Blackbaud — The Financial Edge - CPA Practice Advisor

From the Nov. 2009 Review of Not-for-Profit
Accounting Programs.

The
Financial Edge from Blackbaud is primarily designed for mid-sized to large nonprofit
organizations that require transparency and accountability in their actions.
However, the vendor has just recently released a small business version (see
below). The Financial Edge is a powerful system hidden behind a deceptively
simple user interface.

EASE OF USE/FLEXIBILITY-
Often, navigational ease is tied to program strength, with the rule being that
the more powerful a product, the higher the level of difficulty encountered
during use. Not so with The Financial Edge from Blackbaud. The main user interface
is easily navigated, with little to no screen clutter. A drop-down menu at the
top of the screen provides system function access, while product module access
is found in the vertical menu to the left. The homepage can be easily customized,
such as by adding features and functions used on a daily basis. Navigational
arrows will take you back and forth between screens, with the name of the organization
and the current module displayed immediately to the right.

The Financial Edge Dashboard allows users to monitor all activities and tasks.
New panes can also be created to display on the dashboard, providing additional
information such as graphs and charts or other critical data. Links to frequently
used web pages can be easily created, and the Automatic Account Creation function
simplifies the entering of account information.

MODULES/SCALABILITY-
Modules available in The Financial Edge include GL, Accounting Form, AP, Accounting
Queue, AR, Advanced Budget Management, Advanced Security, Allocation Management,
Budget Management, Cash Management, Cash Receipts, Consolidation Management,
Electronic Funds Transfer, F9 reporting, Fixed Assets, PaperSave, Payroll, Point
of Sale, Project, Grant and endowment Management, Visual Basic for Applications,
Application Programming Interface, Student Billing, School Store Manager, WebPortal
featuring WebPurchasing and WebInvoicing, along with integration to The Raiser’s
Edge.

Smaller nonprofits will be interested to know that the vendor just introduced
The Financial Edge for Small Offices. Designed for one to three users through
a license or subscription/hosted model, The Financial Edge for Small Offices
bundles six common modules together (GL; AP; Miscellaneous Cash Receipts; Project,
Grant and Endowment Management; Budget Management; and Cash Management). The
availability of this product makes The Financial Edge a truly scalable product
from one end of the spectrum to the other.

FEATURES/FUNCTIONALITY-
The new WebPortal function allows users to manage all requisitions, invoices,
check requests and expense reports electronically by providing an online window
for access to these and other items. This reduces paperwork considerably, eliminates
lost and misplaced items, and ensures timely processing.

The Financial Edge contains excellent budgeting capability, with the ability
to easily view line-item budget details, publish budget guidelines for appropriate
personnel, produce multiple “what if” scenarios, and track multiple
budget adjustments. Excellent drill-down capability allows users to drilldown
into records from any panel, invoice, account or transaction.

The Raiser’s Edge, the donor relationship management solution, offers
a long list of features including the ability to store varying file types such
as Microsoft Word or Excel files, newspaper articles or websites on the donor
record. The Contact Management function allows users to record all prospect
and donor interactions, link scheduled activities to an Outlook calendar, and
create personalized acknowledgement or appeal letters. Different fundraising
methods can also be implemented in order to plan and manage events.

REPORTING-
The Financial Edge offers a wide variety of standard reports including FASB
117 and GASB 34. All reports can be easily customized or users can choose to
use pivot reports to create a custom view of accounting information by utilizing
data gathered through a query. F9 can be utilized for more reporting options,
allowing the creation of custom spreadsheets by linking Excel and The Financial
Edge data.

All system reports can be previewed on-screen, printed, emailed directly from
the print screen, or exported to a variety of formats including Crystal Reports
(RPT), Excel, HTML, Lotus 1-2-3, ODBC, RTF, Text, Word, or XML.

SUPPORT/HELP-
The Financial Edge offers three levels of support plans: Advantage, Advantage
Professional and Advantage Priority. Each plan offers access to the Knowledgebase,
as well as product forums and blogs. User guides are included in the support
plans, as is a subscription to software and industry newsletters. Advantage
Priority customers have access to extended telephone support hours and also
receive other benefits, including priority status.

The Financial Edge Help function provides in-depth information on product
modules and features and functions found within. Training is available through
Blackbaud Learn, an annual subscription service that provides ongoing skill
development training. Instructor-led and self-paced training is also available.

RELATIVE VALUE-
It’s vital that nonprofit organizations be accountable to their board,
their donors and to the IRS. While there are many products that claim to make
accountability easy, the fact is that The Financial Edge does. The Financial
Edge for Small Offices is suitable for one to three users and starts at $2,995,
offering a bundle of six modules. Standard Financial Edge modules start at $2,000.
If accountability is important to your organization, The Financial Edge should
be seriously considered.

2009 OVERALL RATING: