Overview
When the Blackbaud integration is set up, data is synchronized nightly by pulling it from Blackbaud into Finalsite Enrollment.
The goal of this process is to keep the two database systems in sync regarding demographic data so that schools can avoid having to dual maintain vital contact information between the two systems.
This integration is meant to be used in addition to the regular Blackbaud integration, which pushes data from Finalsite Enrollment to Blackbaud.
The two-way sync is optional and can be enabled for any Pro customers currently using the Blackbaud integration (ON Suite or SKY).
How-To: Set Up Two-Way Data Sync & Notifications
To use the two-way data sync process, it must first be enabled by Finalsite Enrollment - please contact our Support Team for assistance.
Once the sync is enabled, a new user notification will become available to all admins of the school with Data permissions. This notification will include the results of the data sync, every time the sync process is run, in the Daily Summary email.
To enable this user notification, click on your name in the upper right of Finalsite Enrollment, then select 'User Notifications'. Under the Data subheading, you will see an option for 'Results from the Blackbaud Sync process. (Daily Summary)'. Check the box to enable this notification - no save is necessary.
Please Note
In order for the Two-Way sync process to work, students need to be pushed a first time to initiate the syncing process. Once you've completed your first export/push, the two-way sync will be able to transfer data as described below.
How-To: Understand the Two-Way Data Sync Process
Once enabled, the sync process runs every night, at approximately 3:30 AM Central Time. It will pull a list of all contacts updated in Blackbaud since the last time the sync process was run, then it will compare that list to those same contacts within Finalsite Enrollment.
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If a contact was updated within the same time period within both systems and has different data, the sync process will flag this as a conflict.
- The notification email will list all conflicts, which must be resolved manually. This is to prevent a situation in which a piece of data was simultaneously updated in both systems.
- The notification email will list all conflicts, which must be resolved manually. This is to prevent a situation in which a piece of data was simultaneously updated in both systems.
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If a contact was updated in Blackbaud with different information than what is currently in Finalsite Enrollment and there is no conflict, the sync will overwrite the data in Finalsite Enrollment with the data from Blackbaud.
- The notification email will list all overwritten data.
At this time, the process will sync the following pieces of information:
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Address_1
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Address_2
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City
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State
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Zip
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Country
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Phone_1_number*
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Phone_2_number*
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Phone_3_number*
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Email
*Keep in mind that phone numbers will be written back from Blackbaud in the order of home, cell, and work. So, home will write into phone_1, cell into phone_2, and work into phone_3.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we push Emergency Contacts?
No, unless your school has reserved some of your Blackbaud custom fields for this. Please note, the integration allows for up to 10 custom fields.
A student was pushed in the first batch and their sibling was pushed in the second batch. Why are they not listed as siblings in Blackbaud?
Siblings need to be pushed together to be linked in Blackbaud. You will need to re-push the siblings to link them in Blackbaud.
Relationship linking – what relationships are pushed?
All parents are currently pushed with a relationship of ‘parent’. Siblings are only linked if they are all pushed together.
Roles include:
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Candidate
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Incoming Student
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Student
Each role requires specific fields to be pushed to correctly place a student into that role within Blackbaud. The OnBoard standard export should be used for Candidates and the OnRecord standard export should be used for Incoming Student/Students.
Our school has both admissions and enrollment in Finalsite Enrollment and would like to know if we should push into OnBoard or OnRecord.
It depends on your process. If you need to adjust Candidates (Applicants) within Blackbaud before rolling them over in that system, you should push into OnBoard. If your entire process from admissions to enrollment is done within Finalsite Enrollment, you should push into OnRecord once students have enrolled.
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