Moving MIS is a big change for a school, and it will affect some teams more than others. Most secondary schools and colleges use their MIS heavily for exams, so Exams Officers are among the most important people in ensuring a successful switch!
We’ve collected some top tips, frequently asked questions, and important to-dos for Exams Officers to ensure a successful switch to Arbor.
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.
Important things to do before migration
We have lots of resources in our Help Centre that can help you get started with Arbor’s Exams area. As well as general guides and pre-recorded training, you’ll find some step-by-step instructions for specific processes that you can refer back to.
We’d recommend bookmarking these pages:
As well as the resources in our help centre, you can also have training on Arbor’s exams area with one of our Software Trainers.
Ask your school’s Arbor Project Lead about the exams training available to you, and join the sessions.
Arbor downloads exam data from the Ofqual database every night and automatically loads most exam board basedata into your MIS.
The only exception is with a Pearson BTEC. We can’t automatically scrape this data. Instead, please follow these instructions: Setting up BTEC qualifications
Please note: It is only possible to migrate English basedata and not Welsh basedata. With Welsh basedata, the fifth character in the file name will be B, whereas with English basedata, the fifth character is _. For example, an English basedata file may be named 6B24_41, while a Welsh basedata file would instead be named 6B24B41.
To make sure you’re able to hit the ground running after your data migration, it’s important to check your exams data thoroughly after the dummy migrations.
If you find any data missing or incorrect, please send details (along with screenshots of the data in your previous MIS) tothe Arbor Support Team if supported by Arbor, or your Support Partner if not supported by Arbor.
- Check that entries have migrated from Students > Examinations > EDI Exports > Entries
- Check that results have migrated from Students > Examinations > Results > Raw Results. Remember to change the filters to look at previous academic years.
- Check that access arrangements have migrated from Students > Examinations > Candidates > Access Arrangements.
If you are migrating from SIMS, you will need to delete any entries with a status of 'No-Entry’ prior to your final data migration. In Arbor, No-Entry submissions should instead be done by Withdrawing the student.
This is because these will be migrated as entries (and not excluded from entries), so in Arbor these students will show as 'Entered Pending Submission’. Take a look at the section below for how to resolve this.
Important things to do after migration
Follow these instructions to add a Centre Number: Setting up your centre and exams
A Centre Number is mandatory as it is required to create:
- student UCI assignments - you can see more details here: Adding and editing exam candidate Unique Candidate Identifiers (UCIs)
- entry and submission files - you won't be able to click the button to mark files as approved if you don't have a Centre Number, as the file won't be in the correct naming format.
Sometimes, EDI entries can show as ‘Pending Submission’ following a migration, even if they were submitted to the exam board in your old MIS.
You'll need to mark them as approved from Students > Examinations > Entries > EDI Exports > Entries. Any pending submissions will appear like the screenshot below.
Just as with the dummy migrations, it’s important to check your exams data thoroughly after your final migration.
If you find any data missing or incorrect, please send details (along with screenshots of the data in your previous MIS) to the Arbor Support Team if supported by Arbor and quote code 1004, or contact your Support Partner if not supported by Arbor.
- Check that entries have migrated from Students > Examinations > Entries > EDI Candidate Entries
- Check that results have migrated from Students > Examinations > Results > Raw Results. Remember to change the filters to look at previous academic years.
- Check that access arrangements have migrated from Students > Examinations > Candidates > Access Arrangements.
If you didn't delete entries with a status of 'No-Entry’ in SIMS before your migration, these students will show as 'Entered Pending Submission’. If you have marked these entries as confirmed and approved, you'll need to withdraw these students by following these instructions: Withdrawing Candidates from EDI Qualifications
This will trigger an amendment file that may or may not include any real amendments for the awarding body, so may still need to be sent to the exam board.
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