Item: Blackbaud Education Management Solutions
Rating: 7
Author: Brendan Haney

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Currently, we use Blackbaud on a daily basis for attendance, class pages, development, and website management. We are very excited to start using the schedule feature for students. This will allow us to track students and classes at any given time during the school day. This is a great feature, but not very easy to get set up.

Pros and Cons

Development database management through RE.
User end experience.
Online access to student documents.

The admin side of the education products section can be cumbersome to navigate.
Everything is built in a very visible block-like structure.
Hard to get customize information in and out of BB, most of the time it requires paying for consulting hours.

Return on Investment

We have saved a sum of money by now posting report cards online since we are no longer paying for paper or postage.
Tracking of attendance has become much quicker and simpler since we upgraded to this software.

Support Rating

8

80% of the time I get a great support representative, but there are a few that could really use additional training in order to answer more advanced questions and issues.

Likelihood to Recommend

Blackbaud Education Management Solutions is a very specific type of solution and if your school is very dynamic or has custom needs, the software can be somewhat restrictive. When we went to BB On Products we ran into several situations of a "round hole and square peg" so to speak.

Ease of Integration

6

The integration itself is pretty straightforward. I just watch the information with the flow in both directions. Up and down.

Systems Integrated With

PickATime
VisitU

The integrations were pretty seamless. However with blackbaud, Most if not all of their integrations are one Direction. Meaning Blackbaud Sends information out but you’re not able to send information back in real time.

Future Integration Plans

Magnus Health

Yes

Types of Integration

File import/export
Single Signon

Nope

Integration Lessons Learned

Just know that your information will come from Blackbaud but information will not be received back from integration

Users and Roles

45 - Teachers
Admin
Support Staff

Support Headcount Required

2 - Advanced excel knowledge
data management
knowledge of web design is a plus

Innovative Uses

Digital Report Cards
Extracurricular Activities Attendance

Business Processes Supported

Grade Management
Assignment distribution
Student database

Future Planned Uses

Completely remote teaching

Likelihood to Renew

6

While their software is great for an end-user. It can be quite cumbersome in the backend. There are some things that are frustrating especially if you do not perfectly fit their dynamic of a school.

Other Software Used

Google Backup and Sync, Shared Contacts for Gmail

Products Replaced

Not Sure

Key Differentiators

Product Features
Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor

The user end experience is the sole reason we chose this product.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

We would look more closely at the back end and how information is entered and managed.

Blackbaud Education Management Solutions Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Immediate help available	Less knowledgeable Problems left unsolved Escalation required

Pros	Cons
Like to use Feel confident using Familiar	Unnecessarily complex Difficult to use Requires technical support Slow to learn Cumbersome

Easy Tasks

Attendance features
Posting school information

Difficult Tasks

Slip households
Not having a high school style schedule

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes - It scales well, but it does add steps/layers to access things

Blackbaud Education Products Review

Overall Satisfaction with Blackbaud Education Management Solutions