with Blackbaud. I plan to get counseling any day now ... :)"
=20
Could not help but smile on this one because I can relate... a =
Blackbaud support group could be interpreted in more than one way
=20
=20
Kathy D. Moore
Director of Technology
All Saints Episcopal School
2695 SSW Loop 323
Tyler, TX 75701
903.579.6000 x1208
=20
________________________________
From: A forum for independent school educators on behalf of Thomas =
Phelan
Sent: Wed 10/7/2009 4:11 PM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: School Software
In a nutshell, what I've done is create a separate SQL database with =
about a
dozen stock tables for everything from student, teacher, and relation =
bio
and address information to classes, courses, and grades. I populate =
these
tables automatically on a schedule from the core Blackbaud FE7/EE7 =
database.
The initial SQL queries I use to populate these tables were a little =
tedious
to build, but now access to the data I need is very easy and I never =
have to
give anyone access directly to the core Blackbaud tables. The Blackbaud =
data
schema (../Help/FEDatabaseSchema.chm) is very helpful and the SQL view =
for
Blackbaud queries can also be used to save some time tracing down =
foreign
keys. I'll be glad to share my SQL without anyone who wants it. While I
could make the data real-time or almost real-time, I've found that a =
daily
rebuild works fine for all of my current applications and the daily =
refresh
approach makes it easier to deal with permissions and potential =
performance
issues.
...info deleted
Lastly, of course the one huge gotcha with all this is that you can =
never
and YOU MUST NEVER EVEN THINK ABOUT writing data back directly to the
FE7/EE7 tables. You can automate the creation of import files, but any =
data
your application creates must come back into the FE7/EE7 tables via the
Blackbaud client. This is a definite handicap and it prevents me from =
doing
a lot of cool time saving stuff. This is also what's so exciting about =
the
8.x platform with a web services layer. Since all interaction with the
database will be through the web services layer, I could create =
applications
that connect to the web services layer which could do pretty much =
anything
the client could do from a data perspective as long as Blackbaud =
adequately
documents the web services layer which they've promised to do. This =
would
give us enormous flexibility to create (or hire a 3rd party to create)
custom applications whenever the stock Blackbaud application doesn't do
exactly what we need. Furthermore, the ability of niche companies (e.g.
Naviance, Infosnap, etc.) to build truly seamless applications would be
pretty much unlimited. This is why I'm SO frustrated that 8.x for =
Education
Edge looks literally years off from what I can tell. You may have =
noticed
that I have somewhat of a love-hate relationship with Blackbaud. I plan =
to
get counseling any day now ... :)
If you would like more info please contact me directly. I think I have
reached my quota of ISED-L posts for the week.
--
Tom Phelan
Director of Technology
Peddie School
tphelan@peddie.org
Office: 609.944.7625
http://www.peddie.org <http://www.peddie.org/>=20
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