Independent School Educators' List (ISED-L): Re: Blackbaud Version 8

Friday, October 22, 2010

Re: Blackbaud Version 8

Release date and support for plug-ins like positive pay are a big deal.
We have to make a decision this calendar year on a new server and
upgrading SQL etc.

Glenn Dahlen
Business Officer
Trinity Episcopal School
750 E. 9th Street | Charlotte, NC 28202
T 704. 358. 8101, x265 | F 704. 358. 9908
www.tescharlotte.org
=20
=20

-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Mergy
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2010 1:03 PM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Blackbaud Version 8

Thomas,=20

Thanks for the report. Very helpful. This is a major concern though and
will
definitely affect my decisions to go with add-ons from vendors that sit
on
the network connected to local install of RE and FE.

Jonathan
................................
Jonathan Mergy <jmergy@lwhs.org>
Director Of Technology
Lick-Wilmerding High School
755 Ocean Ave, SF CA 94112
P:415.585.1725 x365
http://www.lwhs.org

> From: Thomas Phelan <tphelan@peddie.org>
> Reply-To: ISED-L <ISED-L@listserv.syr.edu>
> Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 11:56:41 -0400
> To: ISED-L <ISED-L@listserv.syr.edu>
> Subject: Blackbaud Version 8
>=20
>=20
> When I asked how far FE8/EE8 was behind RE8 he said FE8/EE8 would
follow the
> release of RE8 much closer than they have historically. The reason,
and this
> is the most positive thing I've heard in this conference, is that
> Blackbaud's model of building FE/EE based on RE and then forking the
> products is no longer their model. FE/EE are being developed at the
same
> time (although of course RE continues to lead the way) on the infinity
> platform they will remain on the same infinity platform rather than
forking.
> The long term implication of this should be that FE/EE should not lag
so far
> behind RE in the future. At this point you may have guessed that this
> convergence means there will no longer be two databases, just one
holding
> data for all Blackbaud products. However, given that we will no longer
have
> direct access to the database and won't have local SQL Servers this is
> really a moot point. Also not surprisingly, for schools using the
whole
> suite, Sullivan recommends not upgrading RE8 immediately after it is
> released. Instead, he recommends waiting until all version 8 products
> (RE/FE/EE) are released and upgrading at the same time or as closely
> together as we have resources to accomplish. Given the major changes
this
> makes sense, but the prospect of upgrading nearly simultaneously is
> daunting. Do I hear any volunteers to go first? ;)