Arbor SaaS Terms and Conditions

You must not use the Arbor systems if you have not signed a copy of the terms and conditions.

Click the link at the bottom of this article to download the terms and conditions document as a PDF.

Messaging of recent updates

The information below is sent in an email, and in a pop-up on School and MAT MIS sites. The email and pop-up will be sent to people with the following Business Roles:

• Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on the MAT MIS
• Executive Head Teacher, Head Teacher, Bursar/Business Manager or Personal Assistant to Headteacher on the School MIS (for schools not part of a MAT)

These changes came into effect from 27th June 2022. You need to take no further action unless your site is not yet live - in which case you’ll be asked to accept the terms on first log in. If you have any questions, get in touch by emailing terms@arbor-education.com.

Summary of the recent changes

We’ve updated our Master SaaS Terms and Conditions (“Master Terms”). We’ve been taking feedback from customers, partners, and framework providers, and are making changes to simplify and modernise our terms. 

The updates we’ve made mostly relate to new products and services Arbor now offers (such as TimeTabler, or Payments Plus). When you buy an additional Arbor product or service, we will now incorporate this into your contract via a product specific schedule, making it much clearer if different terms apply to the new product you’ve bought.

There are also some housekeeping updates. For example, we’ve reviewed and clarified some of our definitions, such as on content and payments based on customer feedback. 

Under our terms, we always give 30 days’ notice on any updates, so the changes listed above will become formal from 17th July 2024. You can read the updated Master Terms in-app - you’ll see a pop up appear next time you log into Arbor.

If you have any questions in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing terms@arbor-education.com.

If you buy Arbor through a framework, the framework terms and conditions will apply.

Summary of changes:

1. We’ve restructured the Master Terms to improve readability.  For example, we’ve moved the definitions from the front to the back (to Schedule 1) and grouped similar terms together so you can find them easily under the relevant headings (e.g. see new clauses on Fees, restrictions on use, Arbor’s obligations etc.).  Pre-existing terms were previously spread out with no logical order and gave rise to duplication and confusion
2. The definitions have been updated and/or clarified.  For example, the introduction of “Institution Content” to cover all data entered into the MIS System by you and your Authorised Users 
3. To enable a flexible way for you to order new products and services from Arbor, all new add-on products can be ordered via a Sales Order which will apply any product specific terms for that product/service in a separate Service Schedule. This is much cleaner and simpler for you, and allows us to differentiate terms for different services, and to include terms of any third party suppliers (e.g. such as those of the provider of the payment services)
4. We’ve made it clear that you must have a support subscription from Arbor or an Accredited Partner, and in case you are not already aware, that those Accredited Partners may receive a service fee from Arbor for supporting your schools on our behalf (see clause 5 on Support and Updates). 
5. There is now a section on Fees (clause 8) which pulls together all obligations relating to fees.  Some of these were previously in the Guide to Billing (see in more detail below) but now sit in the Master Terms for ease of reference so you can see the key terms on how your fees may change, as well as our rights for non-payment of our invoices
6. Termination (clause 16) is now clearer setting out the process of leaving Arbor at the end of your contract, along with Arbor’s commitment to give you a full data backup of all your MIS data after termination. We’ve extended the period we’ll retain your data after termination from 7 days to 30 days to allow for any migration issues in moving systems. 
7. In Notices (clause 20), notice by email is now accepted in addition to the other traditional methods (post etc.)
8. Data Protection has been moved to Schedule 2 Data Processing and updated to clarify on international data transfers and subprocessors
9. Schedule 3 now sets out the Payment Services terms (previously in the front end).  These terms will also be set out in their own Payment Services Schedule for any new customers, and existing customers when you renew your payment services at a later date.

PDF Document