The article outlines the step-by-step digital onboarding journey for schools transitioning to Arbor's Management Information System (MIS). It details weekly tasks, key actions, and tips for successful implementation, including data checks, training sessions, and communication with Arbor's support team. The process culminates in the schools going live with Arbor and receiving ongoing support for effective usage.
Please note the following can vary for a GroupCall API migrator, we are working on adding the GroupCall Migrator specifications to this guide. If you need to raise any data discrepancies post migration please contact Arbor support or your dedicated partner and we will be advised of the next steps.
Welcome to Arbor!
Congratulations on choosing to move to Arbor as your new MIS for your schools and trust!
This digital journey will take you through your implementation of Arbor on a week-by-week basis. You will be provided with all the information you will need to be able to feel confident with the move, and support your schools along the way.
Welcome to Arbor
What happens this week?
Following your time with the partnership specialist team, you will be welcomed to the Onboarding team!
To get started, this week you will receive an email with some key and important information to set you off on your school's journey. This email will start you thinking about ensuring you have the right information and key dates and plans in place. You will be provided with your very own MAT Support pack to help you get in this thought process!
You will be asked to have a think about and confirm with the onboarding team, your key dates for the journey, your current schools assessment data drop date, your schools key contacts and their details as well as preparing your central team for the MAT MIS site release date.
Please see below when you should expect to receive this email and where on the timeline you will be.
Key actions from this week:
- Confirm your key dates
- Confirm your current schools Assessment data drop date
- Confirm your schools key contacts and their details
- Confirm your trust key contact for the MAT MIS and the release date (if you are looking to have access to this sooner than your release date, please contact the onboarding team to discuss this)
Top tip for this week!
The sooner you provide Arbor with this information, the smoother this process will be in ensuring your schools get off to the start they need. It is also worth noting that, if your schools are not yet aware of the move to Arbor, now is the perfect time to do this so you are able to prepare for any questions and help with the change. The schools will need to understand their roles and responsibilities at this point to ensure that Arbor is a success at their schools.School Planning and Preparation
What happens this week?
Following your initial welcome to Arbor, we will check in with you again to reconfirm the key information before your school's onboarding journey begins in the next week of the journey. In the next week of the journey, your schools will be undergoing their Discovery meeting with their Arbor Project Manager, so it is really important that the key information is confirmed at this stage.
We will be reminding you to confirm your schools key dates, key contacts and details and be providing you with your very own MAT Refresher pack.
Please see below when you should expect to receive this email and where on the timeline you will be.
Key actions from this week if not already actioned:
- Confirm your key dates
- Confirm your current schools Assessment data drop date
- Confirm your schools key contacts and their details
- Confirm your trust key contact for the MAT MIS and the release date (if you are looking to have access to this sooner than your release date, please contact the onboarding team to discuss this)
School Discovery
What happens this week?
Your schools Arbor Project Manager will have reached out to your schools and arranged their Discovery session, which will be carried out this week.
In this Discovery session, your schools will discuss their key information with their Project Manager, such as dates, service package and what this means for them. They will also discuss onboarding timelines, migration information, module adoption and third party applications and how to manage these.
The Project Manager will also explain in detail the timeline for key training sessions which are recommended by Arbor for a successful move to Arbor. Your schools will have the ability to book these sessions.
Whilst your schools are preparing the plans for their move to Arbor with their Project Manager, you will receive an email with some further resources to understand more about your school's journey and the training available to them.
Please see below when you should expect to receive this email and where on the timeline you will be.
Top tip for this week!
Your schools will be expected to undergo their basic training to go live with Arbor and these key sessions include Arbor Academy pre launch training (recommended a week or two before go live) and Arbor Academy post launch training (recommended a week or two after go live. The most successful schools moving to Arbor are the ones who ensure they make the most out of the training sessions and training resources provided to them by Arbor.
Please see below some more useful training and free webinar resources:
First Set of Dummy Data!
By this week, your schools will begin to prepare to upload their first dummy data backup to Arbor following instruction of their Project Manager, and will begin to prepare for carrying out their pre migration data checks.
You should expect to receive an email from us to confirm the date agreed with your schools for uploading their first dummy data backup, so you can keep track of your schools progress. We will also report back to you on where they are at with booking their recommended training sessions at this stage.
Please see below when you should expect to receive this email and where on the timeline you will be.
Top tip for this week!
The most successful schools when moving to Arbor, are the ones that ensure they carry out thorough data checks and cleansing following their first dummy data run, as this gives the opportunity to rectify any discrepancies in their data before their Go Live date! Your schools will also be asked to check on their roles & permissions to ensure these look as they should in Arbor.
Arbor Data Checks
What happens this week?
Your schools should now be well underway with booking and completing their recommended training sessions and should now have their first dummy site released to start their data checks in Arbor.
This week, you should expect to receive a report via email updating you on your schools dummy data release date and training booked/completed so far so you can track the progress of your schools to date.
Please see below when you should expect to receive this email and where on the timeline you will be.
Second Set of Dummy Data and Primary Onboarding Preparation
What happens this week?
Secondary
By now your schools should have completed all data checks required on their dummy data site, and will be preparing to upload their second dummy data back up, for the agreed date with the schools Project Manager.
This week, we will again update you with a report via email with confirmation on your schools completing their data checks and the date your schools should be uploading their second dummy data backup to Arbor. We will also be updating you on where your schools are at with their training to remind you to point your schools to book any training they have not yet booked.
Please see below when you should expect to receive this email and where on the timeline you will be.
Primary
It's time for Primary onboarding to begin!
You will have sent us details of the key contacts at the Primary schools as part of the initial onboarding steps so please make sure we have all the up to date details as we will be reaching out to the schools to begin implementation.
Trust Training and Progress Reports / Primary Onboarding Begins!
What happens this week?
Secondary
This week we will report back to you again on the progress of your school's training, with what is completed/still outstanding. You should also expect to receive confirmation of the second dummy data site release date for your schools.
Please see below when you should expect to receive this email and where on the timeline you will be.
Primary
Now the schools can really get started on making their implementation a success, below you can see the tasks that are set for them to complete over the next few weeks:
Schools will be invited to book in a kick off call. The onboarding team will go through the process of moving to Arbor in more detail for your schools, giving them information about what they need to do over the next few weeks as you get ready for your new Arbor MIS to launch. There will be the opportunity to ask questions throughout the session via Q&A.
Pre-launch training
After the kick off call schools will be invited to book their pre-launch training and we will show them how to do this. This is delivered in two parts online, this service is suitable for all new Primary schools or Special/Alternative schools that function like a Primary and is shared with other schools.
This link goes to our guidance and workbook on data cleansing and checking. This will be covered as part of the kick off call.
Schools will need to notify any 3rd party systems of your move to Arbor before migration.
Pre Launch Tasks
What happens this week?
Secondary
By the end of this week, it is expected that your schools have completed their data checks on their second dummy data site, ready for the final backup!
This week we will report back to you on your schools progress with completing their data checks, along with an update on training.
The next steps for your schools is to prepare to upload their final data back up, ready for go live with Arbor. We will confirm with you the date for the final data backup date as confirmed earlier in the journey.
Please see below when you should expect to receive this email and where on the timeline you will be.
Primary
The schools should have completed their kick off call and be on with the remaining tasks:
Pre-launch training
Schools should have arranged their two pre-launch training sessions and arranged for the relevant staff to attend the sessions.
Schools should have started making progress with their data checking.
Schools should have started working through their list of third parties and notifying them of their move to Arbor.
Preparing for Launch
What happens this week?
Secondary
We are getting closer to Arbor being the new MIS at your schools and they have been working really hard in preparation so far. This week we will send you a reminder of your schools final data backup date, with some more information on how they are expected to provide this date with us.
You will also receive a progress report for review ahead of the Go Lives.
Please see below when you should expect to receive this email and where on the timeline you will be
Primary
By this stage, your Primary schools should be well underway with their data checks and data cleansing. They should also now have their key training sessions scheduled and be attending these in preparation for their Arbor Go Live!
You will be sent a progress report so you can ensure your schools are on track ready for go live.
Final Migration
What happens this week?
It’s time for your schools to sign off their data checks! This is a really important step of the journey. The cleaner and more tidy the schools data is in their current MIS before migration to Arbor, aids in how accurate and aggregated your data will show in your MAT MIS site once your schools are live.
Please see below when you should expect to receive this email and where on the timeline you will be.
Top tip for this week!
Supporting your schools to ensure they are on track with this stage is really key for the success of Arbor at your schools and MAT. Remembering to keep regular contact with your schools makes for a smoother transition in this process!
Arbor Go Live!
What happens this week?
Congratulations! Your schools are now Live with Arbor!
We are really excited for your schools to get started with using their brand new MIS. The schools will receive communications once their school sites are live to support them with their first time logging on to Arbor!
You will receive a report of the Live schools so you can check they are all up and running.
MAT MIS Release!
What happens this week?
Welcome to your MAT MIS! This week your MAT MIS will be released to your central team. We will send your CEO or MAT Arbor Champion an email to let you know that your MAT MIS site is ready to go. We will have setup your selected main contact at the Trust on the MAT site, so all they will need to do is follow the instructions on how to log in for the first time in the email.
All the work carried out by your schools in the previous weeks of the journey will play a big part in the data you should be able to see aggregated at MAT level.
The MAT MIS lets you work with any number of schools from on central location, so you are able to collaborate more easily and really understand how everyone’s getting on. You are able to track performance from a distance, compare data across schools and give every school the tools they need to do their best work!
Don’t forget to book your MAT MIS training now if you have not already!
Here are just some of the main key benefits of your MAT MIS site.
- Get the big picture at a glance in real-time!
- One central MIS login.
- Manage your staff centrally.
- Build custom reports painlessly.
- Understand the detail that’s making a difference.
Need to think about what checks the MAT need to do on their MAT MIS when released in the same way the schools would on their sites.
Please see below when you should expect to receive this email and where on the timeline you will be.
Post Launch Progress
What happens this week?
Secondary
By this point your schools will have been using their new shiny MIS for around 3 weeks! We feel it is really important for you to understand how your schools are doing at this stage and what their uptake is of their MIS. This helps you to assess and support your schools if needed.
You will expect to receive a school usage report this week, which will provide you with information such as: attendance, staff logins, custom report writer, etc and training remaining.
Please see below when you should expect to receive this email and where on the timeline you will be.
Primary
Your schools should now be well underway with using their new MIS!
At this stage, it is really important that they have booked their Post launch training, which is recommended to take place around two weeks after their launch.
This training will help them to understand the wealth of information they can get using, along with reporting and more advanced communication skills.
Account Management
What happens this week?
Secondary
You have hit your final week onboarding to Arbor! We have really enjoyed working with you to help get your schools started with Arbor and we are really looking forward to seeing you develop further from here!
Following this week, your Arbor Account manager will be reaching out to you to introduce themselves and pick up with you from the Arbor Onboarding Team, for the next stages of your journey with Arbor!
You are still able to continue to get in contact with the Arbor support team or your Arbor Accredited Support Partner if you have any day-to-day support queries.
Please see below when you should expect to receive this email and where on the timeline you will be.
Congratulations, your schools and trust have completed their implementation phase onto Arbor MIS!
What does this mean?
Schools should be using Arbor for their day to day activities and building upon this knowledge to get confident and familiar with all our functionality!
Your Account Manager looks after your commercial relationship with Arbor and can help you with any questions or queries relating to your contract. They can also speak to you about further training or initiatives you are planning for your schools now or in the future (for example you might now be thinking about further 3rd party consolidation or rolling out parental engagement, assessments or behaviour management).
Primary
Top tip for this week!
Now your schools are using Arbor, it might be a good time to check in with them for the following:
- Remind them of their support channels from here, whether that be Arbor support or a dedicated support partner. This will mean they can feel confident with developing themselves by asking questions and gaining further knowledge on their new MIS!
- Understand whether your schools could gain from some further training and support in particular areas going forward.
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