

Cons

Very geared to fundrasing and less geared toward Alumni Relations. Fundrasing is possible because of Alunmni so the software should be more robust for keeping track of alumni.

Disappointed

We purchased Sustain through Rediker because we were told that it would interact with FinACS. While I am still under the impression that there can be communication, we can't figure out how. Communication only goes one way, and that is a concern because we would be transferring accounting information from Development to Accounting. Not comfortable. Additionally, there seems to only be one person who can help us understand Sustain, and he is not good at customer service. Every conversation I have had with him has been uncomfortable at best. I am bright and pick up software easily and still always leave my calls with him feeling stupid, and yet doing everything in my power to not call back, just figure it out on my own. I am sure Sustain has more capabilities than I know, but I feel like I need to take an Access class in order to really utilize the program. The price we paid for the product and the service is outrageous in my opinion and we are almost 2 years in and just barely scraping by with our information. Certainly, I can't find the reports I need and customizing just seems overwhelming. If I had this decision to make over again, I would not choose Sustain. Unfortunately since we've already invested so much, changing just isn't an option at this point. We were brought in by Rediker, but your relationship with them is tenuous at best. Their customer service, which is fantastic, can't help me with your product. And no one REALLY understands how the programs are supposed to integrate. I would carefully consider that fact when cross selling.

Pros

not sure

Cons

ease of access to information

Donation management

Overall the software provides me with the information I need. Because it is so multi-faceted, attending training is mandatory. Even after my initial training I find myself clicking around to intuitively get, for instance, the report I need. It would behoove new users to make a list of all the ways you plan or foresee using the product and choose the level of training necessary. And take copious notes because you'll need them for tasks that you do only periodically. I'm certain I'm not using it to its fullest capabilities.

Pros

It's relational. Can record a number of characteristics about each record.

Cons

Unable to generate letters with exactly the write salutation and return address name.

Sustain Review

The best thing about the Sustain database system is that it works with the Rediker products so that I can bring the information into my advancement office with little effort. The training is important to learn so you can take advantage of all the options. I find the support is excellent and always get a quick answer and willingness to work with me to find the answer.