As you delve into the world of workflows, you'll discover one of Arbor Workflows powerful features – its seamless integration with cloud services such as Google Sheets and Excel Spreadsheets. This integration streamlines the process of updating records within workflow steps, effectively saving time while upholding the accuracy of record keeping.
This feature is currently only available to MAT on the advanced tier and their schools within the MAT.
Let's take a look at how to add a spreadsheet as a step in your workflow.
Begin by clicking the green '+' symbol, which will open a toolbox of various steps to choose from. There are articles that we've prepared for each of these steps, you'll find the links at the bottom of this article.
When you're ready, click on 'Spreadsheet,' as shown below.
After choosing "Spreadsheet," you'll need to decide whether to integrate with Google Sheets or Excel Spreadsheets, dependent on which platform your Trust uses. Prior to linking, make sure you've already set up your spreadsheet on one of these platforms.
For instance, if you want to input data about a new starter into a spreadsheet, ensure that you've already created a new spreadsheet named "New Starter Information" on Google Sheets or Excel. Note that we can't populate a sheet with information until you've created it.
Once your spreadsheet is all set and good to go, select your platform. For this example, we'll go with Google Sheets, but if you're using Excel, the steps are the same.
You’ll then need to select the spreadsheet that you would like to integrate with, using the drop-down menu in settings, as pictured below.
The first column of your spreadsheet will always need be entitled Workflow ID. This is where we allocate a unique ID number to each workflow, ensuring easy identification for future reference.
You can begin to populate the other columns with headings which are relevant to the data you are collecting. You can do this by clicking on the relevant cell and inputting text.
Once you've set up your column headings, the next step involves tagging information into the cells. This feature enables Arbor Workflows to fetch data from other parts of the workflow and automatically populate these cells with the corresponding information.
Accessing tags is simple → click on the cell where you want the data to be displayed, and any relevant data collected in the workflow will become visible. You can then select and use it as a tag. For instance, in the example below, we've collected the new starter's name in question 1. We want to tag this information so that the spreadsheet is updated with the new starter's name for each workflow.
To learn more about tags and how to add them, take a look at our guide Adding a Tag
Once you've tagged your spreadsheet, click the 'Sync changes to sheets' button to finalise this step. A confirmation pop-up, similar to the one shown below, will appear when the integration is successful!