FACTS Student Information System vs. Blackbaud Education Management Solutions

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FACTS Student Information System
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
FACTS Student Information System (formerly RenWeb) is a Student Information System that handles admissions, student information, billing, report cards, grading, attendance, and parent access, among others. FACTS is a property of Nelnet Business Solutions.N/A
Blackbaud Education Management Solutions
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
Blackbaud Education Management Solutions is a unified student management system for K–12 private schools. Blackbaud Enrollment Management System™: Gives schools and families the ability to track admissions progress from first impressions all the way through the application process to acceptance, enrollment, and tuition payment. Blackbaud Learning Management System™: Track students' academic performance and progression…N/A
Pricing
FACTS Student Information SystemBlackbaud Education Management Solutions
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FACTS Student Information SystemBlackbaud Education Management Solutions
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeRequired
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
FACTS Student Information SystemBlackbaud Education Management Solutions
Features
FACTS Student Information SystemBlackbaud Education Management Solutions
Student and Faculty Administration
Comparison of Student and Faculty Administration features of Product A and Product B
FACTS Student Information System
9.5
Ratings
14% above category average
Blackbaud Education Management Solutions
-
Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-Party Education Technology8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Registration Management9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
District Communications, such as messaging and alerting10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Roster Management10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform Customization6.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Teacher Self-Service9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Student Data Security10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Community Support10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Class Scheduling10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
State and National-level Reporting9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance Support9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Teacher and Parent Mobile Application9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
FACTS Student Information SystemBlackbaud Education Management Solutions
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Schoolmint Hero
Schoolmint Hero
Score 9.7 out of 10
PowerSchool SIS
PowerSchool SIS
Score 8.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Schoolmint Hero
Schoolmint Hero
Score 9.7 out of 10
PowerSchool SIS
PowerSchool SIS
Score 8.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FACTS Student Information SystemBlackbaud Education Management Solutions
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.9
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
7.5
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
6.9
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
FACTS Student Information SystemBlackbaud Education Management Solutions
Likelihood to Recommend
We base our entire student data on the Student ID that is produced in FACTS. We create user accounts for technology and online textbooks as well as their lunch account, all based on the Student ID. We also can run many different reports using the SID as the data constant and all the other information variables are available as needed to report.
Read full review
Blackbaud Education Management Solutions is well-suited for schools who are interested in having it as the central piece to their student suite. I've heard that it does integrate with some other Learning Management systems but we've found that having it all in one place has made communication, dependability, and transparency greater. We appreciate that the views are the same for parents, students and teachers so when teachers make up a bulletin board, they know that what the parent is seeing is the same as them.
Read full review
Pros
  • Allows full student/family information to be placed in student file.
  • Can report from any field of information including custom fields.
  • Creates student schedules and Classroom rosters.
  • Allows parents insight into grades and discipline as well as lesson plans and daily/weekly classroom topics.
Read full review
  • Incredibly easy to use interface for the User (parents, applicants, etc.).
  • Ease of gathering data - Helpful lists, formulas, and reports.
  • Time saver - Especially in the Admission office. Since everything is done digitally from the user through the employee, there is no need to hand-enter data; you just click the button, and everything imports or exports as needed!
Read full review
Cons
  • The new inputting process is a bit complicated.
  • Label creation is sometimes hard to get the info you want on the label.
  • There is no notification when an email does not go through. You'd have to look it up to know.
Read full review
  • Lists -unable to just create a simple list of say 100 students of varying grade levels. Need to export, then whittle the list down. Super time-consuming. Not possible to run a list and then click the students needed from there.
  • Reports - [I feel there is] not enough of a selection of "canned reports" and no ability to create your own reports
  • Advanced lists - [in my experience] THE WORST - again creating more work - I spent over 3 hours trying to make an advanced list of all NHS eligible students, that included email addresses for the students AND the parents. Way too difficult and needs to be simplified
  • Learning Profile: [I feel] Fields for the person creating a learning profile for a student are too small. It would seem like the developers creating this have literally no idea how complex some accommodations are. Many accommodations come directly from a physician.
  • Checklists: Should be in Academics not just Enrollment Management
  • Ideas: [I feel it's a] good concept, poor execution. Many of the people who are actively using BB do not have the time needed to submit an idea, know it even exists or have time to search and vote.
  • Some aspects of Enrollment management should follow a student into Education Management. For example, [I feel]The Candidate Summary should be viewable once the student is enrolled. Converting a process from all paper to electronic-only works if the information is accessible to all pertinent staff
  • [I feel] There are many more - do better!!!
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
It's user-friendly, the customer service is great, and we have a significant amount of time invested in training our faculty and staff to use many aspects of FACTS within their areas of responsibility. I really like the variety of reports I can generate which gives important data to our administration and Board.
Read full review
We are just starting and highly invested in our journey and partnership with Blackbaud. We have committed to this system and are finding new ways to incorporate it into our everyday tasks. For example, we now track ACT and SAT scores in the test section for each student. This allows the counselors to easily look up any students test scores in an instant
Read full review
Usability
No answers on this topic
Blackbaud EMS is very usable from my perspective. I am a power user and get lots of valuable functionality. It is, however, a complex system. Sometimes necessarily complex to accommodate flexibility for diverse customer needs. Some complexity seems unnecessary and/or hold-over functionality from earlier versions; nice to see this type being evolved away from over time. It is valuable to receive regular updates to the system along with good release notes of what changed and notices of significant changes in advance.
Read full review
Support Rating
No answers on this topic
Always very helpful and informative. They always have an answer or are willing to research it. Also if the system has been down in after hours the emergency support has been helpful. I do use Chat primarily and I find if you ask a very detailed question they get straight to the point and support is very quick.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
I greatly prefer FACTS to the other grade book systems we have used. I think it is far superior to Blackbaud, Renweb, and Edmodo. It is the simplest and most efficient system that we have used. We are so excited about the vast number of options we have at our fingertips with FACTS.
Read full review
Blackbaud K-12 is very similar. I feel like I would be trading one set of issues for another so it's kind of a wash. We are very much hooked into the Blackbaud website with our Google SSO, SmartTuition, and Schooldoc integrations. It would be difficult for us to transition. That is the main reason I haven't really entertained other web firms.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • It keeps parents happy and therefore creates fewer complaints.
  • It creates a solid record of student performance so that any discrepancies or allegations can immediately be resolved (when used with regularity and consistency).
  • It allows for qualitative as well as quantitative feedback so that students can receive specific, detailed assessments of their work.
Read full review
  • Integration between SLS and SIS is definitely a time saver for teachers.
  • Integration with the 3rd party for conferences is working great for us. A lot of mistakes are avoided with parents not being able to schedule the wrong teachers.
  • Attendance and conduct visibility is a great feature.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Blackbaud Education Management Solutions Screenshots

Screenshot of Topics pages help organize units of learning throughout the year in the Learning Management SystemScreenshot of Blackbaud's education management solutions come with strong reporting tools to get the information you need quicklyScreenshot of Schedule view makes it easy for teachers to manage their daysScreenshot of Blackbaud Enrollment Management System Admissions Checklists help applicants track their progress in the admissions processScreenshot of Blackbaud's education management solutions come with strong reporting tools to get the information you need quicklyScreenshot of Keep track of all the key information about your students in one place