Arbor Finance Migration Preparation Checklist

To prepare for migration there are some steps you should consider completing. 

For your information, Arbor Finance will migrate closing balances for a given period/month.

We will instruct you on how to validate your data, so that it matches the data you submitted as your closing set of accounts.

Then, as the Finance lead in your school, we will show you how to roll forwards that closing position, to create an opening account in the subsequent period/month, in Arbor Finance.

Please note, prior/historic transactional data is NOT migrated. Individual transactional information should be archived electronically or manually by reporting out the details from your existing platform before the end of your incumbent contract. 

Information to gather and review

In Arbor Finance we work with Budget and Analysis Codes. These will reflect your Ledger/Nominal codes and Cost Centres. It is a single entry language change and we will work with you to ensure the structure of your accounts reflects your current coding and reporting requirements.

You will need to work with your current chart of accounts, with cost centres and ledger codes that you wish to continue with (and any additional cost centre/funding streams if required).

This should contain all necessary info i.e. budget account, budget header, CFR code, analysis code etc., as it is currently defined in FMS.

We suggest extracting copy of your chart of accounts in Excel/CSV file format and review:

• Identify codes NOT used in the last 24 months. 
• Delete these codes from the extract, (NOT in FMS).
• Of the remaining codes are they linked? 
• Is the linking relevant to the level of reporting you use on a regular basis? 
• Perhaps tidy up the links as in Arbor Finance this will make entering codes more responsive.
• Are there codes that currently you manually review the detail to provide greater analysis - perhaps there are some additional codes to be created to provide greater insight.

When looking at your current ledger/cost centre codes, you will need to consider a preferred naming convention for Budget/Analysis codes in Arbor Finance, since these are limited to

• Budget Codes - 8 Characters,
• Budget Description - 35 Characters
• Analysis Codes - 12 Characters
• Analysis Description - 35 Characters

Where your existing codes/descriptions are longer you might want to consider a naming convention i.e. 7 letters and number, or removing all preceding zeros.

Work on this review, delete unused codes (from the extract) and make necessary corrections. 

The chart of accounts along with any CFR mapping detail, linking and grouping will all be included for final migration.

Extract a list of all your contacts (suppliers, customers, alternate payees).  Customers will only apply if sales invoicing is a requirement upon transition.

Review the contacts list:

• Identify contacts NOT used in the last 24 months. Delete any you don’t want to import (from the extract).
• Of the remaining contacts, are there duplicates? Some may be genuine. For example large organisations that you might receive goods from discreet departments/sub-organisations. Some are likely to be historic - change of address, initials on one, full name on another? 
  • Delete obvious and unnecessary duplicates.
• Check that address, contact numbers, bank account details for BACS payments are correct and complete.
  • Check sort codes consist only of 6 digits
  • Check bank accounts consist only of 8 digits

Complete the file by deleting unnecessary/unwanted contacts (from the extract) and ensuring all information you do wish to migrate is complete. 

You can add and edit suppliers within Arbor Finance later if needed.

 

 

What is migrated

It is important to note Arbor Finance will only migrate a balanced set of accounts relating to your MAIN school fund,* at the end of a specified month/period. The following will be imported for the CLOSING month/period.

Nett YTD balances.

• All Nett YTD transactions will be allocated to the 'School Fund/Centrally managed' bank account, with a balancing entry created for the B/F balance to ensure all figures balance.
• All other bank accounts will be migrated with an opening cash book balance and unreconciled items only.

Budget Allocations

• Only the current allocations will be migrated. Budget Allocations can be fixed in Arbor Finance if required during the FY.

All data is validated as part of the migration.

What is not migrated

Commitments

• Commitments will not be migrated - please review any outstanding commitments, to ensure you have minimal commitments to re-enter on Arbor Finance.

Unprinted CHQs, BACS payments will not be migrated.

• Please ensure all payments have been processed prior to migration.
• It is really helpful if you can minimise the number of unreconciled items, unpresented cheques etc. It is of course possible to migrate this type of detail across, but it is a more manual process that we encourage you to avoid, by reconciling wherever possible.

Pending Accruals

• If you have any pending accruals our support team will discuss with you directly on how to migrate this information. In preparation, please review any Debtors and Accruals balance figures on your Balance & Reserves report, to ensure these are accurate and you have the necessary transactional information related to these balances.

What happens next?

Prepare yourself to complete the migration template by your migration date. Ensure you read the guidance here and watch the how to video before your migration date. Once you finalise month end in your current system you can begin to complete the migration process. 

* NB: Your MAIN school fund will be associated with your school’s local bank account (or nominated LA central account). It may include other accounts or allocations of funds. For example, petty cash, procurement card, central fund for LA funds for payroll/rates etc. The balances of these accounts will be migrated into Arbor Finance.

If the school manages additional discreet funds,(not necessarily reported on to the LA) these can be migrated later. This incurs additional charges to set up the fund account and migrate data into Arbor Finance. Please email [e-mail] to discuss