Hi Nathan,
During my time at Calvin College we operated in both scenarios although during the time our advancement system was independent it was still part of the same software company. Here's my two cents as a laundry list of pros and cons for each way. The best route also depends on the overall institution culture and how strongly they support the work of advancement.
Pros of an integrated enterprise system:
1. Eliminate the need for data migrations which can be a huge benefit.
2. The overall software licensing costs to the college may be lower.
3. If your institution strongly supports the work of advancement you may be able to more easily tap into things like lists of vendors or service providers to the college so that you can include them in your business drive.
4. Benefit (note: this may also be a con) from the entire campus maintaining data instead of just you, although when we went to one enterprise system, we found that Advancement was doing the best job of duplicate monitoring, salutation maintenance, etc...
Cons of an integrated enterprise system:
1. You are all playing in the same sandbox so your ability to make changes is usually governed by a committee that you are a part of but do not have unilateral authority. For example, if you have donors that are also employees, you may be subject to HR making any changes to those records on their timing and not yours, or likewise, the registrar's office for anything affecting a student.
2. You will likely care more about your data than other areas. Your enrollment area may purchase names and pull them into the system that include people that are already there. Your summer camps program may add kids in when they are very young, then when they become students years later, they get added in again. You get the picture. You are downstream from all of this and they are not, so you have more vested interest in data integrity than they do.
3. The obvious one is that you may get a system that isn't your first choice because it's part of the package. It keeps getting easier and easier to move data between systems so there is a decent argument for people just purchasing the product that meets your needs the best and develop a good data governance system at your school.
I'm sure there are many other pros and cons but those are some things that jumped to mind.
Best wishes,
John
John Smilde | Senior Consultant, Professional Services - Advancement | ellucian(r) | 2003 Edmund Halley Drive, Suite 500, Reston, VA 20191 | M:+1.616.250.3954 |
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From: Advancement Services Discussion List <
FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG> On Behalf Of Nathan.Laning
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2019 9:04 AM
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Subject: [EXT]: [FUNDSVCS] Systems Integration -- Looking to Learn
**External Email**
As I put together a proposal for administration, recommending a move from Blackbaud's RE 7 to RE NXT, I'm doing my best to prepare for potential responses. One response that I am definitely expecting is the question of why we cannot implement a "cradle-to-grave" system at our college, replacing the 3 distinct databases we have for admissions, student information, and alumni/advancement, with a single system that does everything for everyone?
Does that even exist, and if not (which is my assumption), what systems do your organizations use, and what have you done to strengthen the integrations among them? Is there any way to automate this integration? Is it 1-way or 2-way? I'm looking to learn more.
For reference, our current set up is as follows:
* Slate for admissions
* CAMS for student information
* RE7 for alumni/advancement
Additionally, we use Moodle and Financial Edge for other purposes, playing into the integration question.
Thank you for your assistance. I'm eager to hear your suggestions.
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Nate Laning
Director of Advancement Services | Trinity Christian College
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