This article explains how to import and send external report cards using Arbor's feature. It covers the steps to create, upload, match, and share report cards, including permissions required and how to manage templates for email notifications. It also addresses FAQs regarding the process.
This is the third guide in our comprehensive series on setting up Report Cards in Arbor:
- What are the different Report Card format types?
- Creating Standard and Long Report Cards
- Importing and sending External Report Cards (You are here)
- Crafting Custom Report Cards
Use our External Report Cards feature to upload and send out bespoke, custom report cards you've set up externally, such as in Microsoft Word. Want to save time setting up your report cards? You can still use our Arbor Report Cards feature!
Please keep in mind that we're unable to help you with any issues you may have setting up report cards in the external system you use. If you're experiencing trouble, please contact their support.
How long will it take?
- Create the report card batch - 1 minute
- Upload your report cards - 1 minute
- Match your files - 15 minutes (depending on the number that haven't matched)
- Sharing the report cards - 5 minutes
Permissions
- School: Report Card: Administer - import, share, email and download report cards
- Students: Report Card: Administer All/My Students - download report cards for students
If you don't have permission, you'll need to ask your admin team to grant it to you using these instructions.
How to import your External Report Cards
Step 1 - Create the report card
Go to Students > Report Cards and click +Add. Select New External Report Card.
Give the report a title and a date.
You'll then be taken to the External Report Card settings page. You can edit the title and date if needed by clicking on these fields.
Step 2 - Locate your report card files
You'll need a set of report cards to upload and match to your students. To match each report card to a student, the files should be named in a way that helps Arbor identify the students to which the report card belongs. The files must all be named with one of these identifiers:
- Arbor Student ID (e.g. 1234)
- Student Number (e.g 1234567)
- First Name & Last Name (e.g. JamesSmith)
- Initial & Last Name (e.g. JSmith)
- No Identifier, report cards matched manually
- Student UPN (e.g H0000000001234)
Please note: An imported file cannot be matched to a student within the same report card if a file has already been matched. You would need to create a new report card batch to match the imported files if a file has already been matched to a student.
Step 3 - Upload your report card files
Once you have the report cards you'd like to upload, click on the Bulk Upload tab, and click +Add in the Uploads section.
Please note: We recommend uploading report cards in batches, as uploading a large number of report cards can take some time.
Choose an identifier that will help Arbor match the report card filenames to the correct student. If your files are named randomly, choose the 'No Identifier' option, and you'll be able to match them manually.
Select the files from your computer documents, and click Match report cards.
Step 4 - Match your files to your students
You'll then be taken to the page where you can match your files. From here, you can delete your upload if needed, or click the grey button to upload more files. You can return to this page by selecting Review Upload from the left-hand menu.
If you return to the Report Card page, you'll see that your file is marked as 'In Progress' because you haven't yet completed the upload. Click on this to return to matching.
The table on your upload page will suggest matches to you, allowing you to verify whether the students matched to the file name are correct. Tick the students to select them, then click the Bulk Action button to either Confirm, Match to Another Student, or Delete.
If there are no matches, you can manually match or delete the files.
If you click Confirm, scroll down to the bottom of the slide to click the Confirm matches button.
Once you make any matches, you can no longer delete the import.
If the match is incorrect, delete it and re-upload for this student.
If you click Match to another student, select the student to match in the slide over.
Once you have matched all the students in the file, you'll be able to click the Mark upload as complete button. Make sure this is correct, as you can't change the matches once confirmed.
Your upload will then be marked as Completed.
If you need to delete any files, click into this section and use the bulk actions to select 'Delete'.
How to share your External Report Cards
Go to Students > Report Cards and select the External Report Card to share. Go to the Share tab.
You can send report cards to parents and students by emailing them or through the Parent Portal or Student Portal. To check or change how the email will look, it's a good idea to check the template.
Accessing and editing the Report Card Template
Go to School > Communications > Templates.
Click on the Report Card Template to see or edit what is contained in the email template.
After making any changes to the text or merge fields, select Save Email Template Changes or Reset Email Template to revert this template to its original version.
Sending Report Cards by email
Sharing all students' reports
Click either Email to primary guardians or Email to students.
Use the From drop-down box to select who to send the report card to (providing you are a Permitted Sender).
Choose how to combine the emails, then click Send email at the bottom of the slide over.
The signature at the bottom of the email is determined by the sender's name and job title. To learn how to correct this if it's incorrect, please take a look at this article.
Sharing only certain students' reports
Tick the boxes next to the students you want to select, then click the Bulk Action button to select the email option.
Use the From drop-down box to select who to send the report card as (providing you are a Permitted Sender).
Choose how to combine the emails, then click Send email at the bottom of the slide over.
The signature at the bottom of the email is determined by the sender's name and job title. To learn how to correct this if it's incorrect, please take a look at this article.
Sending Report Cards via the Parent Portal or Student Portal
Click Share on Parent Portal or Share on Student Portal.
Select to Add the report card to the parent portal or student portal and click Share Report Cards. You can see how this looks here:
Can we un-share Report Cards?
To remove report cards from the Parent Portal and Student portal, click the Share report cards options, untick the boxes, then click Save changes.
Please note that:
- Parents or students may have seen and downloaded the report card before it was removed.
- If you have shared the report cards by email, it is not possible to withdraw them.
FAQs
Which guardians will receive the email?
Please see our FAQ here: Which guardians are sent Report Card emails?
Where can we see the sent emails?
The emails sent will be marked as Public (not Private), so they can be seen in the main school Communication Log and on Communication Logs on the Student and Guardian Profiles. Further details here: Public or Private
Can we match more than one report card to the same student?
It isn't possible to match the two report cards to the same student within a single upload. When matching, you'll see a notification if you've tried to match two report cards to the same student.
Can we download the External Report Cards we've uploaded?
Yes, go to Students > Report Cards and select the "External Report Card" option. Go to the Share tab.
Select the upload to download, then click Download in the slide over.
You'll need to wait until a notification shows in the top right of your site. Click the notification to download the zipped file containing your downloaded report cards.
You'll need to open the zipped file to access the individual PDFs. The files are named with a unique number generated by us.
Can we use Arbor data to populate report cards?
If you want to create report cards using data from Arbor (such as assessment or behaviour data), you need to export the data first to manipulate and merge it outside of Arbor.
Arbor can't support you in adding the data to your report cards after you have exported this. Please contact the support team for the third party for help creating the actual report card.
Options for exporting data include:
- Live feeds
- Downloading a custom report using the grey Download button
- Sharing a custom report via email
- Exporting assessment results:
Top tip: To make matching your exported Arbor data to students easier, consider customising the Unique Identifiers you include in the export (so that you can match students to your data by UPN, for example)
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