Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT Reviews

Pros
If you are using Blackbaud's Raiser's Edge (RE) software and need another application to perform accounting functions, Financial Edge (FE) is the application that will take care of Vendor tracking, A/R, A/P, etc. Rather than using another accounting application (ie. Quickbooks), Financial Edge integrates with Raiser's Edge. When you post gifts from Raiser's Edge, it goes over to Financial Edge and updates the information. The information for batch number, Appeal, Funds, Campaign migrate over to FE from RE. The user interface, look and feel between Financial Edge and Raiser's are the same. If you know RE, then FE will be easy to catch on. If you are hosted by Blackbaud, then you will be looking for FE/NXT

Cons
While there is a lot of integration from RE to FE, this comes at a cost. The FE application is expensive compared to other financial applications. If you are hosting FE on-premise, I believe Blackbaud charges by the number of users. You also need to a server with SQL to run FE. This is not like QuickBooks which can install on a local PC. If you are hosted by Blackbaud, then you will be looking at FE/NXT and again price will your main concern.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
New functionalities being rolled out that allow us to use more systems working together instead of isolated. Community boards to allow users to make suggestions and learn from each other.

Cons
That NXT is not complete yet (but I understand why and agree with their methodology). Customer support can be clunky at times when the first person is not able to help you.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
I like the fact that I can either trace from a detailed posting in Altru, through BBMS to Financial Edge and prove to the auditors how transactions were processed or vice versa with ease. With this integration of the three services we have also been able to pass on to the departments receiving the income, the fees associated with processing credit card transactions - thus reducing management overhead. If you have created your environments correctly and have adequate safeguards in place as to how data is entered you have the ability to close within two-three days of month end. This gives us the ability to actually analyze the data into a monthly report that management uses to correct or improve programs.

Cons
When in the reporting function, if you are asking for a major detailed report, the system does slow down and could be a bit faster.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Ease of use in Query and Report Parameters

Cons
Some of the more intricate invoices can be cumbersome, but that is only for a few items that we have. I wish the Vendor integration with Raiser's Edge was more robust, but it works for us ok.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
I've been using black baud for almost 10 years, I love the ease of using the AP side. It's very easy to get from viewing a vendor, to adding a new invoice and checking for purchase orders, all in one window (with tabs).

Cons
The only thing I don't like, it seems there are updates (which is great, but sometimes complicates things). It loses the alignment on my checks pretty drastically and doesn't save the alignment for a new run. I'm not sure if there's a glitch. It does time out kind of quickly if you aren't constantly using the system.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
RaisersEdge is easy to use and store data. RaisersEdge has vast capabilities and reliability. FE makes the process of accounting and check printing very easy. Both products integrate well with other software

Cons
Even though RaisersEdge has many different tools - you may not be likely to use many of them regularly. Instead I find I reuse the same tools and end up bypassing a lot of what I could do, instead sticking to the essentials. Those extra functionalities just are not that useful to me

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 7/10

Pros
The 'in testing' credit card feeds function. Our company has a lot of credit card activity and with the credit cards feed we are able to link directly to the bank accounts and pull in every transaction as they occur. This has taken our 3 days process of entering all of the receipts and shortened it down to just half a day, with the receipts already in the system all I have to do is tie it to a vendor and code it then it's done. I also like the customization when filtering through vendors and invoices each person wants and needs to see different fields and NXT really lets each user have their own experience. When entering multiple invoices for one vendor you also have the ability to duplicate the last invoice speeding things along especially if there are minimal differences between the invoices.

Cons
There is no use for our Payroll Specialist or Accounts Receivable, and with each day having at least 40 invoices to enter at one time, there is no way to enter a bulk amount of invoices like the database view allows so Accounts Payable is limited to using it only once or twice a week.

Rating breakdown

Pros
FE is great for a fund accounting software. It does all the basics. A/P is simple and easy to accomplish. The fixed asset module works great. the ledger is fine. It can get more complicated than necessary due to the ledger structure

Cons
FE is too hard to get help. There is a lot online, but sometimes you just need to have someone talk you through an issue. I have had an issue once where I needed to have their IT dept. fix a corruption in their software when I was closing a fiscal year. This software simply costs too much for maintenance and support.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 4/10

Pros
Financial Edge, coupled with Raiser's Edge fundraising software provides seamless financial reporting opportunities for non-profits. I would suggest that you partner RE and FE together to maximize the horse power of both products.

Cons
Financial Edge and Raiser's Edge have a learning curve if you have never used the software before. When converting from another software, work closely with your Blackbaud team to ensure a successful transition.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
This was the best option for our organization as we have a large amount of staff that are in need of quick access to financial and budget information. Being a cloud system, this has allowed our staff to have quick access at any place in the world to stay informed.

Cons
Speed. I know a lot has to do with internet connection but even in places where we have fiber internet connection, the load time is lacking. This is a great opportunity area for improvement.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
I like that this software is for finance and accounting professionals. It has helped me to perform the daily functions of my job with limited interruptions.

Cons
I haven’t been able to understand the allocation module, and so we are still doing our investments manually. The guide that is provided seems to work more for people who have an overall understanding of how it should work.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
Easy, intuitive, clean interface. The look is modern and simple; but don’t let that fool you; the database and tools are robust and tremendously helpful.

Cons
Some modules still in transition to the new web view. But what they’ve done so far is very promising for the future.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
- Love being able to run reports including un-posted transactions - Love being able to attach documents to journal entries in NXT view

Cons
- Journal entry template is clunky to use & requires a lot of clicking - Journal entries are listed "backward" in NXT (compared to database view) - Can't view the entire journal entry on one screen in NXT & only see line numbers once the entry is posted in NXT view

Rating breakdown

Pros
Overall great foundation for management of accounting, grants, other projects. They give you the ability to customize your dashboard and views. Easily monitor accounts and generate detailed reports. Allows you to process financials in smoothly, not manually. You could even set budgets for next several years.

Cons
All Blackbaud products are very pricey but it's worth the cost. We use so many different Blackbaud products. Customer service could be improved. They send you lots of video tutorials and knowledge base articles and some of the features are kind of cumbersome to understand.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
We use both Financial Edge and Raiser's Edge and both are set up the same way. It's very user friendly. It's very easy to search for an invoice. I like how you can quickly access a recently viewed vendor.

Cons
Sometimes when the same vendor sends more than one invoice and the invoice numbers are just slightly different, F.E warns you that it might be a duplicate invoice when it's not, the numbers are just similar to each other. The online support link from inside FE does not open.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
I love the training level that Blackbaud has in place I think that to be successful with Blackbaud a training package to meet your companies needs is essential. At the end of the day Blackbaud wants your success with their software and they offer the solution in awesome training opportunities.

Cons
The software has many different moving parts and being the only employee in the ar/ap deparment makes some processes a little cumbersome. I think the software is designed for larger non-profits.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
FE NXT! I love that I can access my data using my phone or tablet. FE NXT is very easy to use. The customer support have always been very helpful and the follow-up is great.

Cons
That all the modules are not in FE NXT yet. It would be really good to have a more robust payroll/ HR system that integrated with time clocks.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
The query, reporting and newly added wealth rating features are easy to use and has assisted in the improvement of my interaction with donors.

Cons
Updates sometime cause changes in the queries and or account that need to be updated. If I do not check the updates, my reporting could go wrong.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
Easy to Use and access. I would recommend Raiser's Edge to anyone. Once you have aligned your system with Finance reports are really easy to produce.

Cons
Raiser's Edge has so many fields that can be used or created, if you don't have an established process things can get messy like any database.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Help and support tools / resources are great. Chat support is responsive and gets a solution to the problem.

Cons
Payroll leave time management configuration is challenging for our organization that has a complex leave time structure.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
Interfaces with our Fund Raising software (Raiser's Edge, I am equally thrilled with that too, and mostly for the same reasons cited herein). Blackbaud offers a good training program (which considering the product license fees all of which should be free).

Cons
The reporting is cumbersome. Lack of a self-service audit trail. The interface is not intuitive.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 3/10

Pros
I love how this software integrates with it's Raiser's Edge program. We are able to easily move information from there into Financial Edge, which limits the potential for errors. Plus, we are utilizing less time by not having to type the same information over.

Cons
Finding your way around in the beginning takes a little time. Especially when you are looking for something specific.

Rating breakdown

Pros
We upgraded from Financial Edge 7. The NXT interface is clean and very easy to learn and navigate. The reporting features are MUCH better than in the old Financial Edge, and many of the other new features they are adding (like setting up a bank feed to automatically download transactions into FE NXT for ease of transaction matching and reconciliation) are increasing our efficiency.

Cons
The roll-out of new features has been slower than I had originally anticipated when we moved to this platform over a year ago, and that's made it a little harder to get some of our staff to adopt use of the new platform over the old "classic" database view. Would be nice not to need to go back into the old view to perform some functions.

Rating breakdown

Pros
Ability to run many reports, view different scenarios. Tracks our expenses by funds, projects, sub projects for various account codes.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
Financial Edge NXT is fairly easy to use in that the search functionality is intuitive and the software has the ability to be quite comprehensive, depending on how familiar you are with working in it and how much information you choose to input. The more you put in, literally and figuratively, the more you will get out of it.

Cons
I wish that all of the Blackbaud programs would integrate easier across the platforms. I find that I need to open several programs to get comprehensive information.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10