The second most common thing I hear from my clients (after thank you) during training is, “OMG, Sandy,
how am I EVER going to remember all of this after you leave?!”. “Fear not”, I always tell them, “Blackbaud has built wonderful help resources into the software and on their website to reinforce and remind you of the things you’re learning now”. And they have:)
Let’s take a look at all the ways you can get help for the Raiser’s Edge (and most other Blackbaud products, too!):
- First, under Help on the menu bar, you’ll find links to:
- Raiser’s Edge Help topics (including a Table of Contents, an alphabetically index, and a Searchable topic list, among other things)
- Raiser’s Edge User guides
- Shortcuts to contacting support and other online resources, like FAQ‘s
- F1 on your keyboard-press it ANYWHERE in the software to go to context specific help for wherever you are when you push F1
- Knowledgebase and Forums on their website (provided your maintenance fees are paid up
)
These are relatively obvious and often accessed Help resources, but there are others. Have you noticed over the last few years that some blue text has started showing up in seemingly random places in the software? (For you technical types, that’s called ‘fly over text’). It turns out, these aren’t so random after all. They’re strategically placed, based on some of the common reasons users call support or search the knowledgebase. Perfect examples include:
- “Click here to learn more about address processing” (on the Individual and Organization Address processing tabs in any Mail function)
- “What are the options on the Gift Types tab” (on the Gift Types tab of most Financial Reports)
- “Want to export the same field multiple times using different parameters?” (in Export)
All of these are hyperlinks, or shortcuts, to topic specific help! How cool is that?
In addition to the resources provided by Blackbaud, there are also some “non-Blackbaud”, independent resources online. A very popular one, and one of my favorites, is a forum called Blackbus (short for Blackbaud User Society-pretty clever, I think). There’s even a Raiser’s Edge Power User page on Facebook! And, of course, there are also those of us who love the software, independently offering up training and consulting services
, but enough about me.
The bottom line, is that when it comes to finding help with the Raiser’s Edge, you need not feel alone. Help is out there, and help is good:)
