If you’re in the market for Document storage, wondering where the best place is to store both constituent and transactional documentation, have you taken a look at the Documentation Summary tab within Blackbaud CRM™? If you haven’t, I would encourage you to do so.

The Documentation Summary tab is located within a constituent’s Documentation and Interactions tab and it might just go up in your estimation when you realize where it’s pulling its data from, and what it allows you to do.

The answer to where it’s pulling data from is just about everywhere. You’ll find documentation tabs scattered throughout the system, but to save you searching through all the related records this tab acts as a one-stop documentation shop. So, it’s a place where you can view and edit all sorts of documentation related to the constituent you are viewing, no matter where it lives in CRM. And yes, I said you can view and EDIT; if you edit existing information from this sub-tab, the related functional area is also updated.

Let’s take a quick look at each of the sections in more detail because while some of them may be obvious, some of them are not.

• Constituent

The first section is for Constituent documentation. We’re here in the constituent record so no surprise that this data is pulling from one of the neighboring tabs, the Constituent Documentation sub-tab. If you add a note, media link or attachment to the record, it will display here.

• Interaction

This is the one that is not as obvious as it may seem at first glance. You might assume that it pulls from one of the other neighboring sub-tabs, the Interactions tab; but that’s not exactly the case.

The documentation displayed here is documentation attached to the interaction, not the interaction itself. While you might switch back and forth between the Interactions tab and this Interaction documentation summary, you won’t find precisely what you’re looking for until you drill down further. Navigate to the interaction (or contact report) and in addition to a details tab, you’ll also find a documentation tab.

• Membership

This one is also a little difficult to find if you’re not familiar with the membership module. On the Constituent’s Memberships tab, drill down into the membership record by clicking on the link. This will open the membership record, a varied, tile-like display where you’ll find Documentation down in the bottom left corner.

• Planned gift

Drill down into a planned gift on a Prospect’s Planned Gifts tab, and you’ll find the Documentation tab.

• Prospect plan

Click the link to access the Prospect Plan details, and alongside other sub-tabs such as Opportunities and Planned Gifts, you’ll find Documentation.

• Revenue

Documentation in the form of notes can be added to a transaction record. Most likely entered in batch, the revenue note displays on the transaction record as well as the Documentation Summary.

• Stewardship plan

The Stewardship documentation tab is another interesting one. Add a stewardship plan, and like the major giving plan you’ll find a documentation tab. The difference here though is that you have an additional option of adding a “constituent note”. This constituent note is what was referred to as a “note” on the Constituent documentation tab. If you add a “note” here it will be saved as a stewardship plan note; if you add a “constituent note” it appears on the constituent documentation tab.

• Survey

Add a survey to the constituent record, and you can add documentation to it alongside the responses.

So, as you can see these documentation tabs crop up in a variety of places. It’s easy to attach the documentation to the relevant records because that’s where it belongs, but no-one wants to go out of their way to search for them later. Being able to surface all the information in one location is a far better option! It makes the documentation storage capabilities of Blackbaud CRM™ a streamline affair that’s convenient, easy to use and a breeze to navigate. It’s something to keep in mind if you are trying to decide whether you need to go the 3rd party route.