Arbor Finance Onboarding Weeks 1 to 5

 

Welcome to Arbor!

Congratulations on choosing Arbor as your new Finance system and welcome to the Arbor community of schools! We're excited to get started with your move to Arbor Finance and hope you are too!

So how does onboarding work?

Each week, you'll get an email from our Onboarding Team with guidance and resources to help you get ready for your move to Arbor.

Your Onboarding is an 8 week journey split into two parts, Pre Launch (weeks 1-5) and Post Launch (weeks 6-8). The Pre Launch phase is all about getting prepared and ready to go live with your new Arbor Finance System. Once you get access to your Arbor site in Week 6, the onboarding team will be with you for a few more weeks to help guide you with getting up and running on your new Arbor Finance System.

This week-by-week guide below will give you an overview of what's to come in Weeks 1-5, the Pre Launch phase of your Onboarding. This guide will contain all the key information that you need to successfully prepare for your move to Arbor. Be sure to also check out our guide on what happens in the Post Launch phase of your onboarding journey (weeks 6 to 8).

Pre Launch Weeks 1- 5

 

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4  Week 5

Overview

This week, as part of our weekly guidance, you'll receive your first email from the Arbor Onboarding Team, saying hello and providing you with a bit more information about your move to Arbor and what to get started on.

What do you need to do this week? 

1. Watch our Kick Off Video

In this short video here a member of The Onboarding Team will give you a brief overview of your 8 week onboarding journey and cover the most crucial moments of the migration process. 

2. Prepare for the move to Arbor

Change is exciting but can be daunting for some. Make sure you know who will be working with the new platform, perhaps in a support role, or to provide cover. Share the welcome video and the journey with them. Our FAQs will help you answer their questions. 

3. Start Planning and booking your training

Have your diary handy! Towards the end of the week, you'll receive more information from us with details on how you can log into the Arbor Training Hub and book onto any training you have purchased.

4. Your Support

Your LA/Partner support team will be on hand to help you guide you through this process so you have a smooth migration. 

       

Overview

Last week, you should have watched your Welcome to Arbor kick-off video, now it's time to start preparing for your move.

What do you need to do this week? 

1. Begin your pre-migration data counts and cleanses

This week it's time to hit the ground running with tidying the data in your current Finance System. It's really important to do this to ensure that you have a smooth migration. Remember: 

• Check the data in your current finance platform. We can only migrate a balanced month end position. Prepare this month to ensure any queries are resolved, unpresented items are cleared, unreconciled items are reconciled. 
• Clean up the data in your current system - remove redundant or duplicate contacts (suppliers) and make sure you have relevant bank details up to date. 
• Review your chart of accounts. Working with your Local Authority and/or Support Partner, you should be ready to migrate the codes you actively used. Redundant codes can be deleted.

For more information on how to clean and check your data, and to download the workbook, please read our Data Cleanse and Check Guidance

2. Take part in Arbor Training

Are you ready to become an Arbor Finance pro? If you've purchased training, make sure to make some time over the next couple weeks to book onto and attend your onboarding training. Last week you should have received an email from us on how you can log into the Arbor Training Hub and begin booking your onboarding training.

What training is important to book first? It's really important that you book your Onboarding training as soon as possible, as these modules will cover the key areas of Arbor Finance that you will need understand in order to be successful with your new Finance system.

We know how difficult it is to balance training with running a busy school office which is why our training has been broken down into individual modules you can book and attend.

Not sure when you should complete each module? On our guide here we've listed our recommendations, to make sure you're ready to hit the ground running on your Go Live day!

And don't forget to share out any other useful guides you find on the Help Centre!

 

      

Overview

You're now in Week 3 of your onboarding journey! You will continue working on checking and cleansing your data in your current Finance System, attend your training sessions, and share useful resources to get your team prepared for your Arbor go live.

What do you need to do this week? 

1. Continue your data checks

The better quality the data is that you put into your Arbor, the easier it will be to get started after your migration. Instead of spending time cleansing your data, you'll have more time to focus on what is important and utilising your new Arbor Finance System.

Spend some time this week working on the data cleansing in your current finance system. You'll need to complete this before your migration date.

Not sure how things will migrate? Check out our Migration FAQs in our Help Centre to find out

2. Book any outstanding training

If you haven't already, make sure book onto your training sessions as soon as possible. It's important that you attend most of these sessions before your Go Live day. To help you decide when you should complete each module, we have put together our recommendations on this guide here.  If you haven't purchased any training, don't forget you can share out and utilise guides on the Arbor help centre to help you get started!

     3.  Set up Arbor Finance Tile

You will have received an email from [e-mail] with login details to set up your Arbor Finance tile on your RM Unify dashboard. If you have not already done so please ensure you follow the in following instructions Introduction to managing user access to the Arbor Finance Platform (via RM Unify) – Arbor Finance. If you need any further assistance on setting this up please contact your local support team. 

        

Overview

Now you're in week 4 of your onboarding journey, you're one step closer to your new Arbor Finance system! This week you may be completing Month End, getting ready to send us your data on your migration day, make sure you've completed your data checks, and don't forget to get those last few training sessions attended.

What do you need to do this week? 

1. Completing Month End

We can only migrate a balanced month end position. You can prepare for this by ensuring any queries are resolved. Unreconciled items can be migrated but we would encourage you to review your bank reconciliation and ensure you are as up to date as possible.

2. Watch out for your secure portal emails

If your school are uploading the data to Arbor you will receive an email with the Secure Upload Portal details and should use this to send us your data. Once you have sent this you should email [e-mail] to confirm this has been sent.

If you haven't received the SUP details it may be that the LA or Local Support Partner are managing your data upload centrally, in which case, we might have already sent the details directly to them. If you are unsure, please make sure to check with your LA/Local Support Partner.

If you haven't received the SUP details and are a locally maintained school, it may be that the LA or Local Support Partner are managing your data upload centrally, in which case, we might have already sent the details directly to them. If you are unsure, please make sure to check with your LA/Local Support Partner.

To find out more about the Secure upload portal and using the portal, please give our Secure Upload Portal FAQ guide a read!

       

Overview

This week you will be preparing your data for migration and completing your migration template. This is a standard process however if you are supported by your local authority or support partner they will communicate with you directly. 

What do you need to do this week? 

1. Complete the data migration template
   
   Follow the steps in the migration template to generate the Arbor Finance file. Once created, upload it to Arbor. You'll find all the necessary information and the template here.
   
   
2. Send us your data on your booked migration day
   
   There may be some queries as we process your data, our system automatically produces a validation report. If you need to fix any data fields/data sets, you do so in the original Arbor Finance File and resubmit the whole file via the Secure Upload Portal.
   
   Now it's the moment we've all been waiting for!!! On your migration date we'll be ready to migrate your data from your current finance system to your new Arbor Finance Site!
   So that everything runs on time, it's essential that you upload your data to us on this date.
   
   Not sure how to upload your data? Follow our step-by-step guides here. Remember to keep track of your accounts for the new month whilst you are waiting for the migration to complete.
   To Find out when your site will be ready find out more information here.
   If you are part of a Local Authority or Partner who are uploading your data for you please can you make sure the Local Authority/Partner have your month end ahead of migration.
   
   
3. Get ready for go live
   
   Once your data is migrated and your site is ready to use, we'll release it to your school Project Lead.
   There are a few important things you'll need to do before you start using Arbor, all you need to do is follow the steps on our guide - Getting started with Arbor Finance