Blackbaud Education Management Solutions vs. PeopleSoft Campus Solutions

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Blackbaud Education Management Solutions
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Blackbaud Education Management Solutions is a unified student management system for K–12 private schools. Blackbaud Enrollment Management System™: Gives schools and families the ability to track admissions progress from first impressions all the way through the application process to acceptance, enrollment, and tuition payment. Blackbaud Learning Management System™: Track students' academic performance and progression…N/A
PeopleSoft Campus Solutions
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
Oracle's PeopleSoft Campus Solutions is a student management system option.N/A
Pricing
Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPeopleSoft Campus Solutions
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPeopleSoft Campus Solutions
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPeopleSoft Campus Solutions
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPeopleSoft Campus Solutions
Student and Faculty Administration
Comparison of Student and Faculty Administration features of Product A and Product B
Blackbaud Education Management Solutions
-
Ratings
PeopleSoft Campus Solutions
9.4
1 Ratings
10% above category average
Integrations with 3rd-Party Education Technology00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Online Registration Management00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
District Communications, such as messaging and alerting00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Roster Management00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Platform Customization00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Student Data Security00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Community Support00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Class Scheduling00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
State and National-level Reporting00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Compliance Support00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Teacher and Parent Mobile Application00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPeopleSoft Campus Solutions
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

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Medium-sized Companies
PowerSchool SIS
PowerSchool SIS
Score 7.2 out of 10
Schoolmint Hero
Schoolmint Hero
Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises
PowerSchool SIS
PowerSchool SIS
Score 7.2 out of 10
Schoolmint Hero
Schoolmint Hero
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPeopleSoft Campus Solutions
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(118 ratings)
9.0
(10 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.5
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
6.9
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(115 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.0
(21 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPeopleSoft Campus Solutions
Likelihood to Recommend
Blackbaud
A good, and constantly improving solution for private schools. I don't know that a lot of its functionality would be well suited to public schools, but maybe? The integration with other Blackbaud software is a huge plus for us, as we have several of their other products including their flagship Raiser's Edge. Smaller schools may not need the sophistication of Blackbaud solutions, and it is not an inexpensive option.
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Oracle
PeopleSoft Campus Solutions is a fully robust solution for large campuses and University systems. The tools it provides are powerful and scalable. It can handle anything from 1,000 students to over 100,000. The issue because spreading that cost around. Smaller schools will probably need a dedicated functional staff and an information systems staff to handle the chore of managing the system. Although many of the tools allow for automated processing it take a considerable amount of effort to get to that point and the upfront and maintaining costs should be considered.
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Pros
Blackbaud
  • Seamless integration between the LMS, EMS and SIS modules
  • Real-time, effective chat support helps me not only with urgent needs but also to work through possibilities for increasing how we use the product.
  • Feature upgrades monthly that respond to voiced needs from users
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Oracle
  • The Query Manager tool is useful - especially for users who are not comfortable writing SQL queries. Query Manager also allows Security staff to dictate exactly what access to grant to query writers.
  • Campus Solutions offers several batch-style functions, such as batch transcript requests and batch degree conferral. There is a Population Selection option that allows you to use a query or Excel file to specify the students who are in the batch.
  • The Communication Generation process allows users to create batch emails or letters that include mail-merge style data for each individual receiving the communication. There is a Microsoft Word plugin that allows you to craft the message that will be sent, and they can be sent on a set schedule or when certain trigger conditions occur.
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Cons
Blackbaud
  • Forms - lack of conditional questions
  • Gradebook -lack of links to assignments
  • Not being able to customize displays, for example, Grading tab - we just finished 1st semester and teachers could only see the current quarter but not the 1st one which is still part of the first semester. Lack of customization in assessments.
  • Scheduling- even though re-running generating schedules, we're still getting a high number of unscheduled students. Lack of being able to limit the number of scheduled classes in a row for teachers.
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Oracle
  • We don't like that you cannot export student grades and information into an excel spreadsheet or document that allows you to edit when necessary. Other tools do this but for a system us robust as PeopleSoft we are surprised you are not able to do this.
  • Continuing with the schedule, in order to see how many students are registered in a section one has to click on that section which is another waste of time. Each section has a blue square meaning full and a green circle meaning not full. Why can't the number of students be shown instead, or in addition? And to top it off, the number of students is shown so low that one has to scroll each time to see it.
  • Occasionally, PeopleSoft will randomly stop work, and you will lose all the information you were working on, so I recommend saving your work frequently. PeopleSoft is also not the most user-friendly student information systems. The new update did improve its aesthetic appeal though.
  • Relying on Oracle system administrators to do all updates and handle any problems that may occur. Sometimes you feel a little helpless and too reliant on the vendor. It takes a while for our admins to update the software because we have so many custom configurations and custom bolt-ons so they all have to be tested thoroughly to make sure nothing breaks when migrated to production. Because of this, our university is always behind when it comes to system updates.
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Likelihood to Renew
Blackbaud
It is a solid product. We have some issues with the capabilities of the website building components and the out dated technology behind its communications software but overall Blackbaud Education Management Software services to combine numerous functions into one product.
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Oracle
No answers on this topic
Usability
Blackbaud
Blackbaud EMS is very usable from my perspective. I am a power user and get lots of valuable functionality. It is, however, a complex system. Sometimes necessarily complex to accommodate flexibility for diverse customer needs. Some complexity seems unnecessary and/or hold-over functionality from earlier versions; nice to see this type being evolved away from over time. It is valuable to receive regular updates to the system along with good release notes of what changed and notices of significant changes in advance.
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Oracle
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Blackbaud
Decent support however the chat feature can take a great amount of time out of the workday. If for instance you are waiting for someone to respond in the chat and there is a fire drill, if you are not responding within a few minutes, you are disconnected and have to start all over again. It would be great if you could submit your problem and then whoever has the most experience, can respond. The training in the Blackbaud University is good but also time-consuming - a 3 hr training in the middle of a workday is a lot to ask. I like the 90-minute sessions. It would also be great to offer a shorter webinar to update on any changes implemented. Other than the email I subscribed to, there is no information on how these updates actually work.
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Oracle
When you open a service request you will get contacted in short order. They will usually develop a patch or hot fix in a reasonable amount of time. You do usually need to keep the software updated and will want to be on the latest versions.
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Alternatives Considered
Blackbaud
Blackbaud K-12 is very similar. I feel like I would be trading one set of issues for another so it's kind of a wash. We are very much hooked into the Blackbaud website with our Google SSO, SmartTuition, and Schooldoc integrations. It would be difficult for us to transition. That is the main reason I haven't really entertained other web firms.
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Oracle
PeopleSoft Campus Solutions has been the software of choice between Jenzebar and Campus vue as the user interface is easier, students seem to understand their progress and the system better than the other two softwares I have used. I would recommend this as all things student related are in one portal area.
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Return on Investment
Blackbaud
  • Negative - The rollout is brutal. Blackbaud said it could happen in 6 months, but that is definitely not a reality. It will take well over a year, and one complete school cycle to actually integrate everything correctly.
  • Positive - The amount of time saved in data processing has allowed our office to become more involved in other areas of the school.
  • Positive - The ease of having everything in [one] place, from inquiry to application to contracts and course registration, has been a HUGE benefit to our applicants and their families.
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Oracle
  • Manages student records well.
  • The course enrollment process for the student is non-intuitive.
  • Waitlist functionality for the courses is hard to implement.
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ScreenShots

Blackbaud Education Management Solutions Screenshots

Screenshot of Topics pages help organize units of learning throughout the year in the Learning Management SystemScreenshot of Blackbaud's education management solutions come with strong reporting tools to get the information you need quicklyScreenshot of Schedule view makes it easy for teachers to manage their daysScreenshot of Blackbaud Enrollment Management System Admissions Checklists help applicants track their progress in the admissions processScreenshot of Blackbaud's education management solutions come with strong reporting tools to get the information you need quicklyScreenshot of Keep track of all the key information about your students in one place