An overview of the steps to set up BBMS on Blackbaud and Almabase.
Part 1 -Prerequisites from Blackbaud
Consider the Following Prior to Initiating the BBMS Setup👇
Prerequisite
Environment Admin Access: A user account (Email 1) with environment admin access is required.
Institutional Email Account: Set up an institutional email (Email 2) if you don't have one to avoid confusion during staff changes.
Ensure this email doesn’t exist on Almabase yet.
Part 1: Prerequisites from Blackbaud
Use an email account (Email 1) that has environment admin access to perform the below actions.
Step 1: Create a fundraising role and a payments role
Follow the steps below on how to get it done:
1. Navigate to https://app.blackbaud.com/marketplace/?svcid=paymt2. Select Security in the top menu bar. (If you do not see security in the menu bar using the previous link, try navigating to https://host.nxt.blackbaud.com/payments-api)
3. Ensure you have a Fundraising role in place:
Under Raiser's Edge NXT roles, create a new role under Fundraising roles by clicking the plus sign.
On the Create Fundraising role screen, enter a role name and description (Used for your reference)
The copy role option will appear if fundraising roles already exist. Further, this option can be left blank.
Mark all the permissions as shown in the screenshot above ☝️
Click Save at the bottom of the screen.
4. Ensure you have a Payments role in place:
Go to the Roles tab.
If a role does not exist in the Payments roles section, click the plus sign to create one.
On the Create Payments role screen, enter a role name and description (Used for your reference)
The copy role option will appear if payment roles already exist. Further, this option can be left blank.
Under SKY API Tasks, select the Access all endpoints field.
Click Save at the bottom of the screen.
Step 2: Add & invite a new user and Almabase to the payments role on Blackbaud. Watch the video
(A) Add and invite a Blackbaud user to the Payments role:
The new Blackbaud user account created in this step will serve as the ongoing link between Almabase and BBMS.
Almabase uses this user account to communicate with BBMS and aids with Almabase authorization.
Navigate to the Users tab and select Add user 👇
On the Add user screen:
In the Name and Email fields, enter the name and email of your choice. (Email 2)
Do not use an email account that already exists on Almabase for this step.
Tip: Use the institutional email address mentioned in the prerequisites to setting up BBMS Almabase section of this article. Almabase uses this user account to communicate with BBMS and aids with Almabase authorization.
Select the newly created fundraising role from the Fundraising drop-down under the Raiser's Edge NXT section.
Select the Create a new user option under Security groups and select the option that has the full/highest rights👇
Choose your newly created payments user from the Payment drop-down menu under Payments API 👇
To send an email invitation to the newly added Blackbaud user's email address, click Send Invite.
Then, check the inbox (Email 2) Click Accept Invitation, and create your account👇
(B). Add and invite Almabase to the Payments role:
The Almabase account added in this step is the account that Almabase uses to change the API.
To invite Almabase to the Payments role, follow the same steps from Part 1, Step 2 of this process, but on the Add user screen, enter "Almabase" in the Name field and "renxt@almabase.com" in the Email field.
Once the prerequisite steps are completed, Almabase will get a notification on renxt@almabase.com to accept the invite.
Step 3: Connect Almabase and SKY API Console application from Marketplace.
Use the search field on the Available Apps tab to search for the SKY API Console application.
If the application is not active, click Connect
Do the same for the Almabase application too!
Part 2 - Setting up a new account on Almabase and authorizing Payments API
Step 1: Create a new almabase user account. Watch the video
After Almabase accepts the invite, you must create a brand new Almabase User account on Almabase. To create a new Almabase user account, use the same email address (Email 2) that was used to register a new Blackbaud user account in Part 1, Step 2 of this article.
Do not use any existing email account for this step.
Note: Use this account solely for BBMS integration.
Step 2: Grant site admin access to the new user account.
Log in to your existing Almabase account to grant "site admin" access to the new user account (Email 2)
Step 3: Authorize Payments API on the Blackbaud authorization page
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Open an incognito window.
Log in to the newly created Almabase user account (Email 2) and add /login/blackbaud at the end of your alumni website URL.
EXAMPLE - If your alumni website URL is "https://alumni.myschool.org," then you would have to open the following link "https://alumni.myschool.org/login/blackbaud"
You'll be redirected to the Blackbaud login page.
Sign in using the Blackbaud account (Email 2) created in Part 1, Step 2:
On the Blackbaud authorization page, click on Authorize.
Part 3 - Almabase enables the BBMS payment account on the platform
Once Part 1 and Part 2 are completed, notify your Success Manager/Onboarding Specialist or write to us at help@almabase.com that you've authorized the Payments API on Blackbaud. We will then complete the setup and enable BBMS on the platform.