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Blackbaud for Admissions solutions - a great choice!
November 09, 2020

Blackbaud for Admissions solutions - a great choice!

Jennifer DeSpirito | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source

Overall Satisfaction with Blackbaud Education Management Solutions

We use the admissions piece of Blackbaud Education Management Solutions. I am the primary user, and use it for collecting applications and required documents, scheduling school tours (Open Houses), and student interviews. I track each applicant's progress through the system, with the final step being issuing a contract where families confirm their enrollment and set up their Smart Tuition account.
  • 300-499
  • Applications are easy to submit, and save / remember information for families to come back.
  • Documents can be directly uploaded, and then are saved if we ever need to go back and refer to it.
  • Issuing contracts to new applicants electronically is great.
  • Creating reports is not as user friendly as it could / should be.
  • Some parts of the system still have a "back end" user look and feel as opposed to a more front end user look and ease of use.
  • There is no way for users (applicants) to reach customer support for issues that they are having, so I have to try to play middle man to rectify any issues - that can be frustrating.
  • We are a relatively small school and have always processed applications by hand, so not having to transfer data into excel spreadsheets is a huge time saver.
  • I have been able to create data exports that allow me to automate some merges for labels, cover sheets, name tags, etc. - huge time saver.
  • Being able to track and assign interviews through the system aids in organization and creating a straight through process for the admissions process.
  • Operational efficiency
  • Advanced automation
  • Improved internal and external communications
Our operational efficiency and automation has improved tenfold by using Blackbaud Education Management Solutions. The data capture capabilities allow me to export data to use in various other parts of the process that used to be manual input processes (creating folder cover sheets, folder labels, name tags, attendance lists for Open Houses and interviews). I use official notes for many communications, and the templates make sending out multiple messages much easier. I also use templates for decision letters which look professional and require only a one time update each school year.
We do use Raiser's Edge NXT and utilize the flow through of our applying parents to update NXT once those families become current families. It again saves lots of time of manually updating that information into our system.
I am always greeted by a helpful costumer service rep any time I have a question or issue. They are also willing to help talk me through the process, so that I can hopefully handle the issue on my own the next time it comes up. Also any resource articles they share with me are very helpful to fall back on if the issue does arise again.
I don't use enrollment management as we are a Catholic school and need to use an Archdiocese mandated SIS. But I do use the admissions piece of what was onBoard - and this I would highly recommend.
I have been very happy with Blackbaud Education Management for our admissions solution. The online application and all electronic submission of documents, decisions and contracts, etc is seamless, effective and efficient. Exporting the data that is captured through the application can be difficult to export and manipulate for other purposes. I often struggle with finding ways to easily see details of the applicants, their progress or status in report format.