Failed implementation...
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Once implemented, it will be used organization-wide. We attempted to convert to Financial Edge NXT a year ago... unfortunately, we still have not converted even though we are paying for NXT. There were issues between host sites... Orange County moving to Boston... I was told that we could test NXT in the hosted environment prior to converting. Once our data was uploaded, I was then told that we could only test in FE on the cloud... not NXT until our live convert. In testing with FE, we found there is a huge lag in processing time as opposed to having the data processing locally. Because it had taken so long I was facing an audit and did not want to have to manage a software conversion during an audit... The final audit report just came back so now we can proceed to convert to NXT... Our development office went live on RENXT in July and find that the processing time is also painfully slow...
Pros
- n/a - have had trouble with conversion
- Exporting reports to Excel has been extremely helpful
- We currently work in the database version because NXT is too cumbersome for data entry
Cons
- eliminate processing delays. Per our IT dept, the issue is not on our side.
- better follow up by implementation.... WE ARE STILL NOT IMPLEMENTED! WE ARE NOW IMPLEMENTED, BUT USE DATABASE VERSION FOR EVERYTHING EXCEPT REPORTS.
- renewal team wasn't aware of switchover and received billings for NON NXT renewals... took a long time to get resolved.
- DATA ENTRY IS AWFUL IN ALL MODULES.... DEFINITELY NOT USER FRIENDLY AND VERY CUMBERSOME - WE HAVE TO USE THE DATABASE VERSION FOR ALL DATA ENTRY.
- VERY IMPORTANT CANNED REPORT IN DATABASE VERSION HAS STILL NOT YET BEEN WRITTEN IN NXT. THE BLACKBAUD REPORT TYPE IS "PROJECT BUDGET VS. ACTUAL REPORT"... AGAIN THIS IS THEIR OWN CANNED REPORT IN DATABASE, IT IS CRITICAL FOR US TO RUN AND STILL ISN'T AVAILABLE IN NXT... UNACCEPTABLE!!!
- WE ARE TOTALLY UPSET THAT THEY SUNSETTED STUDENT BILLING. IT WAS A WELL THOUGHT OUT AND EXTREMELY USEFUL SUB LEDGER. A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO WE TESTED THE BILLING SYSTEM THEY HAVE MOVED TO WITH BAD RESULTS. THIS HAS FORCED US TO GO WITH A DIFFERENT COMPANY FOR STUDENT ACCOUNTS AND NOW HAVE TO RUN REPORTS TO MAKE ENTRIES BY HAND TO GL. I USED TO WORK FOR A SOFTWARE COMPANY AND OUR PHILOSOPHY WAS TO NEVER TAKE AWAY FUNCTIONALITY FROM OUR END USERS...
Likelihood to Recommend
I gave it a "1", because of the fits and starts and then fail in our implementation. Although we haven't had the opportunity to actually use it yet, what I do like is the ability to switch back to the FE view - this will allow staff to learn the system easier. I do appreciate that care is taken to write each module gradually and get the kinks worked out. There are very few FE NXT classes for my staff to take online even though we have purchased "Learn Everything". I am hopeful that my dashboards, queries, and reports do not go away when we do go live on FENXT. I am hopeful that our admin team will find it easier to navigate view only through FENXT... FOLLOW UP JULY 2022 - WE JUST DON'T LIKE THE FUNCTIONALITY OF NXT AND STILL NEED TO USE DATABASE VERSION FOR PRACTICALLY ALL PROCESSING AND DATA ENTRY, POSTING, ETC.
