Item: Anthology Encompass
Rating: 6
Author: Denise Mattie

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Encompass allows us to take gifts online to be imported into our CRM. It also allows to handle simple event registrations. Other users use it for e-mail marketing of various sorts.

Pros and Cons

It allows us to create fields as needed.
Creating an export of data is really easy.
Merging of records is fairly simple.

A more inclusive duplicate identification tool would be great.
QR tickets for event registrants would be great and move you into this century.
Allowing more flexibility with event creation is vital to us at this time.
Additional automation would be great. Email event info, then to those not registered, then a reminder to those registered. Now it is entirely manual throughout the entire process.

Most Important Features

Email marketing
Gift processing

Return on Investment

The cleanup process is very painful due to lack of any automation
Identity checkpoint would be great if we could control the fields being matched.

Alternatives Considered

None others to date.

Key Insights

Do you think Anthology Encompass delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Anthology Encompass's feature set?

No

Did Anthology Encompass live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Anthology Encompass go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Anthology Encompass again?

No

Other Software Used

Raiser's Edge, Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

Likelihood to Recommend

Importing and exporting data is failry easy. Automation for e-mail marketing is severely lacking.

Users and Roles

5 - Alumni Engagement, Annual Fund, Advancement Services, Advancement support staff

Support Headcount Required

2 - Our in-house support just knows the program better than the rest of us.

Business Processes Supported

Online gift entry
Email marketing
Updated info from constituents.

Innovative Uses

None come to mind.

Future Planned Uses

We are considering a more complicated alternative at this time.

Likelihood to Renew

3

It does not have the automation or event tools that we are desperately needing at this time.

Products Replaced

Not Sure

Key Differentiators

Scalability
Integration with Other Systems
Ease of Use

Integration is a big thing. Currently nothing is integrated.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

Most definitely.

Implementation Rating

1

Unknown. I wasn't here.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Don't know

Implementation Issues

Unknown. That was before I started here.

Training Types Used

Online Training

In-Person Training

5

N/A I've only attended webinar training, which is great when you are on live, not so much when watching a recording.

Online Training

4

Most are recorded, so questions that arise are not easy to get answered.

Product Configurability

8

Very complex and not very intuitive.

Configuration Lessons

I wish some were provided to me when I started.

UI Customization

Some - we have done small customizations to the interface - I believe so.

Additional Customization Considerations

AUTOMATION!

Support Rating

8

I usually get an accurate response to issues. Your service techs are knowledgeable in how the software works and is set up.

Anthology Encompass Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed Immediate help available Support cares about my success	Need to explain problems multiple times

Premium Support

Unknown.

Bug Resolution

Yes - No, I was told it is impossible to do so.

Exceptional Examples of Anthology Encompass Support

Any time I get with Jill in Customer Service, she provides exceptional support and knowledge of the system, and is by far the quickest tech with answers that I have encountered.