What is Arbor Attendance?

The Arbor Attendance feature is for schools using the Arbor Management Information System which has pupils and staff using a meal pattern to set their daily meal choices.  It will import AM attendance marks from the MIS and apply them to daily meal patterns configured for each individual.


Q. Can we use Arbor Attendance?

A. Yes, as long as you are using Arbor as your MIS and use patterns for each meal type required. This will allow you to import pupil and staff attendance data from Arbor and apply it to the meal pattern within ParentPay, automatically charging where appropriate.  

Q. Can the Arbor Attendance feature import for multiple days?

A. Yes. You will be able to import attendance data for a single day or a date range for up to a week in the past.

Q. Can Arbor Attendance be scheduled?

A. Yes, you are able to schedule an import to run daily at a time that suits your requirements.  You are still able to amend the marks manually via the Attendance screen.  Further attendance imports will not overwrite these manual adjustments.

Q. Do we need to set up a meal pattern for all pupils and staff?

A.  Yes, a pattern must be configured for all meal types that have a cost associated.  If multiple Meal types/costs are configured a pattern is required for each.  Additionally, a pattern may be created for home and pack lunches for full inclusion. 

Q.  Will everyone imported via the Arbor Attendance feature be charged?

A.  No, only pupils and staff who pay for their meals will be charged.  For Home and Packed lunch meal types the meal event price must to be set at zero cost (£0.00).

Q. Do we need to create a separate FSM pattern?

A. No FSM and UiFSM are managed through the regular ParentPay set-up and require no specific configuration. 

Pre-requisites for Arbor Attendance
During the setup of the Arbor Attendance feature, it is common to receive warnings for people with morning attendance marks that do not have a pattern assigned. To avoid this, each attendee is required to be allocated to a pattern, potentially one with no cost such as Packed lunch or Home meal.

NOTE

To avoid warnings on the Arbor Attendance Import Report you will need to create a group for all other meal types, i.e. Home and Sandwich pupils.

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