2016 Review of Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT

• Mobile friendly interface
• Integrates with all Blackbaud financial and fundraising applications
• Excellent help and support options available
• Grant management module available

Potential Weaknesses

• May not be the best solution for smaller nonprofits

Financial Edge NXT is the next generation of nonprofit financial management product from Blackbaud, designed to offer the flexibility of the cloud with the capability of an industry favorite.

BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS: 4.75 Stars

The next generation of Blackbaud product, Financial Edge NXT is the web based interface that can be accessed from any web browser, smart phone or tablet. The Financial Edge is the database view accessed through Citrix. Users can move between the two different views, accessing the same underlying information. Designed to work with mobile devices, the interface is sparse, with a series of tabs at the top of the screen including Dashboard, General Ledger, Payables, Treasury, Reporting, and Control Panel. Clicking on a tab will populate the screen with the features and functionality related to the chosen module.

The interface contains a series of filters that can be utilized when searching for a particular option. Once an option is chosen, the screen populates with any and all related activities, providing users with a quick glance at system activity. Financial Edge NXT/Financial Edge offer an excellent selection of features including GL, Allocation Management, Consolidation Management, Project, Grant, and Endowment Management, AP, Cash Management, Purchase Orders, Reports, Budget Management, Advanced Budget Management, f9 Reporting, AR, Accounting Queue, WebInvoicing and Web Purchasing, Raiser’s Edge NXT integration, Payroll, Advanced Security, and Application Programming Interface (API).

CORE NFP/FUND ACCOUNTING CAPABILITIES: 5 Stars

Financial Edge NXT allows users to custom create the account structure that will best work with their organization. Users can create additional segments as needed, adjusting segment size if necessary. All accounts must have at least two segments, but can consist of up to 10 segments of varying length, with a maximum length of 30 characters.

Multiple transaction types can be easily processed, including AP invoice processing, recurring invoice processing, credit memos, invoice creation, posting charges and deposits, calculating finance charges, and tracking and managing fixed assets. The Budgets page is where all budgeting activity initially takes place. Users can easily add a new budget, open existing budgets, export budgets, and edit or delete a budget record.

Budgets can be created for multiple fiscal years, and budget amounts can be distributed using three methods; manual entry, where users enter the budget amount into each budget period, distributing a budget amount equally across periods, or distributing budget amounts using a defined percentage. Budgets can be copied from one fiscal year to the next, and the optional Budget Management module makes it easy to manage multiple budgets. The Advanced Budget Management module provides additional budget capability, including the ability to create cross-fiscal year budgets.

Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge add-on module is a comprehensive donor management module that can be used as a standalone product as well as being integrated with the financial system, and offers complete donor management capability, including donor tracking, gift and pledge tracking, and wealth screening capabilities.

Blackbaud’s Project, Grant, & Endowment Management module allows users to easily manage multiple grants, projects, and funds. Automatic fund balancing ensures that all funds are in balance at all times.  The Financial Edge allows users to manage multiple year-end closings, and the product contains excellent audit trail functionality, recording all transactions entered into the system, with managers/administrators able to easily access detail on all system transactions, additions, updates, and deletions.

Financial Edge offers users automatic fund balancing capability, and can easily handle multi-year closings as needed. Excellent audit trail functionality is available in the product, and

Users can process electronic funds transfers for vendors and accept electronic funds as payment. The addition of WebInvoicing and WebPurchasing allows users to easily processing all invoicing and purchasing transactions electronically.

MANAGEMENT FEATURES: 5 Stars

Users can easily create custom dashboards in Financial Edge, with a selection of options available to choose from. All dashboards can be easily customized, with users able to add or edit detail at any time. Conveniently, all dashboards contain drop-down capability, so users can drill down to originating documents. One of the best features in the product is the Accounting Queue, where users can create a series of tasks in sequential order that can be completed automatically in the system without further work required.

Advanced Budget Management allows users to easily access system budgets. The budget scenario feature allows users to create various what if scenarios when entering budget detail, and a forecasting option allows users to quickly create multiple budgets for future budget periods. Financial Edge NXT offers solid system security, with users provided access to the system via a unique login and password. User access is based on an assigned level, with users able to be assigned to a group or given supervisor/administrator rights.  

An automated warning system can be put into place that will warn users when a transaction, if posted, will place a fund or a program over budget. The AR module allows users to track individual clients, as well as organizations and other funding sources. Users can easily manage past due accounts, adding finance charges or late fees on to any invoice or statement, which can be automatically emailed directly to the recipient. Raiser’s Edge NXT, like Financial Edge NXT offers easy access, with users able to access the system using desktops, laptops, smart phones, or tablets. Raiser’s Edge also provides excellent fundraising capability, managing multiple campaigns, pledges, and gifts, while also working to manage donations and donor cultivation.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS & REPORTING: 5 Stars

Reporting options are excellent in Financial Edge NXT, with users able to easily customize all of the standard reports that are included with the product. Users can create more custom reports by using Crystal Reports to product completely custom reports as needed. While producing excellent budgeting and grant management reports, Financial Edge NXT also processes all nonprofit specific reports such as FASB 117, and GASB 34. Reports can be exported to Excel, Word, and PDF formats.

INTEGRATION/IMPORT/EXPORT: 5 Stars

Financial Edge NXT offers a completely integrated product, with users able to utilize the modules available, as well as have access to the traditional Financial Edge database, where the same information is housed. The addition of API means that the system can now also integrate with a variety of third-party applications as well as Blackbaud’s suite of nonprofit and fundraising products. Accountants can easily access Financial Edge NXT with a secure login and password.

HELP/SUPPORT: 5 Stars

Blackbaud offers a variety of tools that users can access online, including the product Knowledgebase, Forums, Webinars, Videos, and Whitepapers. There are a variety of product training options available including on-site training, classroom training, online training, and a subscription service to on-demand videos and online courses.   Toll-free telephone support is available during regular business hours.

SUMMARY & PRICING

Pricing is by user license, with three packages available for purchase. Users can visit the website to arrange for a product demo and obtain pricing at the same time.

Extremely scalable, with a mobile enhanced interface for easy navigation, the next generation of nonprofit software from Blackbaud has arrived.  

2016 Overall Rating: 5 Stars