Your Blackbaud NXT Data, Organized for Reporting — 100% Managed, Zero IT Required

MissionBI Essenta™ keeps a live, purpose-built copy of your Raiser’s Edge NXT and Financial Edge NXT data ready for reporting — fully managed, continuously refreshed, and easy to use in Power BI, Tableau, or any tool you already have. Set up once. We handle everything else.

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The Solution

When your organization moved to cloud-hosted NXT, direct reporting connections were no longer available. MissionBI Essenta restores that power — and then some.

MissionBI Essenta is a highly organized, business-friendly Direct Access as a Service (DAaaS) replica of your Blackbaud NXT data — purpose-built for reporting and analytics, not for the day-to-day transaction processing behind Raiser’s Edge NXT and Financial Edge NXT themselves. Every table and field is organized and easy to find inside the tools you already use, like Power BI and Tableau. Set up once — we manage everything from there. No technical staff. No maintenance. No exceptions.

Built by former Blackbaud Product Support Specialists and Blackbaud University (BBU) Trainers with 50 years of combined experience at Blackbaud, supporting nonprofit customer organizations. We know most nonprofits don’t have dedicated technical staff — and the ones that do are already stretched thin.

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXTDonor & Constituent Data Blackbaud Financial Edge NXTFund Accounting & Finance Data
100%
Fully Managed
50+
Years Blackbaud Experience
1–3
Weeks to Go Live
15min
Most Frequent Refresh
Blackbaud Partner Network
Microsoft AI Cloud Partner

How We Help

The Challenges We Solve

The Challenge

Moving to cloud-hosted Raiser’s Edge NXT or Financial Edge NXT means custom reporting tools can no longer connect directly to your data.

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The Solution

MissionBI Essenta re-establishes that connection automatically. Your reporting tools access a purpose-built, always-current dataset — no cloud restrictions, no workarounds.

The Challenge

Your team spends hours manually exporting, cleaning, and refreshing data just to keep reports up to date.

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The Solution

Automated scheduled refreshes — such as our popular nightly Mon–Fri plan — mean your reports are always current when your team arrives in the morning. No manual steps, no errors.

The Challenge

Technical data solutions are intimidating and complex, especially for organizations without dedicated IT staff.

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The Solution

MissionBI Essenta is 100% hosted and fully managed. Connecting your reporting tool is quick and straightforward — you never need to think about pipelines, databases, or APIs.

The Challenge

Your donor and fund accounting data live in separate silos, making cross-functional reporting difficult.

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The Solution

Subscribe to MissionBI Essenta for RENXT, FENXT, or both. Our data is purpose-built for reporting, making it easy to build the cross-functional dashboards your leadership needs for timely, informed decision-making.

The Challenge

Your organization has unique reporting needs — custom KPIs, board-ready dashboards, and cross-functional views that standard tools don’t provide out of the box.

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The Solution

MissionBI Essenta unlocks the full power of Power BI, Tableau, Crystal Reports, Qlik, and others — giving your team complete access to all your Blackbaud data to build exactly what you need.

Why MissionBI Essenta

Measurable ROI for Your Organization

From reclaimed staff hours to more strategic board reporting, the return on MissionBI Essenta is real, immediate, and ongoing.

⏰

Reclaimed Hours

Eliminate the hours your team spends manually exporting, cleaning, and refreshing data. MissionBI Essenta automates it all — every refresh, every time.

📊

Smarter Decisions

Your reports always reflect your most current Blackbaud data. Leadership gets the strategic insights they need, when they need them — not days later.

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Increased Reporting Reach

Extend live reporting to your entire organization — staff, administrators, and board members — using report distribution tools such as Power BI Service (Workspace Apps) and Tableau Online.

🔒

Enterprise-Grade Security

Hosted on Microsoft Azure — the same platform Blackbaud chose for NXT. Azure delivers 256-bit AES encryption at rest, TLS encryption in transit, role-based access controls, and continuous security monitoring through Microsoft Defender for Cloud.

⚡

Fast Data Responsiveness

MissionBI Essenta’s high-performance, low-latency framework means reports load quickly and filters respond instantly — for developers and end-users alike.

🤝

Zero Burden on Your Team

Zero maintenance, zero upkeep, zero specialized knowledge required. We manage everything so your team can focus on advancing your mission.

Data Residency & Compliance

Your Data Stays in Your Country

MissionBI Essenta is hosted on Microsoft Azure infrastructure, with dedicated server regions in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada — enabling organizations in each country to keep their data within their own borders and meet applicable data residency frameworks.

MissionBI Essenta™ — Available Azure Server Regions
🇺🇸 East US (Virginia) Azure East US 🇨🇦 Canada Central (Toronto) 🇬🇧 UK South (London) East US (Virginia) Canada Central (Toronto) UK South (London) Region selected at setup, changeable on request
🇺🇸
East US — Northern Virginia
Microsoft Azure East US Region

Our primary server region, used by US-based organizations and as our default configuration. All data is hosted within US borders, subject to US law, with no cross-border data transfer required.

🇨🇦
Canada Central — Toronto, Ontario
Microsoft Azure Canada Central Region
PIPEDA / Provincial Privacy Law

Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and provincial laws such as Ontario’s PHIPA require organizations to ensure personal data is protected to comparable standards wherever it is stored. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner recommends keeping data within Canada as the safest path to compliance. With Azure Canada Central, your Blackbaud data never leaves Canadian borders.

🇬🇧
UK South — London, England
Microsoft Azure UK South Region
UK GDPR / Data Protection Act 2018

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018, enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), require personal data to be processed with appropriate safeguards. The Azure UK South (London) region keeps your data within the UK, simplifies ICO compliance, and eliminates cross-border transfer obligations. ICO fines can reach £17.5 million or 4% of global annual turnover.

Want your data hosted in your country? Simply let us know your preferred region during onboarding — it’s built into your dedicated setup at no additional cost. Contact us →

Live Reporting for Your Whole Organization

Always-Current Dashboards for Your Entire Team

MissionBI Essenta powers both your report development environment and the live data connection for every report and dashboard you distribute to your organization. When a board member, administrator, or staff member opens a shared report, it automatically reflects your most current Blackbaud data.

No emails with attached spreadsheets. No “please refresh before the meeting.” Just live, trusted data — wherever your team needs it.

Power BI ServiceTableau OnlineCrystal ReportsPower BI DesktopQlikAny Reporting Tool
How It Works
1
Platform Setup & ActivationWe provision your dedicated Azure data environment, which is fully managed by MissionBI.
2
Your Data Loads AutomaticallyYour Blackbaud NXT data is fully loaded into your MissionBI Essenta reporting environment via Blackbaud’s SKY API.
3
Connect Your Reporting ToolConnect Power BI, Tableau, Crystal Reports, or any reporting tool. Quick, simple, one-time setup.
4
Automatic Refresh, ForeverYour NXT data refreshes on your chosen schedule — weekly, nightly, every 15 minutes, or anywhere in between.
Now Rolling Out

Refresh Reporting

Don’t Just Take Our Word For It

Every MissionBI Essenta environment now tracks row counts for every table on each nightly refresh — so you can already see, in your own database, exactly how your data grows over time. The next phase is complete and rolling out now: detailed per-table refresh logs and daily status summaries showing exactly what was added, changed, or left untouched on every run. Raiser’s Edge NXT customers get full access first, with Financial Edge NXT customers following shortly after. Once live in your environment, ready-to-use SQL queries, Power BI DAX measures, and Tableau calculated fields let you build your own refresh-reporting dashboard in minutes — verifying exactly what changed, rather than taking our word for it.

Record Count Growth Trend — example Power BI report built on mbi.record_counts

Live today — built from mbi.record_counts, already populating nightly in every MissionBI Essenta environment.

Coming Next — Example Reports You’ll Be Able to Build
Daily Refresh Scorecard — example Power BI report
Today's Refresh Activity — example Power BI report
Refresh Detail Breakdown — example Power BI report

Illustrative sample data shown. SQL, Power BI DAX, and Tableau examples provided for every view.

Does This Sound Like Your Organization?

Two Situations Where We Deliver Immediate Value

MissionBI Essenta provides a particularly powerful solution in these two common scenarios.

01

Migrating from On-Premise RE7 or FE7 to NXT — But Not Ready to Lose Your Custom Reports?

MissionBI Essenta keeps all of your custom reports 100% connected to your NXT data after migration. We provide full resources and support to ensure the transition of your custom reporting to the NXT environment is seamless.

02

Currently Using Blackbaud’s Database Backup Service for Custom Reporting?

Switch to MissionBI Essenta and leave behind the time and effort of managing the backup service. Get continuous, automated data refresh in a fully managed, completely hands-free experience.

Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did MissionBI Connect become MissionBI Essenta?
You may know us as MissionBI Connect — we’ve renamed to MissionBI Essenta. Nothing about your service, data, or team has changed. The new name better reflects direct, essential access to your own data, organized and ready to use.
What does MissionBI Essenta cost? Is a multi-year commitment required?
Pricing depends on your organization’s size and needs. MissionBI Essenta is available on annual and quarterly terms — annual and multi-year agreements offer the best value, and quarterly terms let you start smaller and scale up. Contact us for a quote.
Do I need technical staff to use MissionBI Essenta?
Not at all. MissionBI Essenta is 100% managed by our team. Your staff never needs to interact with the underlying data environment. Connecting your reporting tool is quick and straightforward, and we support you throughout the process.
Which reporting tools work with MissionBI Essenta?
MissionBI Essenta works with virtually any reporting software, including Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Crystal Reports, Qlik Sense, and others. If your tool can connect to a data source, it can connect to MissionBI Essenta.
How long does it take to get up and running?
Typically one to three weeks from contract signature to delivery of your fully configured solution. We handle everything internally and follow up with you as needed.
Can I subscribe to MissionBI Essenta for both RENXT and FENXT?
Yes. Many organizations subscribe to both to enable cross-functional reporting across donor and fund accounting data in a single dashboard.
Is my data secure?
Yes. MissionBI Essenta is hosted on Microsoft Azure — the same platform Blackbaud selected for NXT. Azure provides 256-bit AES encryption for data at rest, TLS encryption for all data in transit, role-based access controls, and continuous threat detection through Microsoft Defender for Cloud. As a Blackbaud Partner Network member, we also undergo periodic security reviews by Blackbaud.
What if I don’t have a report developer on staff?
No problem. MissionBI can refer you to a growing network of experienced report developer partners — typically seasoned Raiser’s Edge and Financial Edge consultants — who specialize in Power BI, Tableau, Crystal Reports, and other tools using MissionBI Essenta.
Does MissionBI Essenta include all my NXT data fields?
Yes — guaranteed. Every field for all RE NXT and FE NXT record types is included. If you ever can’t locate a field needed for a report, we’ll add it at no additional charge.
Can reports be shared with staff and board members?
Absolutely. When a board member or administrator opens a shared report via distribution tools such as the Power BI Service or Tableau Online, it automatically reflects your most current Blackbaud data.

Ready to put your Blackbaud data to work?

Contact us to discuss your organization’s custom reporting needs and see how quickly we can get you connected.

Schedule a Consultation
Sales & Support 📞 (855) 848-8846
✉ solutions@missionbi.com