Overview

Salsa CRM's Finance Export support for Blackbaud's Financial Edge software includes features designed to track posting dates and adjustments, and export data in two Financial Edge compatible formats.

Configuring Salsa CRM to Work With Financial Edge

Turning on the Financial Edge accounting options is easy. A user with access to the configuration section of Salsa CRM can navigate to Manage > Configuration and click the checkbox labeled Use Financial Edge Fund Accounting Options to turn on Financial Edge features.

Adding Default Accounts

After activating the Financial Edge options, the Set Defaults link becomes visible. Default accounts provide starter Debit and Credit accounts for any new Funds and for your existing funds when you're first getting set up with Financial Edge. Once set, you can then further customize Credit and Debit accounts on an individual Fund (more on that below).

To add default accounts...

1. Click on the 'Set Defaults' link.
   

2. A pop-up window will display Credit and Debit accounts that can be filled in for each Gift Type and Payment Type combination.
   

3. Enter the default accounts that match your chart of accounts in Financial Edge.

Adjusting Accounts For Individual Funds

Depending on how you track revenue in Financial Edge, not every Fund in Salsa will match the default accounts you configured in the previous step. To adjust the defaults for a specific Fund...

1. Navigate to the Fund configuration menu under Manage > Finances > Fund.

2. Search for your Fund in the list view by clicking the Search button.

3. Click twice on the name to edit any Fund that needs to be adjusted.

4. On the Fund edit screen, click the Set Financial Edge Account Mappings button.

5. A pop-up will show the current account mappings for this fund. If you have not previously adjusted them, they will show your current defaults.

6. Update the accounts for any gift type or payment accordingly.

7. Click Save.

Optionally Add a Project ID For Each Fund

For each Fund in Salsa, you can optionally add a Project ID that matches the corresponding Project ID in Financial Edge. If you decide not to add a Project ID, the exports produced by Salsa will use the Fund Name instead. To add a Project ID for any specific Fund...

1. Navigate to the Fund configuration screen under Manage > Finances > Fund.

2. Search for your Fund in the list view and click to edit any that need to be adjusted.

3. On the Fund screen, you can add the corresponding Project ID here.
   

4. Click Save.

Posting to Financial Edge

Each donation, recurring installment, matching gift, pledge, pledge payment, etc, that is recorded in Salsa CRM has a new field called Posted Date. This field records the transaction export date which should also correspond to the date you import them into Financial Edge. The date recorded in this field will ensure that Salsa CRM and Financial Edge stay in sync (more on how adjustments and reversals are tracked and exported below).

Note: All monetary transactions in Salsa CRM are eligible to be posted. The only exceptions are Recurring profiles and $0 donations. While recurring profiles are excluded, each recurring installment that is successfully processed will be posted. In addition, any $0 donation--such as an In-Kind donation--will not be posted since they have no monetary value.

Creating an Export File

To create an export file for Financial Edge, use the Finance Export Wizard...

1. Navigate to the Finance Export Wizard by clicking on Finance Export under Manager > Finances > Finance Export.

2. Select the Filter Option that will correspond with the batch of transactions you want to post to Financial Edge.

3. On Step 3 of the Wizard, there will now be a new option for Financial Edge Summary Export (which will be selected by default).
   

Export Formats

There are two export formats available for Financial Edge: 'Detailed' and 'Summary Cash/AR'.

Detailed Export

The 'Detailed' export format generates a CSV file containing a Credit and Debit row for each included transaction.

Summary Cash/AR Export

The 'Summary Cash/AR' export format generates a CSV file containing a row for every Credit, but summarizes the Debits for new transactions. The Debit lines are summarized by date, debit account (which is based on the account settings for each Fund), gift type, and batch. If the debit account for a Fund differs from other Funds, then transactions for that Fund will be summarized separately on a new line--even though the transaction may share the same Date, Gift Type, and Batch. Reversals and adjustments are not summarized and are included as separate Credit and Debit rows.

Export Options

Choose from two export options once you've selected your file format.

Export

The 'Export' option generates an export file in the format chosen, but it will not mark the included transactions as posted. You can generate a test export file with this option, analyze the output, and even run a test import into Financial Edge. You can run this export as many times as you need without affecting the Posted Date for the included transactions.

Mark as Posted and Export

The 'Mark as Posted and Export' option generates the same export file as the normal 'Export'; however, it will simultaneously mark all the included transactions, reversals, and adjustments as posted to Financial Edge. Use this option whenever you intend to import the transactions to Financial Edge. Once this is done, the Finance Export wizard excludes these transactions from future exports.

Posting History

Whenever an export is created using the 'Mark as Posted and Export' option, a record is added to a new Post History screen under Manage > Finances > Posting History. Each entry contains the number of transactions included in the export, along with the export filters that were used to generate the file. This will help you to keep track of your Financial Edge postings. Entry details include...

Export Button

For each post that is completed, quickly re-export the file by selecting an entry, then clicking the Export button. Salsa provides you with a copy of the export file in the event that you need to re-import the same file again to Financial Edge.

Delete and Clear Posting Status of Most Recent Post Button

In the event that you need to reset the Post Date for any transactions that were exported to Financial Edge, click Delete and Clear Posting Status of Most Recent Post button. You must, however, back out each export sequentially in reverse order to make sure that any unposted adjustments are also re-posted correctly. For this reason, only the most recently posted export can be cleared at a time. Also, if unposted adjustments have been made to any transactions included in a post, that post cannot be deleted. Corrections must be made by entering new adjustments to the included transactions and posting those adjustments.

NOTE: A task-related permission Clear Donation Post Dates is required in order to view and use the Delete and Clear Posting Status of Most Recent Post option. It can be applied to existing roles under Manage > Roles.

Adjustments to Posted Donations

After a user posts donations to Financial Edge, Salsa CRM will monitor changes to the relevant accounting fields for that donation. These fields include: Amount, Received Date, Fund, Campaign, and Appeal. When the user adjusts one of these fields after the donation is posted, an Adjustment record will be created and a new Adjustments tab will be visible. 

The user that makes the adjustment must provide a reason for the adjustment for tracking purposes.

Adjustments Tab

Click the Adjustments tab to view donation adjustments. Each entry displays information about what changed and who made the change. Here's a breakdown of each column:

Posting Adjustments

To post the adjusted transaction to Financial Edge, run the Finance Export option and include the date of the adjustment in your filter. The export file will contain the rows needed to make the corresponding adjustment in Financial Edge. Moreover, when using the Mark as Posted and Export option, Salsa marks the adjustment as posted. Once an adjustment posts, the entry for that adjustment on the donation record records the date posted and is no longer be editable.

Adjustment Formatting in Export Files

When exporting an adjustment, there are two sets of entries in the export file. One set of Credit and Debit entries reverse the originally posted transaction. The Journal Reference column also denotes an 'Adjustment.' A second set of Credit and Debit entries re-post the transaction with the newly adjusted values. Here's an example that adjusts the amount of a donation from $200 to $2000.

Multiple Adjustments to the Same Donation Before They're Posted

Changes made to a donation with an unposted adjustment will overlay what was pending on the adjustment record. For example, if a user changes the amount of a posted donation from $100 to $150 and clicks save, an adjustment is entered for that change. If another user later adjusts that donation to have a different received date, the changes made by the second user overwrite what was made by the first user. They will have an opportunity to update the adjustment reason, however, to clarify the pending changes.

However, once an adjustment is posted and exported, the adjustment record is stored with the record and any new changes generate a new adjustment entry.

Reversals

When a donation that has been posted is reversed in Salsa CRM, a corresponding reversal is exported to Financial Edge on the next export. However, before you can reverse a posted donation, any unposted adjustments must first be posted. This ensures that the critical accounting fields match between Financial Edge and Salsa CRM before they're reversed. In the export file, the Journal Reference column is appended with 'Reversal' to indicate when a transaction is being reversed. Here's an example reversing a $25 donation.

Deletions

Posted donations or installments deleted in Salsa CRM are NOT exported to Financial Edge. Deleting a transaction from Salsa CRM does not automatically delete it from Financial Edge. Manually update Financial Edge to process the deletion. Alternately, use the 'Reverse' option instead, which will include the reversal in your next export. Any unposted donation can be deleted without affecting Financial Edge.

Pledge Write-Offs

When you receive a Pledge, Salsa includes it in your export to Financial Edge. As installments are paid off, Salsa will send the pledge payments over as a pledge receivable according to the Credit and Debit accounts configured for each Fund. Sometimes, donors decide not to pay some or all of any remaining installments. These are marked as 'Written Off' in Salsa CRM. Pledge Installments that are written off will in turn be exported according to the Pledge Write Off accounts you configure for each Fund.

Advanced Query Options

Two additional features that have been added to the Advanced Query Wizard allowing you to report on when a donation was posted.

Donation Query

The Advanced Query Wizard now includes Posted Date as an output field. As noted above, this field will store the date that the donation was exported to Financial Edge.

Donation Posting History Query

There is a new query type called Donation Posting History that will allow you to output and filter on the Date Created of the posting history record to view the associated transactions.

Changes to the 'Move Donations' Option

On the final step of donation-type queries, you can move donations in-bulk between Funds, Campaigns, and Appeals by clicking the Move Donations button.

This option includes the ability to bulk move donations to a different Fund, Campaign, or Appeal.

Moving donations in-bulk to a new Fund, Campaign, and Appeal using this option will only apply to unposted donations. Posted donations included in your query will be unaffected. In addition, Posted Date will become a required field in your Donation query as an output field. While Fund, Campaign, and Appeal cannot be bulk change, moving donations to another Batch or Donation Source can be performed whether the donation is posted or not.

Changing Received Date on Donations from Engage

Transactions sourced from Engage sync to Salsa CRM and are locked to maintain data integrity. However, it may become necessary to change a donation's Received Date in Salsa CRM for reporting or accounting purposes. A new option has been added to optionally allow users to modify the Received Date for donations sourced from Engage.

To enable changes to Received Date..

1. From the main menu, select Manage > Configuration. The General Configuration Information screen displays.

2. Click the checkbox labeled Allow Synced Donation Received Date Modification. This setting is disabled by default.

3. Click the checkbox labeled Allow Donation Back-dating. This setting is enabled by default.