This article provides a step-by-step guide for setting up a two-way integration between Arbor and Civica, a cashless catering system. The integration allows for seamless synchronization of meal payment information, eliminating the need for double entry and enabling parents to manage accounts through a single portal. Key steps include notifying Civica, adjusting account settings, and approving API connections.
For parents, the Parent Portal and Parent App can become their single point of access for making top ups and checking balances, without needing to jump into a different system.
- No need to update and log in and out of multiple systems.
- Balances are automatically reconciled and copied between systems in almost real time.
- When a child pays for their meal, the price is automatically deducted from their account balance in Arbor.
Permissions
- School: User Accounts: Administer - Approve the API connection
- Integrations: Administer All Integrations - Access the Integrations Administration page to set up the integration in Arbor
- Finance: Administer - See the button to set up the integration in Arbor, manage payments in Arbor
If you don't have the permission, you'll need to ask your admin team to give you permission using these instructions.
Setting up the integration
You'll first need to contact Civica to let them know you'd like them to integrate with your Arbor site, so they can send the request.
Tell them which Customer Account Type you will be using for the synchronisation - we recommend your Meals account. Only payments for this Customer Account Type will be synced.
They may ask for your Arbor URL - this can be found by going to your Arbor homepage and copying the web address shown in the address bar at the top of your browser - the text should look like this: https://schoolname.uk.arbor.sc/?/home-ui/index.
When Civica are setting up the integration, you will need to ensure that there are no payments being made. We recommend temporarily disabling access to top up the Meal accounts by going to School > Payments > Setup > Customer Account Types. Click into the Meal account, click Edit then untick Show in parent portal.
Depending on whether starting balances in Arbor and Civica are zero, you may need to send Civica additional data.
- If both Arbor and Civica balances are zero, no action is needed.
- If both Arbor and Civica have different balances, you will need to manually adjust these using credit notes or invoices in Arbor, or manually adjust in Civica so that they match.
- If only Arbor balances are zero, once the integration is set up Civica will send an initial transaction to increase or decrease the account starting balance in Arbor.
- If only Civica balances are zero, you'll need to send Civica a CSV export of your starting staff and student account balances which Civica will import for you. This will increase or decrease the account starting balance in Civica.
Click the links at the bottom of this article to download the report templates. Do not open the template. You can then import it into your site by following these instructions, the click the Download button to download it as a CSV and send it to Civica.
Go to System > Partner Apps (API Users) and approve any Pending Requests for Wonde and Civica Cashless, following the usual steps outlined here.
Once API access has been approved, go to School > Data > Integrations Administration and click the Set up cashless catering integration button.
In the slide over, select Civica cashless catering as the provider and click Proceed with setup.
On the next page, you must confirm that student and staff data is already synchronised between Arbor and Civica. Civica needs to already have student and staff data from the Integration through Wonde to be able to match the payment data with the student and staff accounts.
If you haven't set up the Civica integration through Wonde, you can see how to do this following the usual steps outlined here.
You also need to select the Customer Account Type that you wish to use for the synchronisation - we recommend your Meals account. Only payments for this Customer Account Type will be synced.
- If you select Yes but don't have student and staff data in your Civica system via Wonde, there will be no students or staff records showing in Civica - please contact Civica to set this up for you.
- If you select No, you'll receive this error message and you'll need to set this up before you proceed.
Once you have completed the process correctly, it will appear as Enabled on the Integrations Administration page.
Once you've approved the API connection, Civica will remote into your school’s Civica Cashless Catering system remotely and enable the integration with Arbor.
Once Civica confirm with you that they have completed the installation, you can reenable the account to show for parents by going to School > Payments > Setup > Customer Account Types. Click into the Meal account, click Edit and tick Show in parent portal.
Using the integration in Arbor
Initial balance update
Depending on whether starting balances in Arbor and Civica are zero, Civica will have either:
- sent initial transactions to increase or decrease the account starting balance in Arbor.
- imported student and staff balances (which you should have provided in Step 3 of the setup above).
All payments for the specified Customer Account Type will then be synchronised moving forwards.
How payments will show
- How payments will show in Arbor - All incoming transactions will have the Payment Method and Narrative set to Cashless Catering System so you can identify where the transactions have come from: How do Cashless Catering payments show in Arbor?
- How payments will show on the Parent Portal - When logging into the Parent Portal, guardians will see their Cashless Catering account balance on the main dashboard, which they can click into: How do Cashless Catering payments show on the Parent Portal?
FAQ
No, Civica Cashless Catering can only be integrated with one payment system at a time, so you cannot do a phased roll out. If previously integrated with another payment system (e.g. ParentPay), this must be disabled before integration with Arbor can be enabled.
Only one Customer Account Type (typically the Meals account) can be configured to synchronise with Civica Cashless Catering.
No, once integration has been enabled you are unable to change the Customer Account Type. This is to ensure that all transactions are kept in sync and there is no loss of information.
The synchronisation frequency is controlled by Civica, who have set it to start at 7am and end at midnight each day. At 7am the sync will send transactions to Civica, then at 7:15 it will send transactions to Arbor, then at 7:30 it will send transactions to Civica, etc. This means transactions usually show in the other system within a maximum of 30 minutes.
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