The Arbor Attendance import feature will allow schools to import the morning attendance register from Arbor in to ParentPay. This will identify pupils or staff that have a current Lunch Time meal pattern set up and apply relevant charges to the ParentPay attendance screen. Pupils or staff that are absent will not be charged for meals on that day.
This article will teach you...
How to complete the initial setup and configuration allowing you to use the Arbor Attendance import feature.
- School must use Arbor as their MIS.
- ParentPay must be approved as a third-party integration within the Arbor system (see article, Setting up and managing third-party integration).
- ParentPay calendar must be configured for the academic year, (see article, How to manage your calendar).
- All meal event types and prices must be configured correctly, (see article, How to set up a new meal type).
- All pupils and staff must have a pattern configured using either classic or next-gen.
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.
Configuring settings
To check that the third-party API has been successful;
Log in to ParentPay > Attendance, meals & events [1] > Import [2] > Arbor attendance access [3] to check that the link shows Success [4].
If your screen doesn't look like the one above, please review the third-party guidance.
Setting the calendar
Your term and closure dates must be configured correctly in order to create the patterns. See article How to manage your calendar.
Aligning the attendance marks
It is critical that the attendance marks in Arbor match those in ParentPay to avoid warnings. To do this:
Select Attendance, meals & events [1] > Import [2] > Other settings [3].
You will see the following the first time you access this page:
Select Update attendance type mappings [4] to synchronise your registration marks with in ParentPay. These marks are used to apply a meal charge for a pupil or staff member when the AM register is imported.
You will be able to manually add or remove marks [5] depending on your individual usage.
Once you have completed adding or removing remember to click Save changes [6] to confirm. A success banner will confirm the changes have been saved.
NOTE The following are the default marks required for correct system usage. Any other marks selected will result in a charge being applied for that attendance type. Only morning attendance marks are used.
| ID | Description |
| / | Present AM |
| \ | Present PM |
| U | Late |
| L | Late (after Register Closed) |