Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT Reviews

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.

Pros

Blackbaud being a Non-Profit Financial accounting system works well for us in the non-profit/ government sector as a library. They truly understand the needs non-profits have and work to create solutions for those problems and needs. Blackbaud is easy to use, and easy to train new employees with. The training Blackbaud provides can not compare to many other products. There are 20+ classes that can be taken with an online instructor or through E-learning . This training has helped us implement this software across multiple locations and make sure our staff was prepared for their duties within Blackbaud.

Cons

As a government/non-profit agency we are required to use Purchase orders. Blackbaud's purchase order system is not as user friendly as the rest of the software. They are working to move the purchase order system to the WebView and we have been told it will make several changes to make the PO portion easier to use. We also need to be able to multi level approvals on an invoice and the solution Blackbaud was able to provide until they get everything in WebView didn't work for our organization, as we are required to have a pre-audit statement on all purchase orders and invoices that are paid

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT

Pros

We really like the drill down features in general ledger account details. We also like the Excel Add in functions for importing from spreadsheets and other software systems.

Cons

The lack of consistent queries available in NXT has been a challenge.

Pros

It is good to have project tracking capabilities and to have the ability to work from home if needed.

Cons

The sales team will give you a lot of promises that are not reality. The biggest overall problems are how slow the system is, and features we were promised that never happened.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT

Pros

The cost of this software verses the others in the market is very affordable. The implementation went very smooth and it has been working very well. Support is usually really quick and helpful to get problems solved.

Cons

The reporting functions are time consuming to set up but most reports can be built to suit your needs and work great after the initial build.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT

Pros

Migration from previous version was seamless along with BB team to assist where needed. Ability to "copy previous" is very helpful. Helpful training opportunities via on-demand or BB U taught courses. BB support is usually always quick to reply & direct when needed.

Cons

Understanding parameters that need to be set (i.e. post, etc.) can be confusing. BB support does not seem to have access to your org file when issues arise...that was a bit shocking. I would think behind the scenes that would be able to access & walk through critical problems that need to be addressed. I realize it may be a data security issue but having to add a BB staff as user seems akward.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT

Pros

I love the fact that you can create journal entries and invoices and include that information in reports before posting them. This helps to avoid mistakes. The web view is user friendly and fairly intuitive.

Cons

The database view is archaic and not user friendly. Many functions have not yet been converted to the web view and must be done in the database view.

Pros

This tool is great for our non profit, it allows us to pay invoices, set up vendors, store any files for the business that we received (W9's, contracts, etc.) Helps extremely well with sending out 1099's, setting up new projects, vendors and having the ability to cut in house checks and sending out checks (physical or electronic draft)

Cons

Sometimes the general ledgers can be off accounting wise, not by much though.

Pros

FE NXT is a step up from its predecessors. Easier to use, better integration.

Cons

some of the reporting functionality is not as easy to customize as we'd like

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.

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.

Pros

The software is great for allocating to multiple funding sources. We are a grant funded non-profit and need to separate shared costs, which Financial Edge does very well.

Cons

The payroll module is, by far, the worst part of Financial Edge. Short of entering each employees' time manually each day, there was no way to keep daily time records. Time was entered by the pay period manually which was very labor intensive, and we had difficulty importing time records as FE didn't offer a time keeping solution.

Pros

building reports is easy. its a great accounting package overall. the go to for non-profits of size.

Cons

its a great accounting package overall. my one complaint is the way accounts are made, in three parts, account number, fund, department. these three parts all make up an account number. for example 7000-02-100. 7000 is the traditional account, 02 is the fund, and 100 is the department. so if you make an account for all funds and departments the list of accounts is HUGE!

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.

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.

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

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.

Pros

Ease of use. Ease of implementation. Ease of customer support.

Cons

AS our company has grown, we have become accustomed to finding work arounds to use because of the integration with Raisers Edge. Attributes in Raisers Edge helped us so many times.

Pros

Financial Edge is the best product especially if you are working with Raiser's Edge. It's the perfect companion to Accounting.

Cons

It has a steep learning curve; however, once you understand the basics of what it can do. You'll absorb a lot.

Pros

I love the fact that I can easily extract data. I also like that I can setup account restrictions and distributions to make sure data is correct and accurate, not to mention it saves time!

Cons

Currently, accounts receivable and payroll are not in the cloud. I look forward to when all the modules are in NXT.

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.

Pros

I have used Financial Edge for over 10 years in both "traditional" non-profit settings, as well as a school. In all of these organizations, we also had Raiser's Edge - which was integrated with Financial Edge. Through the canned reports, as well as building custom reports, I have been able to accurately report on my organization's finances. The Student Billing module allows a school to record all payment activity for a student and tie that directly to the GL.

Cons

I have encountered many organizations that purchased Blackbaud Software without being properly trained. As a result, they become frustrated with the product which leads to negative comments. The sales reps should not be allowed to sell the software without a training package included.

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.

Pros

Easy to use
Wide range of training available
Excellent customer support

Cons

Expensive
Exporting reports and spreadsheets is cumbersome