This article provides an introduction to managing payments in Arbor, outlining the steps schools can take to set up and utilise payment features effectively. It discusses getting started with setting up card payments, managing payments for clubs, trips, and meals, as well as the security measures in place for online transactions. Additionally, it explains the different packages available and how to upgrade for more features.
This guide is the first in a series of four. The guides in this series are:
- Introduction to Payments in Arbor
- Setting up the Payments area to enable paid School Shop, Clubs, Trips and Meals
- Boost - Make the most out of Payments in Arbor
- Should I set this up as a Trip, Club, School Shop, Meal or Account for payments?
Top Tip: Unsure about where to start with payments in Arbor, or need assistance with your setup? Why not try our In-App Payments Help Guide!
What features are included in my package?
We have loads of different features that you can use to manage payments as part of your MIS. Please just go ahead and expand the section below to take a look at the table to see a grid of the main features that are included in each basic package. Below that, see a list of each package and the payment features that are included/
Top Tip: You may have heard of Payments Plus. This is the name for these products packaged together:
- School Shop
- Rotating Meal Menus and Parent Portal/App Meal Choices
- Pay via Apple Pay or Google Pay
To find out how to upgrade your package, contact customersales@arbor-education.com
| Feature | Core | Comms | Perform | Other requirements |
| Organise Clubs and Trips | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Parents can sign up for and pay for clubs and trips | ✓ | ✓ | Parent Portal and App must me switched on. | |
| Organise Meals | Our newest Comms package only | ✓ | ||
| Student and Staff Payments for Meals | Our newest Comms package only | ✓ | ||
| Cashless catering | Our newest Comms package only | ✓ | Integration must be set up | |
| Log payments via cash, cheque or bank transfer | Our newest Comms package only | ✓ | ||
| Process refunds and log invoices | Our newest Comms package only | ✓ | ||
| Parents can make card payments for meals and other top up accounts and you can log payments and refunds | Our newest Comms package only | ✓ | You must have set up Card Payments in your site | |
| Rotating Meal Menus and Parent Portal/App Meal Choices | Our newest Perform package only | You must have set up Rotating meal Menus in your site, Parent Portal and App must me switched on. | ||
| School Shop | Our newest Perform package only | You must have set up Card Payments in your site | ||
| Pay via Apple Pay or Google Pay | Our newest Perform package only | You must have set up Card Payments in your site |
Core Features:
Organise Clubs and Trips: Supported by Core, Comms, and Perform packages.
Comms Features:
Parents can sign up for and pay for clubs and trips: Requires the Parent Portal and App to be switched on.
Organise Meals: Supported by the newest Comms package only, and Perform.
Student and Staff Payments for Meals: Supported by the newest Comms package and Perform.
Cashless catering: Requires integration to be set up. Supported by the newest Comms package and Perform.
Log payments via cash, cheque or bank transfer: Supported by the newest Comms package and Perform.
Process refunds and log invoices: Supported by the newest Comms package and Perform.
Parents can make card payments for meals and other top-up accounts, and you can log payments and refunds. Requires Card Payments to be set up on your site. Supported by the newest Comms package and Perform.
Perform Features:
Rotating Meal Menus and Parent Portal/App Meal Choices: Requires Rotating Meal Menus to be set up on your site, and the Parent Portal and App to be enabled. Supported by the newest Perform package only.
School Shop: Requires Card Payments to be set up on your site. Supported by the newest Perform package only.
Pay via Apple Pay or Google Pay: Requires Card Payments to be set up on your site. Supported by the newest Perform package only.
How do payments work in Arbor?
Set up, make, and manage payments, reports, and invoices within the Arbor MIS, saving time that would otherwise be spent maintaining and using multiple systems.
The ways you can use and set up payments in arbor are divided into two main types:
- Setups with card payments - This enables parents to pay through the Parent App and Parent Portal. You can also manage payments manually using cash, cheque or bank transfer.
- Setups without card payments - Using this method, you can only manually log payments made using cash, cheque or bank transfer.
Please note: Arbor’s card payments functionality is available only for schools:
- located in the UK, excluding the Isle of Man
- that have a bank account that accepts BACS or direct debit payments
- that are on any of our Perform packages or our newest Comms package. All other Arbor packages won’t have this feature by default. Want to upgrade or find out what package you’re on? Please contact your Partnership Manager.
Not using Card Payments
Because Arbor's card payments functionality is the most cost-effective and straightforward option, we recommend that schools consider it.
If you're certain you do not want to use Arbor to manage card payments, you can proceed to the next step in your journey: Build - Setting up the Payments area to enable paid School Shop, Clubs, Trips, and Meals. Just skip the section on setting up card payments and jump right in to the Setting up Clubs, Trips and Meals section.
Using Card Payments
Having card payments set up enables you to pay out to multiple bank accounts and see a detailed breakdown of each payout, all with a reduced transaction fee of 1.275% + VAT (cheaper than most providers).
Once you set up payments, you can then set up your:
- Trips - One-off events where the students are off-site
- Standard Clubs - Recurring activities for students
- Wraparound Care - Breakfast or After School Clubs that can include a meal
- Meals - Guardians top up the meals account, which can be automatically invoiced for the cost of the student's meal each day
- School Shop - Uniform or Tuck Shop items
We show you how to set up card payments, then how to set up what card payments will be used for in the next step: Build - Setting up the Payments area to enable paid School Shop, Clubs, Trips and Meals
How are payments made?
By school staff
Within your MIS, you can log cash or cheque payments for Clubs, Trips and Meals. You can also log payments for Customer Accounts of individual students or staff members by going to the Payments section on the left-hand side of their profiles.
You can also take card payments for Meals and other Customer Accounts (that have card payments enabled) wherever you see a 'Pay by card/Top up by card' button. It is not possible to make card payments for Clubs and Trips through Arbor as an admin - you would need to Log in as a guardian and make the card payment as if you were the guardian instead.
By parents and guardians
When you have Card Payments set up, parents and guardians can also pay within the Parent Portal and Parent App. Click the links below to see some examples of how this looks to guardians once set up:
You can add additional payment options by setting up additional Customer Account Types. These are prepayment accounts, meaning school staff or parents and guardians can top-up a balance on this account for students and/or staff - similar to Meals - and you can then manually invoice these accounts to help you manage account balances and charge for things.
Are payments in Arbor safe?
Arbor is compliant with the requirements for authenticating online payments, known as Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), which was introduced to enhance security. When you make an online payment, SCA requires you to verify that you are who you say you are. In Arbor, this means that users or parents will need to complete an additional step to verify the transaction when making a payment through the Arbor MIS, Parent Portal, or Parent App.
When you make a payment and input card details (Arbor only accepts payments by Visa and MasterCard cards), you may then need to perform Card Payment Authentication.
Our payment provider
We use Stripe for performing card payments, but from within Arbor. Setting up card payments in Arbor creates a Stripe Connected Account for your school.
Stripe takes privacy and security very seriously. Read Stripe’s Privacy Policy on their website for an explanation of how and for what purposes they collect, use, retain, disclose, and safeguard any personal data provided by Arbor.
Stripe’s safety features include:
- PCI Service Provider Level 1 - the highest grade of payment processing security.
- All transactions made via Stripe are SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protected. All information is securely transmitted during the payment processing.
- All credit card numbers are encrypted, which ensures security.
Payouts and refunds
Top Tip: Payouts only occur if you have set up and are accepting card payments; otherwise, cash handling would be done outside of Arbor.
Payments made into Arbor are not immediately paid into your bank account.
Arbor pays out funds received from card payments to bank accounts on a weekly basis, on Mondays (from the previous Sunday to Saturday inclusive). For example, if these four payments were received:
- Sunday 1st March - paid out to bank accounts on Monday 9th March
- Wednesday 4th of March - paid out to bank accounts on Monday 9th March
- Saturday 7th March - paid out to bank accounts on Monday 9th March
- Sunday 8th March - not paid out until the following Monday
Sometimes, money from card transactions may not be ready for the scheduled payout and will be postponed to the following Monday. Additionally, fund transfers to bank accounts can take up to three business days, as they are processed through Stripe. As such, we cannot guarantee that funds will be deposited into bank accounts on the same day as the payout is completed on a Monday. In rare cases, it may take until the following Thursday for the funds to be available.
Refunds affect the payout amount, which is calculated by subtracting the total refunds from the total number of card transactions received during the payout period.
Introductory Webinar
Want more information, but tired of reading? Watch our webinar on setting up and managing payments in arbor below. Use the timestamps below the video to skip to sections you are particularly interested in.
Timestamps:
- 00:00 - Key information on fees and our payment provider
- 02:30 - Information you need to set up payments
- 05:00 - Setting up card payments
- 08:00 - Customer Account Types
- 10:40 - Managing payments on the student profile
- 16:30 - Clubs
- 22:00 - Trips
- 27:30 - Payments on the Parent Portal
- 34:30 - Reporting on payments
- 37:00 - Reminders to top up
- 38:00 - Reporting on all payments
What's next?
This concludes the first guide in this series. Now that you have had an introduction to Arbor's payment features, the next step is to start thinking about building your setup:
Do you offer training?
Our Customer Education specialists can offer in-depth support on how to use the areas covered in this series and beyond for other areas of Arbor. Depending on the area, there are Foundation sessions, more in-depth consultations or a bespoke session.
To discuss what would best suit your school's needs, please contact customersales@arbor-education.com
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