Now used by 80+ Blackbaud CRM™ customers and counting across four countries
"This tool is truly a game-changer for us with its flexibility and ease of use."
Tim McCleary
CRM Director - The Salvation Army, Southern Territory
The BrightVine Data Link (BVDL) Integration Engine targets two main themes: automation and structured processes that allow for data integration as well as pre-and post-data processing.
BrightVine has developed an advanced Blackbaud CRM™ data integration engine capable of importing and exporting numerous sets of data from a variety of data sources. The BrightVine Data Link (BVDL) Integration Engine is built directly into Blackbaud CRM™, and no data is transferred to/ from BrightVine at any time. Your data lives within your Blackbaud CRM™ environment and is only transferred between the applications you choose via secure connections.
One of the most significant challenges every customer faces is the integration of data. From student imports, new donor and gift files, revenue updates, event registrations, interactions, and more, the need to quickly and reliably integrate data is ever-present.
Those familiar with Blackbaud CRM™ know that the out-of-the-box solution does not always meet the complex needs of organizations. The BrightVine Data Link eliminates the need to spend countless hours, and dollars, creating custom imports and extending batches which are often difficult to upgrade and maintain.
I love the BrightVine Data Link. It is the best decision we made to manage our data. We are using the templates BrightVine built but we are also building other imports and have been able to tackle projects that were long overdue!
Adriana Bitoun
United States Naval Academy
This is not an exhaustive list; please check with BrightVine for more information.
The University of Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association started working with BrightVine in January of 2016. Since that time, we have worked with BrightVine on the enhancement of the BrightVine Data Link and Integration Engine. We have found BrightVine to be a very professional and supportive partner. I would highly recommend BrightVine and its talented staff to any institution looking for Blackbaud CRM™ support or integration.”
Craig Hughes
University of Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association
Data Security
The BrightVine Data Link (BVDL) Integration Engine is built using the Blackbaud CRM™ SDK (.NET, SQL). It is Blackbaud CRM™ Cloud Certified and because the BVDL is fully integrated into Blackbaud CRM™ your data never leaves your Blackbaud CRM™ environment. Data security is important to us and we don't believe you should have to send your data to another vendor to achieve seamless integration.
Because your data is in your Blackbaud CRM™ environment, the data is encrypted at rest. All API calls are made using Blackbaud CRM™ business processes or via CLR stored procedures in Blackbaud CRM™.
You can import data using flat files or API integrations. Note: Non-Blackbaud CRM™ hosted clients can use SSIS to connect to other data sources. The BVDL comes with the FileWatcher utility that listens to SFTP or other locations and brings data into Blackbaud CRM™ for processing by the BVDL. The FileWatcher allows for the use of wildcards in file naming conventions and records file metadata to ensure files are not brought into CRM more than one time.
Data Hygiene
Data sources integrated through the utility will undergo numerous data hygiene steps, cleansing the data as its being entered into the system. Custom error checks can be integrated into the process as well as additional steps are taken when certain data conditions exist. Data is processed through a multi-threaded workflow that will make use of out-of-the-box Blackbaud CRM™ application programming interfaces (APIs) in order to maintain data integrity and significantly improve performance over out-of-the-box imports.
A user interface, developed by BrightVine, accessible within Blackbaud CRM™, will allow the staff to monitor, troubleshoot, and reconcile errors within the data. The BVDL functional area within Blackbaud CRM™ will allow end-users to correct, update or add data to exceptions created via the import and then mark them for reprocessing. This interface allows multiple users to work with exceptions as opposed to the current out-of-the-box exception batch functionality thereby making your team more productive.
AT A GLANCE
The BVDL provides:
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Integration with more data sources
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Supports SQL, flat-files, APIs, OData Feeds
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Improved Data Quality
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Automate data hygiene with Orchestrations (run pre or post-processing)
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Build custom business logic once that can be used by all or some of your imports
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Apply Address Validation at the time of import to produce better matching
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Reduce duplicate entries with custom duplicate matching logic
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Enhanced duplicate matching
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Enhanced Performance
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Large files import
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Run multiple files at the same time
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Supports wildcards (*.csv to pickup & process multiple files). The FileWatcher picks up and tracks what files have been imported from another location.
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It’s not all or nothing - if one item fails, the rest keeps going!
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Custom engine extensions
- Send data back to another system
- Add custom fields and custom tables
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Increased staff efficiency
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Smart exception handling allows for more efficiency
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No manual manipulation of files
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You don’t have to split files into constituent, revenue, interaction, etc. All of your data can stay in the same file
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Reduce custom development time by allowing end-users to create orchestrations that allow for manipulation and clean-up of data
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Improved exception handling workflow. Exceptions handling is now done row by row, vs batch by batch. You can manage all exceptions in the same place no matter what the data type.
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Superbowl Ad for University of Wisconsin
WeatherTech founder and CEO David MacNeil's dog, Scout, was featured in a SuperBowl ad that followed its journey as a cancer survivor, celebrates the work being done at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, and encouraged viewers to donate to the school’s cancer research efforts. This was a wonderful opportunity for the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the School of Veterinary Medicine, The University of Wisconsin. Being featured in a SuperBowl ad could drive a lot of donations. The University used the BrightVine Data Link Integration Engine to import all of the contributions made to that campaign. It saved the organization time and allowed for quick reporting back to all those involved in the campaign. The foundation uses the Data Link to process data and integrate third-party systems as well. It's an invaluable asset for the foundation.
CVENT Event Integration with Best Friends Animal Society
Best Friends Animal Society is a national animal welfare organization focused on helping the U.S. become a no-kill nation by 2025. From its roots at the largest no-kill companion animal sanctuary located in Kanab, UT to their many regional programs around the country, Best Friends has cultivated a strong base of supporters nationwide.
Best Friends hosted its 20th Best Friends National Conference. The 2018 conference, held in Los Angeles, California and attended by 1,657 people, gave attendees the chance to learn, share, and connect with like-minded animal lovers from around the world.
For both attendees and staff, a seamless registration experience was a must. Best Friends Animal Society used Cvent™ event management software for this purpose and engaged BrightVine in early 2018 to assist with direct integration between Cvent™ and their Blackbaud CRM™ donor management system. The direct connection between Blackbaud CRM and Cvent saved staff time since the retrieval of files was no longer necessary and the events team could trust that the information visible in Blackbaud CRM™ was always current. The breadth of the incoming data was on the complex side, incorporating requirements that were not possible to accomplish using out-of-the-box import in Blackbaud CRM™. These included:
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Creation of new constituents with contact information, relationships, and other biographical information
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Updates to existing constituent data (such as new contact information)
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Single & group event registration
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Ability to add additional payments for things like bus fees, site tours, additional sessions, or additional donations
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Refunds, partial refunds, cancellations, and other revenue updates
One of the most exciting parts of this project is that it included training on the underlying BrightVine Import and Integration Engine technology which, when paired with the team’s SQL Server Integration Services knowledge, means the Best Friends application developers are now equipped to create additional integrations when the need arises.
UNICEF USA & Kids in Need of Desks
Kids in Need of Desks (K.I.N.D.) campaign, launched by the UNICEF USA and MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell, deliver desks to hundreds of schools in Africa. K.I.N.D. also provides secondary school scholarships to Malawian girls most in danger of missing out on an education. During the holidays O'Donnell promotes his K.I.N.D campaign and solicits donations on MSNBC's "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell." Every day large volumes of transactions are processed using the Data Link Integration Engine allowing UNICEF USA and O'Donnell to report near real-time fundraising results on his nightly show. UNICEF USA uses the Data Link to integrate numerous systems to Blackbaud CRM