To access data from the program in Microsoft Excel 2007, you can install the Microsoft Excel add-in. Under ClickOnce Utilities, two utilities are available to install this add-in.
The Blackbaud Excel Add-in utility installs the add-in only. To use this utility, you must already have all prerequisites in place for the add-in.
The Blackbaud Excel Add-in Deployment Utility installs the add-in and any missing prerequisites.For some of the prerequisites, the deployment utility may require administrative rights.
Note: To install the Microsoft Excel add-in, you must have Microsoft Office 2007. In addition, you must install Windows Installer 3.1; .NET Framework 3.5, Service Pack 1; Microsoft Office 2007 Primary Interop Assemblies; and Visual Studio Tools for the Office System 3.0 Runtime, Service Pack 1. If you do not have these prerequisites, the Blackbaud Excel Add-in Deployment Utility can install them. For some of the prerequisites, the deployment utility may require administrative rights.
After you install the add-in, a Blackbaud tab appears the next time you open Excel. With this tab, you can select ad-hoc queries, data lists, and KPIs from the program to pull data from your database into a spreadsheet. You can then use the tools in Excel to perform calculations on the data and adjust the presentation. The data from the program is live, which means it is refreshed automatically each time you open the spreadsheet and you can also refresh it manually. In addition, you can send the spreadsheet to application users with access to the records in the program, and the data is still live, even if they have not installed the add-in.
On the Blackbaud tab in Excel, you select whether to pull data from an ad-hoc query, data list, or KPI. Next, you select the database and the data to pull into the spreadsheet. If necessary, you then select a context record to specify where to access data in the program. For example, to view a data list of constituent giving history, you must select a constituent record. The data appears in the spreadsheet, along with the available parameters, which you can use to filter the data. When you select a parameter, the data automatically refreshes. If you select a context record for the data, a parameter allows you to change the context record to pull data from a different record into the spreadsheet.