Mike and Mark, interesting flow from 2016 here. I am new to the IDEAS area of eTapestry, after using the product for about two years, and after using Raiser's Edge for about 15 years.

Just a couple of comments about this:

1. Sometimes, something can be suggested and it is easy to do and not disruptive and we do it.  Quick win for customer. You should let the customer know you have done it.
2. We have seen that suggestion before and know that we have chosen not to implement that item, so we close it or say we are not going to address it. You should let the customer know you are not going to address it. I am sure you could have some template language to toggle to let them know why. If the reason is because it is available in a higher-priced product, you should let them know.
3. We are already thinking/working on it in some way. You should let the customer know you are working on a solution.

And I think you should market the ideas area so people know this is here and that ideas are up for voting. No one told me it was here in two years of using eTap. I happened to spot it today while working on a query/report.

I see that the 9 ideas that are in "planned" status are three years old. This doesn't give much hope for ideas being vetted and/or adopted in a timeline that would actually help.

Elaine

Hi Mark! My name is Eric Van Scoik, and I'm Blackbaud's UX intern for the summer. My main project is redesigning Blackbaud's homepage in order to give it value and allow it to help eTapestry users accomplish more work more easily. I'd really appreciate your input on this, since it's easy to see that you're someone who cares about improving the software. If you could e-mail me at eric.vanscoik@blackbaud.com, we could set up a time so speak over the phone about your experience with eTapestry. Thanks Mark!

Sorry if last post wasn't clear - I recognize Banner is not Blackbaud btw. 

Mike,

Thanks for your detailed response.

Yes - I would like to be more involved with some eTapestry testing.  I really feel there is a lot more that the product could offer.

BTW - my previous (8 years) with Banner Advancement gives me some insight into Blackbaud offerings.

Mark

Mark -  Great questions.

Just because something does not have 50 votes does not mean it is ignored.  Typically when you see something with less than that many votes that is being addressed, it falls into three categories.

1. Sometimes, something can be suggested and it is easy to do and not disruptive and we do it.  Quick win for customer.
2. We have seen that suggestion before and know that we have chosen not to implement that item, so we close it or say we are not going to address it.
3. We are already thinking/working on it in some way.

As far as the specific idea you point out above.  Sometimes there are backstories and communications that are not recorded on the idea bank and/or responded to in other ways.  It is not fair to you because you do not see the  whole picture which would cause the questions you have.

As far as that suggestion goes, we are not on the same email system as some of our other products (a legacy issue of being acquired), so it is not as easy as just offering it up like the other systems.  That being said, as we move to consolidate to other systems, it will definitely be something we would like to offer.

Mark, if you would like to be more included around eTapestry, we can do that.  I just had some customers trying out our new query preview that we will be launching in a few weeks.  When we go to design something we reach out to customers for feedback.  It is common for me to go find the people who suggested and/or commented on a suggestion that closely aligns with what we are doing and ask them to take a look or give us help in some way so we know we are on the right track.  I have other customers who I know just like to be involved and reach out to them for questions on various issues etc.  I would be more than happy to include you in all of that.  Just let me know.

Again, thanks for the feedback.  I know we can and will continue to always try and get better, so i do appreciate your thoughts.

Mike

Hi Mike -

Thanks for all the feedback but I think you are missing the main point of my post.

Let's look at one of your statements:  

• Out of the 418 ideas currently on the Idea Bank, 387 of them have less than 50 votes each. Considering that each idea bank user is allowed multiple votes, this means that 92% of the ideas have less than 1% support from the eTapestry customer base."

If 50 votes is a threshold of sorts - why are some ideas flagged "No Plans to Change at this Time" shortly after they are posted and before they even have a chance to be voted on?

Yes - i did read your full response and see there are a multitude of things that go into the rationale of a flag by your part including the implication that an idea might work better for a software such as raisers edge that costs the user more, but many ideas really are not something that shouldn't be in all Blackbaud platforms.

A perfect example of this is the request to change the opt-out of mass emails for constituents of eTapestry to allow receivers of emails to choose opt out of all emails or just select categories.   I Considering Blackbaud itself offers this choice why wouldn't it make sense to offer that on all it's platforms?  Does Blackbaud feel eTapestry users do not desrve what is so basic an option?

That one idea/request was a perfect example btw of eTapestry quickly saying no (No Plans to Change at this Time) and not responding to follow-up posts.

I think eTapestry is a fine product that understandably has limitations, but I do not think a willingness to better engage your users needs to be one.

Mark -  First of all thank you for the feedback.  As the "administrator" in charge of keeping the idea area in check, I can assure you that it is monitored almost daily.  I have been with the eTapestry product for almost 16 years now and I can tell you that the “idea” area has always been critical in getting feedback from our customers.  Let me try to explain how I go about evaluating and monitoring so that you have some insight on how a status is set, how the responses work and how I determine if we are going to consider adopting them into the eTapestry system.

We look at a couple of factors when monitoring the Idea Bank.  First, it works on a voting system, meaning the more votes an idea the bigger need it is for our customers.  I don’t always respond to items with small number of votes.  I will leave them out there to see if other customers want to vote on them and if they gain no additional votes, then they will eventually be closed.

• Out of the 418 ideas currently on the Idea Bank, 387 of them have less than 50 votes each. Considering that each idea bank user is allowed multiple votes, this means that 92% of the ideas have less than 1% support from the eTapestry customer base.
• Of the other 8% that have 50 or more votes, every one of them has been reviewed in some manner. The 5 that still have the status of “Idea Being Reviewed” are actually being reviewed to determine if we will address them or not. 
• The 82 that have the Status of “No Plans to Change” have been reviewed and determined that we are not going to implement the suggestion in the system. If there are a couple in there that need updated because I miss-understood the need, I will address those.  I apologize for not getting those updated.

Second, with Blackbaud having several product lines, we must take into consideration if we are going to add that to the eTapestry system or if another one of our product has that capability.  It may be that we make a decision to not add something to eTap because we feel it is better suited for one of our other systems.  In an effort not to cloud the water, between the two, we will not add it to eTapestry.

Third, we take into consideration how much complexity it will add to the system.  We are constantly looking for ways to simplify eTapestry and some of the suggestions by users would not move us to a more simple solution but a more complex solution.  In those cases, again, we may have another product that already does that and would be a better fit for the organization.

Lastly, we want to make sure that the ideas that we use go to the overall vision of the eTapestry system and the market we are serving. A system that is simple, yet powerful built for smaller organizations to use to start and build their fundraising programs.

There are a lot of good ideas out there and sometimes hard decisions need to be made.  The idea bank is not a place for ideas to go and die, but for a place where we can try and be transparent about what we are and are not adding to the system.  Sometimes, we have to research ideas and see why a user is suggesting them because sometimes the suggestion is not the real issue they are having and we must figure out what their real problem is. 

Finally, let me say that the typical workflow is to go into the Idea Bank around every release and work on updating/closing the tickets that have been addressed or where a decision has been made.  Our releases typically run every 5 weeks, so that is when the majority of the updating gets done.  That being said, there are times the need arises to address a specific ticket that comes in outside of that time frame.

Mark, please let me know if this addresses your concerns and if I can help answer any more questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Mike Rusche

Product Manager - eTapestry