Unlike an integration with payment systems (with a universal standard), your database is unique to your organization. Your organization may have a policy on handling new data that is different from another school, depending on the resources available and the current integrity of your data. That is why Almabase does not have a one-size-fits-all approach to moving data between systems.
Before we get started, I'd encourage you to think about how you would like to tip the balance when it comes to Convenience Vs. Control. To put it simply, It is the difference between a building 6 lane highway and a road leading into a militarized zone.
What's important to understand is that you do not need to pick one or the other entirely. If you'd like, you can decide to build a highway for email, but build a few checkpoints when it comes to phone numbers and addresses.
STEP 1: Getting Acquainted.
Before Almabase and RENXT can start talking to each other, we need to make sure they talk in the same language and use similar terms.
When Almabase needs to check whether an email that came is new, it needs to ask Raiser's Edge if that email address has existed in any shape or form for the same user. If Raiser's Edge cannot understand the question, or if Almabase is not posing the question correctly, the data cannot be transferred successfully.
So here's what we need to do to set up everything correctly:
FINDING THE RIGHT RECORD
Ensure that the System Record ID from Raiser's Edge is filled on the user record on Almabase. This helps Almabase identify the user on Raiser's edge system.
MAKING THE RIGHT COMPARISONS
You may be recording emails in different places in Raiser's Edge. So whenever we try to compare an Almabase email with Raiser's Edge emails, you need to tell us where we need to look for existing emails.
SAVING TO THE RIGHT LOCATION
After we make the comparisons, If the email on Almabase does not exist on RE NXT, we would need to know where you would like us to save this new email.
ADDITIONAL RULES
Now that a new email has been added, would you like us to perform any other actions while we are at it? Say, Mark this email as 'Primary,' or update a field that says "Contains new data from Almabase" to "Yes.
."
These rules are just guidelines to help get the integration started but are not written in stone. You can always override these settings just before you copy any data – you are always in control.
STEP 2: Setting up Rules for Convenience (Auto-Push).
We suggest that you set up Auto Push rules whenever there is a specific condition where you are comfortable pushing data without manual intervention.
Almabase can automatically add or append that data to Raiser's Edge if it meets the criteria that you set. You also get a report every day on all the data points automatically added to your Raiser's Edge database. Here are some examples:
EXAMPLE 1
WHEN,
There is an email on Almabase that cannot be found on the corresponding RE NXT record.
THEN,
Add this new email to 'Emails' on RENXT, and mark it as 'Primary.'
EXAMPLE 2
WHEN,
An email on Almabase cannot be found on any of the 'Email,' 'Additional Email,' or 'Legacy Email' fields on the corresponding RE NXT Records.
THEN,
Add this new email to a field called 'Almabase email.'
OUR RECOMMENDATION
Emails are great candidates to be auto-pushed because they are not prone to formatting issues and usually come up because the user has consented to receive emails as they signed up on the platform.
Remember that an email is only pushed if it does not already exist on your system and can be set up never to replace an existing email on your system, so you never lose data.
STEP 3: Setting up Rules for Control
You may need finer controls to make sure the data you are adding to your Raiser's Edge database fits the standards you must follow. You can navigate to the person's profile and click on 'Sync with RE NXT' to see more options on how you can control where the data goes.
The pop-up will highlight all the differences in data between the record on Almabase and the one on Raiser's Edge NXT. You can then make the decision on which data you would like to move around and how.
There is even a feature that will help you identify all the records that have been updated recently on Almabase so that you can decide to take action on the records that the user recently updated.
All Set!
So that's about all you need to know about the integration, really. In a nutshell:
Each database and organization is different, so we build custom integrations to meet your needs.
You define what data you would like to move through a high-speed highway and what data you would like to move through a couple of checkpoints.
Each time you decide to push data into Raiser's Edge manually, you can override the settings to give you even finer control over the movement of data.
You get a daily report on all the data that has moved into Raiser's Edge.
We are looking to develop this further and include even more features that would help you save time and effort on repetitive work so that you can focus on building more meaningful relationships with your constituents. If you have an idea that could help us improve this feature, let's chat 😄 Reach out to us at help@almabase.com or through the chat bubble 💬