Ask Arbor

Ask Arbor is your collaborator and assistant in Arbor, powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI. It’s built seamlessly into Arbor MIS, and is designed to turn your words into actions.

• Need to draft an end-of-term letter to parents and guardians this morning? Arbor can help.
• Looking to create a student report? Arbor can help with that too.

Ask Arbor is designed to reduce busy work, make it simpler to get the data you need, and bring ideas to life. All of which should give you back your time for more strategic work, more time spent making use of your data, and more time with students and staff. Visit the Ask Arbor hub on our website to find out more: Ask Arbor

As this is a new feature, we're always looking for ways we can improve it to suit our school's needs. If you have any feedback, please submit it to our product team here: Ask Arbor: Ask Arbor - Draft Communications and Create Student Reports

Permissions

• School: General Admin: Administer - Access the menu to switch Ask Arbor on and off
• School: Ask Arbor: View - this gives users access to using the individual Ask Arbor features
• School: Ask Arbor: Administer - this gives users access to further Ask Arbor settings, but is not required to use the current Ask Arbor features

Once switched on, both the School: Ask Arbor permissions will be automatically added as Ad Hoc permissions to:

• anyone who has the Head Teacher business role
• the person who has switched Ask Arbor on

If you don't have permission to access Ask Arbor, you'll need to ask your admin team to give you the School: Ask Arbor: View permission using these instructions.

 

Switching on Ask Arbor

By default, Ask Arbor is switched off.

To switch this on, go to System > Ask Arbor Settings. Top Tip: You'll only see this menu item if you have the School: General Admin: Administer permission.

Click in the Settings tab.

 

In the slide over, select Enabled.

• We recommend you click the link in the slide over to read our Data Protection Policy.
• We also recommend ensuring that staff who will be using Ask Arbor have also read this policy.

Once this has been done, tick the boxes and click Save Changes.

 

You'll be able to see who last switched Ask Arbor on and when from the Settings tab.

 

On the Users tab, you'll be able to see who has access to use Ask Arbor based on the permissions they have been assigned.

Please note that all users will need to log out and log back in to gain access to Ask Arbor.

 

Using Ask Arbor

You can Ask Arbor wherever you see this icon in Arbor MIS.

Communications

Let Ask Arbor help you draft an email, letter or SMS. Tell us the topic you want to write about or provide a few prompts. Arbor will then create a draft for you to review and send.

To use this feature, go to anywhere you can send Mail Merge communications from, such as School > Communications > Email/In-app Messages > SMS > New Mail Merge. Click the Suggest Draft button.

 

You'll see a prompt, with a link to our Data Protection Policy.

 

Add your prompt, select the tone, and click the Suggest Draft button.

 

Ask Arbor will then generate a Subject line and communication content for you. You can then save your draft, or send out the communication.

Please ensure that you always read and review AI generated content before using it or sending it out.

 

If you want to regularly create similar communications, why not explore using communication templates - just paste in your copied Arbor AI text: Using Email, SMS, Letter, In-app message communication templates

 

Student Report

Arbor uses data in the Student Profile, alongside your own comments, to produce a report for parents about a student.

To use this feature, go to the student profile and click the Student Report button.

 

You'll see a prompt, with a link to our Data Protection Policy. 

Add your prompt and click the Create Report button.

 

Ask Arbor will then generate a written report for you, which you can read or copy and paste the text from. Please note that if generating multiple times, the wording may be slightly different each time.

Please ensure that you always read and review AI generated content before using it or sending it out.

 

You can also:

• turn the report into an email which you can save as a draft or send out to the students Primary Guardians.
• convert the report into a Pastoral Note.

Should you want to do both, we'd recommend copying the text before sending the email, then creating a Pastoral Note and pasting in the text.

 

Adding feedback

As this is a new feature, we're always looking for ways we can improve it to suit our school's needs. When you use the feature, you'll see a pop up with a link to add any feedback you have.

You can also submit feedback to our product team here: Ask Arbor: Ask Arbor - Draft Communications and Create Student Reports

 

FAQ

I can't see the Ask Arbor button?

You can only use Ask Arbor once your school has switched this feature on using the instructions above.

If it has been switched on, you will need to log out and back in to see the Ask Arbor buttons.

Can we use just one of the Ask Arbor features?

No, it isn't possible to only enable one Ask Arbor feature.

Using Ask Arbor for translation

When using Ask Arbor to help draft communications, you can add 'Write in [language]' at the bottom of the prompt and it will translate the text into that language.

Do we need a bank of prompts?

There's no need to create prompts, but if you did want to create similar communications, why not explore using communication templates. You can even create them using data from the Custom Report Writer: Using Email, SMS, Letter, In-app message communication templates

Is this feature available on the MAT MIS?

No, Ask Arbor is currently only available on the School MIS. It is also not available for MAT MIS users logging into the school MIS.

What access does Microsoft Azure OpenAI have to my school data?

When you accept our new terms and conditions, Microsoft Azure OpenAI will become a sub-processor of your school's data. Microsoft Azure OpenAI may process "personal data" of users within your school as defined under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in connection with the Ask Arbor feature.

The Microsoft Azure OpenAi service is hosted within Arbor's own Azure account within the UK South (London) data centre, and data does not leave the UK.

Under our agreement with you through the MIS Terms of Use and Terms and Conditions, and in accordance with data protection law, you have the right to object to the use of sub-processors, however in doing so you will no longer be able to access Ask Arbor.

How do Microsoft Azure OpenAI and Arbor interact?

Arbor only interacts with Microsoft Azure OpenAI when a school uses one of Arbor's Ask Arbor features. Arbor sends a request to Microsoft Azure OpenAI and Microsoft Azure OpenAI sends back the response.

What version of Microsoft Azure OpenAI does Ask Arbor use?

We use version 3.5. Although there may be higher versions, using 3.5 enables us to offer our current Arbor AI features to schools for free.

How much does Arbor AI cost?

These two current features within Ask Arbor are free for all Arbor schools to use, no matter what package you've purchased. This may not apply to future Ask Arbor releases.

There is a fair usage limit per school per year, however it's so high that it's extremely unlikely that you will hit this limit.

If this does happen, you won't be able to click the Ask Arbor buttons. In this case, please contact your Account Manager.