We are working on integrating Registrar's Officed and Raisers Edge and are debating how to set up the system. On the one hand, Education Edge forces you into setting up parents as individuals but on the other hand, Raisers is typically set up with the family as the constituent (I think). This leads to problems during integration. Does anyone have any suggestions as to which way is better for database use? Thanks, Nate

No, it's not typical to set up the family as the constituent in RE. What is typical is to only set up the head of the family as a constituent and have the rest be non-constituent relationships unless there is some business need to make them consituents. In your particular case, you will probably want to make most of them constituents. It is a serious violation of basic database design principle's to have the record represent the family. Drew J. Drew Allen Children's Hospital of Philadelphia [Email Removed] Check out the user run RE Forum at http://reusers.server-planet.com/

We are a high school. We have a separate record for student, but it is linked to a grandparents record, and a parents record (and a brother if he is a student or alumnus). We have both parents on one record 99% of the time unless they are divorced, or the spouse serves in some official capacity. So do you mean the spouse is considered a non-constituent because it is not a separate record? Vicki P. Mayhew Database Manager Montgomery Bell Academy Nashville, TN 37205 (615) 369-5369 [Email Removed]

We integrated Raiser's Edge and Education Edge last fall. Raiser's Edge had existed at our site for about seven years; Education Edge was new. In RE, the head of household is the constituent with the spouse and children non-constituent relationships. That worked just fine with us setting up our EE data. With each family member having his/her own record we had no problem at all. You can link the EE records to the non-constituent records and the constituent records in RE alike. It doesn't matter whether the record is a constituent or not. Good luck with your integration. It is a lot of work, but well worth it. Beth Teahan Technology Integration Coordinator Saint Stephen's Episcopal School Bradenton, FL 34203

What I mean is that the record doesn't belong to BOTH parents or to BOTH grandparents, but only to one. In 99% of the cases, the distinction is subtle, but by no means unimportant. If the only information you have on the record is shared between the two spouses (address, giving, children, etc.), it's impossible to tell the difference, because the coding is exactly the same. As soon as you put ANY piece of information on the record that pertains to only one spouse (education, siblings, parents, employer, etc.), then that record belongs only to that one spouse. Even here, the coding cannot distinguish between the two approaches. It is only when you have information about each spouse that pertains only to them that you can distinguish between the two approaches. That is when you need to make the spouse their own constituent record. In 99% of the cases, the main difference between the two approaches is how you THINK ABOUT the record. Who do you think of as the OWNER? Database design principles require that the record belong to only one entity and the structure of RE prevents that entity from being a couple (unless you want to make the couple some kind of organization with the husband and wife as separate contacts). Drew J. Drew Allen Children's Hospital of Philadelphia [Email Removed] Check out the user run RE Forum at http://reusers.server-planet.com/

We too are getting ready to start the process of "Integration" and were curious if you received any good advice from this forum or elsewhere. Have you completed the process? I am preparing a test bed (standalone) where I will have our 2 database. Any info you can share would be greatly appreciated! Thank you, Susan Morgan Database Coordinator Shore Country Day School [Email Removed]

I would strongly recommend doing the Integration Readiness Assessment and I would have a Blackbaud rep on hand to verify that your matching criteria is not too broad or too narrow and to walk you through every step of the process. We integrated over a year ago using nothing but the supposedly user-friendly manual and had very serious problems of which Blackbaud is still working with us to resolve. The basis of all our issues is how we did our initial integration and once you get off on the wrong foot it is almost impossible to get back on track. Good Luck! Tami

Thanks for the advice! We have the Integration Readiness Analysis which I have inherited. Our school was under the assumption that what they were paying for included someone to do just what you say - walk us through every step of the process. Once they found out this was not the case, the integration process stalled! I am picking up the process a year later and do not want to have the kinds of serious problems you are still working to resolve. Just curious.... In your initial integration, was RE considered the database of record? I plan to tread very cautiously!

I believe there is an additional cost to have someone walk you through it and had we been aware of the severity of the problems we are now having we would have paid the fee. Our database of record is EE; however, the scary thing with Integration and Synchronization is that regardless which database is the "main" one, the data flows both ways through Synchronization and if it is wrong in one database it will come back through and end up corrupting both databases. Tami