What's New

Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT releases new features on a regular basis, so keep an eye on this space for details about these additions. Features that release in waves are noted below. You may receive these updates immediately or in a future release.

To improve payment processing, you can now filter by queries when selecting a payment method.

Note: This filter is only available for Invoice and Vendor query types.

We’ve made the following improvements to Query:

  • You can now limit your static query’s output to a specific number of records. For more information, see Record processing.

  • From the list of queries, you now select to run a query from the query menu to run in the background. You’ll receive a notification when it completes. For more information, see Query.

  • From the query editor, you can now select to copy a link to the Results tab. For more information, see Query Editor.

Note: Don't see this yet? The ability to work with allocations is in Limited Availability (LA) for some of our customers. Currently, you can view and run existing allocations, and view settings. Look for full support and general availability in a future release.

As your organization's financial needs grow, you'll likely need to move — or allocate — amounts from one set of accounts, projects, classes, or grants to another. From Allocations, you can view and run simple or complex allocations based on statistical units, and view settings to ensure consistent and accurate accounting.

For more information, see Manage Allocations and Allocation settings.

You can now add alerts to product records. For more information, see Product Record.

To simplify organizational role identification, admins can now specify job titles when they add or edit users.

For details, see Add user.

To make managing user access easier, admins can now limit user access to a specific time frame by setting an access expiration date for a user. After a user's expiration date, that user becomes inactive and can no longer access the Blackbaud solutions and features that admins manage on the Users page in Security.

For details, see Add user and Edit user roles.

You can now add and edit product records in web view. Using product records saves time when adding line items on purchase orders because you can quickly select a product you previously created, instead of entering the information every time you create a purchase order for identical items.

You can add products from the Products list page under Payables. For more information, see Add Products.

The ability to add and edit exports is now available under General ledger in web view! Currently, you can run and delete exports from all modules. With this release, we added the ability to add and edit exports for General ledger.

We are adding ability to add and edit exports from other modules in upcoming releases.

For more information, see Export.

Automate Payment Processing with Payment Assistant™

Payment Assistant automates and delivers vendor payments for you directly from Financial Edge NXT. With virtual card payments, accelerated ACH processing, and remote check printing, vendors are paid quickly and on time. By providing a faster, more cost-effective, and more secure way to pay invoices, you have more time to focus on your mission. Included in your subscription cost of Financial Edge NXT, Payment Assistant is now in Limited Availability (LA). Are you interested in participating? Apply to join our LA group. During this time, we'll review and implement participant feedback to prepare for general availability.

  • Group the invoices you need to pay into payment runs.

  • Use roles and permissions to decide who can create payment runs and who can approve them (Coming soon! Tiered payment approvals).

  • View the payment run record to track the progress of individual payments.

  • When you select to pay invoices, REPAY®, our trusted payments technology partner, contacts them to select their preferred payment method. After set up, all communication with vendors is automated for subsequent payments.

  • New! When you create a payment run, we added the ability to use filters to help you find and select the invoices you are ready to pay.

Once you're added to the Limited Availability group, you can access Payment Assistant from the Payables menu. The first time you navigate to Payment Assistant, you’ll go to the Getting started page. After you complete the onboarding steps, when you navigate to Payment Assistant, you’ll go directly to the Payment runs page.

Every payment run requires at least one approver before the funds are withdrawn from your account to pay vendors. However, your organization may require more than a single person approving the payments. You also may require that different payment amounts require different people to approve. Payments can now be approved at multiple levels based on rules. You can define up to 5 approval tiers for payments with Payment Assistant. This ensures larger transactions receive necessary oversight, while smaller ones process more quickly.

Tip: Tip! Learn how Seth Hurd, Financial Controller and Director of Information Systems at Berwick Academy (Berwick, ME), adopted Payment Assistant!

Total Web Solution

As Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT shifts to a total web solution, we're moving features from database view exclusively to web view. As this shift progresses, we'll remove access to these features in database view.

To reduce the risk of service interruptions, gather feedback, and scale as needed, we're releasing these updates in waves instead of deploying everything at once.

For each feature area, we've listed "wave" dates to indicate when a feature area will begin to turn off in database view. If your organization is included in a wave, you will no longer have access to that specific feature beginning on the date listed. It's important to know that you may receive the updates immediately or in a future release.

To review feature areas and dates, see Total Web Solution.

Receivables

We're releasing Receivables features in small, usable increments. Many of these features are releasing in waves to our United States customers first. We'll fully support additional locales in a future release.

Tip: To catch on up features we've completed in Receivables, review Receivables: What's Recent.

Note: The ability to apply applications for posted transactions is in Limited Availability (LA) for some of our customers. Look for full support and general availability in a future release.

Note: Don't see this yet? Automatic applications is in Limited Availability (LA) for some of our customers. Look for full support and general availability in a future release.

You can now automatically apply new payments and credits for clients in web view. From Settings, Business rules, General select Always or As defined on each client under Automatically apply new payments or Automatically apply new credits. If you define them for each client, make sure to select Automatically apply new payments and Automatically apply new credits under Data entry defaults on the client's record.

Note: The ability to process automatic applications is new in web view, but settings and client defaults were introduced in an earlier release.

Additional settings exist to determine how you want to automatically apply applications. For example, you can select to always apply new payments and credits to existing charges or ask each time, and you can determine whether payments and credits apply to the oldest charge first or the most recent. For more details, see General.

From Receivables, Invoices, you can now add, edit, and delete invoices with line items for receivables and view their record pages in web view.

Note: When you add a new invoice, you can now add new line items for it under Line items. For more details, see Add Invoices in Receivables.

For more details, see Invoices in Receivables.

To open a line item record, select the one you need under Line items on an invoice record.

Note: You can now manage invoice line items with the Finance charge billing item type.

For more details, see Invoice Line Items in Receivables.

You can now view the list of recurring invoices. From Invoices, select Recurring to view the list.

To open a recurring invoice, select it in the ID column.

For more details, see Recurring Invoices in Receivables.

You can now add, edit, reverse, and delete credits from Receivables, Credits and view their record pages in web view. To view a credit, select it under Credit ID.

Note: You can now manage credits with the Finance charge billing item type.

For more details, see Credits.

From Receivables, Clients, you can now add and edit refund records in web view. To add a refund, open the client's record and select Add, Refund under Activity.

To view a refund record, select it under Transaction ID.

The Overview, Distributions, and Applications tabs display for you to add and edit additional info.

Tip: You can also now view a refund from a bank's Register tab. To locate the refund, search by One-time check for Transaction type and select View from the row's menu.

Reverse refunds

To reverse a refund, open one with a Posted status and select Delete.

You can't delete a refund with unposted adjustments.

Tip: After you confirm to delete the refund, enter a reversal date for the journal entry that automatically generates the next time you post.

Note: You can edit the reversal date before posting it.

Adjust refunds

To adjust a refund, open one with a Posted status and select Adjust.

Enter adjustment details, such as the new date and reason, then save.

For more details, see Refund Records.

From Receivables, Clients, you can now view return records in web view. To view a return for an invoice or a line item, open the client's record and select Activity.

Note: In a future release, you'll be able to add and edit returns.

To view the return record, select View from a row's menu. The Overview, Distributions, and Applications tabs display for you to view and edit additional info.

For more details, see Returns.

You can add, edit, reverse, and delete charges from Receivables, Charges and view their record pages in web view. To view a charge, select it in the Charge ID column.

Note: You can now manage charges with the Finance charge billing item type.

Note: In a future release, you'll be able request grant reimbursements from charge records.

Reverse charges as credits

Note: The ability to reverse posted charges as credits is in Limited Availability (LA) for some of our customers. Look for full support and general availability in a future release.

You can now reverse a charge as a credit in web view. From the charge record, select Reverse charge.

After you confirm the reverse, the new credit is saved and automatically applied to the charge to reduce the client's balance.

Tip: If you don't want to reverse the entire charge amount, select Reverse part of charge to enter a different amount for the new credit. The amount you enter also automatically applies to the charge to reduce the client's balance.

For more information, see Charges.

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