Staff Migration FAQ

This article covers common questions regarding staff migrations to Arbor. If you cannot find an answer in this article, check our dedicated section of the Help Centre here.

Please note the following can vary for a GroupCall API migrator, we are working on adding the GroupCall Migrator specifications to this guide. If you need to raise any data discrepancies post migration please contact Arbor support or your dedicated partner and we will be advised of the next steps.

How do we migrate staff disability and impairments?

We migrate details of staff disability and impairments from SIMS and Bromcom only. You can see more information on these fields and how to update them in Arbor here: Logging staff disability and impairments. 

Do we migrate Faculties and Departments?

We migrate Faculties from SIMS, but we do not migrate Departments from any MIS provider. To be able to add faculties and departments for staff, you will need to add departments and link them to faculties following these instructions: Set up and link staff and courses to Departments.

Do we migrate Staff Development (observations, objectives, or appraisals)?

No, we do not migrate Professional Staff Development from your previous MIS provider. This includes objective targets and observation reviews. However, we do migrate training, shown here: How do we migrate staff training?

If you want to add this information in Arbor, you can see how to use this area here: Staff Development.

How do we migrate Working Periods and Patterns?

We migrate Working Periods from SIMS, where they are called Working Patterns?

How this data is stored and exported from SIMS makes it difficult for us to migrate this data accurately, so we recommend checking Staff Working Periods are correct following these instructions: How to set staff working periods.

How do we migrate Teacher Abbreviations and Initials?

We migrate teacher initials from SIMS, Bromcom, and Progresso.

You can see abbreviations for Staff with a Teaching role here: Staff Abbreviations.

You can see how to report on all staff abbreviations here: Reporting on Staff Abbreviations.

How do we migrate Pay Scale information for staff?

For staff pay and pay scales, we migrate: 

• Pay scales and pay scale spinal points from SIMS, Bromcom, CMIS, Integris, Progresso and ScholarPack.
• Details of which pay scale staff are assigned to from SIMS, Bromcom, CMIS, Integris and Progresso. This means you'll need to set up pay scales when migrating from ScholarPack.
• Values assigned to each spinal point from SIMS and ScholarPack. This means that for other MISs, you'll need to add spinal point values - see step 3 in the article linked below.
• Details of which spinal point staff are assigned to from Integris, Progresso and ScholarPack. This means that for other MISs, you'll need to assign staff - see step 5 in the article linked below.

You can see how to manage and set up pay scales here: Setting up a new Pay Scale

You can also import new pay scales and spinal points into Arbor: Entity Importer

If your school is part of a MAT, they can also push down pay scales.

How do we migrate Academic Leads?

• We migrate Timetable Slot Staff and Academic Leads from SIMS, Bromcom, CMIS and Progresso. Top Tip: Academic Lead is called Group Supervisor in SIMS.
• We only migrate Academic Leads from Integris and ScholarPack.

In Arbor, there are two ways staff can be assigned to lessons:

• Method 1 - As a Registration Form Tutor or Course Lead (called Academic Leads in Arbor). 
• Method 2 - Only assigned to the timetable slot.

If you need to update staff assigned you can use these instructions.