As you move from manual to automated processes, the Arbor Data step (formerly known as 'Send Something') is your primary tool for pushing information directly into your Arbor MIS.
By using this automated step, you reduce administrative errors, and ensure that your MIS remains the single source of truth for your school or MAT.
What can you do with the Arbor Data step?
The Arbor Data step allows your workflow to "talk" to your MIS. Once a trigger form is submitted or a step is completed, the workflow can automatically perform the following actions:
Create a New Student Record: Automatically generate a profile when a form is completed.
Create Staff Record: Speed up onboarding by pushing successful applicant details straight to your staff list.
Add a Medical, Pastoral or SEN Note to a Student Record: Automatically upload signed permission slips or medical reports directly to the relevant student's 'Docs' section.
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Add a Staff Absence: Log sickness or leave requests into the MIS immediately after they are approved within the workflow.
Availability by Tier
The Arbor Data step is a powerful automation feature. Its availability depends on your school or MAT's subscription tier:
For Schools
| Tier | Availability |
|---|---|
| Core | Not available. (Limited to two-step templates). |
| Comms | Available. You can use this to send data in workflows up to 5 steps long. |
| Perform | Available. Use this in complex workflows (up to 15 steps) with added conditional logic. |
For MATs
| Tier | Availability |
|---|---|
| Essentials | Available for central team workflows. |
| Plus / Advanced | Available. Includes the ability to push workflows containing Arbor Data steps down to all schools in the Trust. |
How to set up an Arbor Data step
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Add the Step: In the Workflow Builder, click the (+) icon after your trigger or a previous step and select Arbor Data.
Select Action: Choose the specific MIS action you want to perform.
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Map your Fields: This is the most important part! You will see a list of fields required by the MIS. Match these using tags to the information captured in your Trigger Form or Form steps that come before this Arbor Data step.
Note - some area will need the question that collected the data to be set up as an Arbor Option Set or My Arbor Data type. If the tag selector if showing nothing to select this is because the box is expected the data to be in a specific format.
Once mapped, the information will flow into Arbor MIS automatically as soon as that step is reached in a live workflow.
Check out the following article for more information on each type:
Arbor Data: Add an Absence Record