This article will guide you through the process of adding Assets (links and files) as shared resources on the platform, enabling you to streamline workflows and keep everything connected and organised.
Adding Links to Assets
Incorporating links as assets is crucial to saving time further down the line, as it allows you to use and refer to these links across different workflows. If you are a MAT or a group of Schools, you are also able to add both 'central' links, which are the same for the entire group, and 'local' links, which differ between schools.
Imagine this scenario: when you're onboarding new staff, you might require them to complete Prevent Training. This training is typically provided by an external source and isn't specific to individual schools. In such cases, rather than uploading a document, you might prefer to share a URL (web address) with them. This way, they can access the relevant platform and complete the training.
By adding this link as an asset, you eliminate the need to search for and send the link separately to each new starter. Arbor Workflows stores the link, so every time you tag it, we know exactly which link to incorporate in the workflow. This not only saves time but also ensures consistency across workflows.
Tags are essential to this process; if you’re not familiar with these, you can take a look at Adding a Tag and What is Shared? for some more information.
Let’s walk through adding a link to Assets together…
Getting Started
To begin, access the Arbor Workflows homepage and click on the name of your account in the top right-hand corner. A drop-down menu will appear; select Settings from the options provided.
Navigating to School Settings
After selecting Settings, you will be taken to a dashboard as pictured below. Look for the section titled School Settings and click on it.
If you cannot see the School Settings, this is likely to be because you do not have permission.
Adding an Asset
Once you're in School Settings, locate and click on Assets within the School Settings section. Here, you can upload links and assign them. This can be to individual schools, schools within your organisation or to the whole trust.
From here, you can choose to add Files or Links. Lets add a link first by selecting the ‘link’ option in the top of the section. Once in you have selected this you will then select 'Add Asset'.
This will open 'Create an Asset' pop-up where you will give the initial details.
Name → Here's where you'll give your link a name before uploading. Keep it short and succinct to ensure clarity. For example this could be, KCSIE.
Description → Brief description of what the asset is. In the example this could be 'Keeping Children Safe in Education)
Type of Asset→ Indicate whether this link is group or school. A group link is one which will remain the same for all organisations within your group or trust. A school link is one that is individual to your school. e.g if all schools in your organisation use the same Prevent Training provider then this will be set to ‘group', as they will all require the same link.
File or Link → Finally, you’ll state whether this is a File or Link.
Once all the details are filled in and you select 'Add Asset' you will be directed back to the Assets area where you will see the name of the asset you have just added.
What does the ‘missing’ status indicate?
After you've successfully added your link, it will be visible in your link library, as shown above.
Here, you can monitor the status of the link, which signals whether it's been attached and is ready to be tagged in a workflow. When it's ready, the status will appear as green with the label 'all set'. If links are not yet attached, a yellow 'missing' icon will indicate this.
In this instance, we've used KCSIE as our example and we selected 'group' because we wanted this to be the same for all schools within the trust.
If you click on the title, you'll see which schools haven't uploaded their policies yet. In this case, only one link is missing, but if each school had their own individual links then you would also need to add these here. If links remain missing, when the 'KCSIE' link is tagged in a workflow, it will lack content, rendering the tag ineffective.
To upload the link, just click on the '+' symbol next to the corresponding school, and insert the link into the box provided.
Then, click on 'Assign'. When you return to your library, you'll see which links have been included and which ones are still pending. Once all the necessary links are added, the status will show as 'all set’, indicating that Arbor Workflows has all the information that it needs to work it’s magic!
The process is the same for adding files as assets. Just ensure that you select file when adding the asset and that this file is a PDF.
Now, you're all set to start utilising Assets within your workflows!