Brand New Site Setup Onboarding Timeline (Spaces Schools Only)

This article is designed for schools who do not require a migration due to being a brand new school. This guide outlines the tasks and training that should be completed over the course of your 8 week onboarding journey.

Your Onboarding Process

You will need to set your Arbor MIS up from scratch as a school not currently using a Management Information System (MIS).

As you begin this journey, you will have the support of Spaces. Spaces is a platform that will be helping you with your onboarding by guiding you toward the right training and data entry tasks each week, ensuring you stay on track for a successful launch.

In addition to instructions in Spaces and the site setup videos, we have provided an overview of your weekly tasks below.

If any steps in this guide are unclear, please contact the Digital Onboarding team at myonboarding@arbor-education.com.

Week 1: Kick-Off 

Your onboarding officially begins this week. You will receive an email from your Onboarding Specialist containing a link to your new Arbor site.

Your Actions:

• Access your Onboarding Space: A centralised hub where your schools Project Lead can complete your site setup training, manage all onboarding tasks, and find all necessary resources.
• Log in to the Training Hub: Access the training hub and start you Arbor Foundations training that will teach you how to use the Arbor MIS that you will be setting up. 
• Download and access your Data Entry Checklist: A tool you can use help manage data entry.
• Access your Arbor site: You’ll have access to your blank Arbor site from day 1 so you can start building it from scratch. 
• Add staff members: Include any staff who will be assisting with the site setup process.

Week 1: Initial site set up

This week, your primary focus is on setting up the structure of your Arbor site, checking and adding your schools details, them setting up it's academic and pastoral structure. You can find the training for this in Spaces 

• Add School Details: Start by adding your school details and checking if any existing ones are correct. 
• Create Academic Years: Create your Academic years starting from the earliest year, ensure your term dates and holidays are set up for the current academic year.
• Create Pastoral Structures: Create your year groups and registration forms for at-least your current academic year
• Schedule Registration Forms: Schedule your morning and afternoon registration sessions for attendance purposes.

Week 2: Add, manage and enrol Students and Guardians

This week, your primary focus is on completing your student enrolment and student/guardian profiles on Arbor. You can find the training for this in Spaces 

Your Actions for week 2:

• Access the task: 'Enrol your students' in spaces and ensure your student enrolment is completed before the end of the week.
• Access the task: 'Manage your student and guardians profiles', watch the training and ensure your  guardian profiles are added to your Arbor site before the end of the week.
• Ensure all key staff have activated their account for the Arbor Training Hub and have started their Arbor Foundations training to teach them how to use Arbor. 

• Contact any Third-Party Applications to inform them of your go live date. 

   

Week 3: Adding staff details to your Arbor site

By week three, your basic Arbor structure and your students and guardian profiles should be on Arbor. This week, you should focus on adding your staff data onto Arbor alongside completing any pre go live training required for day one. 

Your Actions for week 3:

• Access the task: 'Add and manage your staff profiles' in spaces and ensure your student enrolment is completed before the end of the week.
• Access the task: 'Manage Staff Contracts, Payscales, and allowances' in spaces and ensure your student enrolment is completed before the end of the week.
• Share the Teacher Essentials Training Guide, with your Teaching staff so that they are prepared and ready to take attendance on day 1. 

Week 4: Finalise your standard MIS setup

As you're only one week away from going live on Arbor, you must review our 'readiness for go live' article to confirm your readiness for Go Live.

Your Actions for week 4:

• Read and review the 'Readiness for Go Live' article or your data entry checklist to confirm your readiness for Go Live
• Check staff business roles and permissions
• Ensure all staff have their work email address set as 'default'
• Share your Arbor URL with the team
• Approve your third party applications
• Confirm that your registers are available

Note: Consider printing a simple "how to take a register in Arbor" guide for teachers to ease their first day.

Week 5: Go Live 

The start of Week 5 is your official Go Live day! This is when you'll begin using Arbor for all your MIS needs, starting with attendance. 

Your Actions for Week 5: 

• Access the task: 'Go live with Arbor' in Spaces 
• Take attendance on your shiny new Arbor MIS!
• Ensure all third-party integrations are functioning as expected.

Week 6: Post Go Live training or additional module setup

Continue configuring Arbor to your specific requirements, setting up additional modules where required and joining your 'post go live' training. 

Your Actions for Week 6: 

• Start thinking about the other Modules you will want to eventually use in Arbor, visit our guide on Preparing to set up and launch your modules  to discover what those could be.

Week 7: Post Go Live training or additional module setup

If you are on the standard journey, next week your onboarding will be complete and you will transition to Arbor's Customer Success team or direct support from your chosen MIS partner. 

Your Actions for Week 7: 

• Finish any outstanding training using the Arbor Training Hub.

• Have a look at this article for more information on contacting support, if you are partner supported, you will need to contact your support partner directly. 

   

Week 8: Standard journey complete

this week your onboarding is complete and you will transition to Arbor's Customer Success team or direct support from your chosen MIS partner. They will be in touch to discuss your next steps. 

Your Actions for Week 8: 

• Access the task 'Join Arbor HQ and get involved 

• Onboarding completes for standard journey customers and your Onboarding Specialist will hand over to Customer Success Managers