Why This Matters
When your sync rules are set to "Review Before Updating," every data change from Almabase is flagged in the Data Inbox before it reaches Raiser's Edge/ BBCRM.
The Data Inbox groups these similar changes into patterns so you can review the group and approve or ignore the entire group in one action.
After a homecoming event, a giving day, or a large email list import, you might be looking at hundreds of flagged reviews across email addresses, phone numbers, and addresses.
Reviewing them one by one takes hours. Most of them follow the same pattern — they're all new email addresses from the same event, or they're all phone type changes from the same giving campaign.
How It Works
Where to find it
Go to Settings → Database → Data Inbox. Click into any entity tab — Constituent, Address, Email Address, Phone, or others.
Within each entity tab, the system identifies and groups similar flagged changes into named patterns.
Understanding patterns
A pattern is a group of flagged changes that share the same type of update. Each pattern has a name and a short description that tells you exactly what kind of change it represents.
For example —
Under the Phone entity, you might see:
New Phone Numbers — Phone numbers not currently in Raiser's Edge NXT
Under Email Address, you might see patterns like:
New Email Addresses — Email addresses not currently in Raiser's Edge NXT
Email Type Changes — The email type has been updated (e.g., from Work to Personal)
Primary Email Changes — The primary email flag has changed
Each pattern card shows the count of records that match and a "Review all" button to open the full list.
Reviewing a pattern
Click Review all on any pattern card to open the filtered view for that pattern. This shows you every flagged change in the group, along with:
Source filters —
Narrow down changes by where they came from. For example, you might see source filters like Event Registration, Giving Form, Email List Upload, or Other.
Click a source filter to view only changes from that source. This is especially useful when you want to handle changes from different sources differently — for example, approving all phone numbers from your recent homecoming event but ignoring those from an email list upload.
Individual record details — Each record shows the constituent's name, the new information coming from Almabase, and the current values on Raiser's Edge, so you can compare side by side.
Bulk actions — At the bottom of the filtered view, you'll see Ignore all [count] and Approve all [count] buttons. These act on all changes matching your current filter.
Common Workflows
After a homecoming event
Your homecoming generated 600 new email addresses and 200 new phone numbers, all flagged for review.
Go to the Email Address tab. You see a pattern: "New Email Addresses — 600 records."
Click Review all. Filter by source: Event Registration and by Event: Homecoming
Review the records — confirm they're legitimate email addresses from event registrations.
Click Approve all to push them to Raiser's Edge.
If there are also email type changes you don't want to push, go to that pattern and click Ignore all.
Repeat for the Phone tab.
What used to take hours of one-by-one review is done in minutes.
After a giving day campaign
Your annual giving day brought in 500 new phone numbers from the donation form.
Go to the Phone tab. You see "New Phone Numbers — 500 records."
Click Review all. Filter by Giving Form and by Giving Page: Annual Giving
Review the records to confirm they look correct.
Click Approve all to push them.
After an email list upload
You imported a new email list and the primary email flag changed for 300 records on Almabase.
Go to the Email Address tab. You see a pattern for primary email changes.
Click Review all. The source shows Email List Upload. You can further filter down by a specific email list.
You decide you don't want to push primary email changes to Raiser's Edge — you want to keep the primary emails as they are in RE.
Click Ignore all.
What Happens Behind the Scenes
When you bulk approve or ignore through a pattern, every record in the group is processed individually. This means:
Approved records are pushed to Raiser's Edge.
Ignored records are left unchanged — Information on the Almabase record stays as it is and nothing gets pushed to Raiser's Edge, leaving the data unchanged in both systems. Additionally, the system remembers the decision so the exact same change is not flagged again for that constituent.
FAQs
Can I still review changes individually?
Yes. You can approve or ignore each review individually, just like before. The pattern grouping is an additional workflow, not a replacement.
If I bulk approve a pattern, does it approve every single record?
Yes. Every record in the pattern (or in the currently filtered view, if you've applied a source filter) is individually approved. Each one is pushed to Raiser's Edge according to your sync rules.
If I bulk ignore a pattern, can I undo it?
No. Approval or Ignore cannot be undone.
Do patterns work for both sync directions?
Patterns appear for changes flagged only in one direction — Almabase to Raiser's Edge.
What if I want to approve some records in a pattern but ignore others?
Click Review all to open the full list, then individually approve or ignore each one. This is the right option when you need granular control over which records to keep and which to discard.