I would like to see Blackbaud enhance the Education functionality in Raiser's Edge NXT by adding a dedicated field for the CEEB (College Entrance Examination Board) code.

Currently, Education records allow us to capture the name of a high school or college, but there is no dedicated field for a standardized institutional identifier. Relying solely on school names creates challenges with data consistency, record matching, reporting, and integrations.

School names can vary due to abbreviations, spelling differences, name changes, mergers, or institutions with similar names. A CEEB code would provide a consistent identifier for each educational institution, regardless of how its name is represented in different systems.

Why this enhancement would be valuable:

• Data standardization: Establish a consistent identifier for high schools and colleges rather than relying exclusively on institution names.

• Record matching: Improve the ability to match education records against external databases, admissions systems, student information systems, and other data sources.

• Import and integration functionality: Make it easier to import and update education information without relying on exact school-name matches.

• Reporting and analysis: Allow institutions to group and report on alumni and constituent education information accurately, even when school names are entered differently.

• Data quality: Reduce duplicate or inconsistent school entries and improve the reliability of education records over time.

• Automation and API access: Make the CEEB code available through the Raiser's Edge NXT API so institutions can exchange, retrieve, and update standardized education data through integrations and automated processes.

Suggested functionality:

Add a dedicated CEEB Code field to each Education record, alongside the existing School Name field. The field should support:

• Importing and exporting through available data management tools.

• Querying and reporting in both Database View and Web View.

• API access for retrieving and updating education records.

• Using the CEEB code as a matching identifier when importing education records, rather than relying exclusively on school names.

For institutions using multiple systems to manage student and constituent information, having a standardized identifier available across the database, reporting tools, and API would significantly improve data integrity and reduce manual data cleanup.

This would be a relatively straightforward enhancement that could make Education records considerably more useful and reliable.