FAQs - NFER and Arbor MIS Integration

Please note: When comparing the average performance of subgroups of pupils according to specific characteristics, such as ethnicity or SEND status, it is important to be aware of the number of pupils in the subgroup. Care should always be taken when interpreting statistics based on small numbers. To avoid inaccurate inferences being made about differences in performance, NFER’s advice is that average performance should only be compared for subgroups that consist of at least 10 or more pupils. In addition, the colour highlighting in these reports is based on the direct comparison of average scores and not on whether they indicate meaningful differences between groups of pupils.

To link your NFER Analysis Tool data into Arbor MIS, schools can complete our integration request form here to start the integration process. The form takes less than one minute to complete and needs to be completed by an Arbor user with Administrator access. Step-by-step guidance on the integration process can be found here. 

If all pupil assessment data has been added to the NFER Analysis Tool accurately including Unique Pupil Numbers (UPNs), the integration process should take approximately 48 hours if the request is received by 4pm. If UPNs are missing, you can use the MIS sync option in NFER’s Analysis Tool to update the pupil records with the extra information needed before requesting integration.

The integration request form should be completed by the admin owner of your school’s Arbor MIS.

MAT Central Head Office teams will need to ask their schools or academies to ensure their assessment data has been added to NFER’s Analysis Tool. Each school will then need to individually complete the integration request form as assessment data will be relative to each individual school.

The MAT Central team will receive an email from NFER when a school in their Trust has successfully integrated their NFER Assessment data with Arbor MIS.

Once a school has input their data in NFER’s Analysis Tool they will need to complete their Arbor MIS integration request form. Once approved, access to NFER Dashboards will be granted. You will be able to see all of the NFER Test data (year groups and subjects) you have added to the NFER Analysis Tool.

Schools will be able to access a vast range of reports, including: 

  • Average standardised score of all academies within the Trust  
  • Performance term on term, year on year  
  • An easy view of attainment per school and overall  
  • Assessment marks for each pupil in the Trust
  • Curriculum reporting by Programme of Study will be available within the student profile section  

Multi Academy Trust Central teams will have access to MAT reporting dashboards that enable an aggregated view of results across all their schools. They will also be able to build custom reports combining data from their NFER Assessments and Arbor MIS. 

If you have received notification that your integration process is complete and you cannot see your NFER assessment data, please contact the Arbor support team here.

Any data that a school inputs into the NFER Analysis Tool will be updated overnight on a daily basis from the analysis tool into Arbor’s MIS.

NFER takes the privacy and security of your School’s data very seriously. All data remains within the EEA. Our approach to data protection for data stored in NFER’s analysis tool is set out in this data protection statement on our website. Privacy notices for NFER Tests and the NFER Analysis Tool are also available.  

Arbor takes data very seriously, and we’re proud to exceed the industry standard when it comes to protecting your school or MAT. We’re fully cloud-hosted in Amazon Web Services’ London data centre. We store, process and manage all personal data and backups in the UK and encrypt your data in Transit and At Rest using bank-grade 256-bit SSL. You can read more about our data protection measures on our website. 

If your school has mixed-year classes on your Arbor system (e.g. a "Rubies" class containing both Year 1 and Year 2 students) and a different class structure on the analysis tool, with the class split out in to two (e.g., "1Rubies" and "2Rubies"). Then you will need to create a set of classes on the NFER Analysis Tool that replicate the structure of what you have in Arbor. As an example, you can create a new class called "Rubies" and associate it with either year group. 

If you are having issues with your sync, please check first that the information needed is in the NFER Analysis Tool. Please contact [email protected] or call the NFER product helpline: +44(0)1753 637007 if you experience further issues.

It will remain in Arbor’s MIS dashboard unless you decide to remove it from the analysis tool or make a request to Arbor to remove it.

If a School wishes to disconnect their pupil assessment data from the Analysis Tool to Arbor MIS, they must write to inform NFER by contacting the NFER Customer Support Team: [email protected]. Any pupil assessment data deleted in the Analysis Tool will be removed from Arbor MIS within 24 hours (updating overnight).  

If a school wishes to continue using the Analysis Tool but decides to no longer use Arbor MIS, they must contact NFER to unapprove Arbor as a reader of their data. If they no longer want Arbor data to flow into NFER, they can follow the guidance in the Arbor Help Centre. 

For any technical queries relating to your Arbor MIS, see Arbor’s support options here. 

Leavers’ personal data is retained in Admin Hub and their assessment data is retained in the analysis tool database until you choose to delete the pupil. This can be done in the Manage Pupils tab.

Both NFER and Arbor are fully GDPR compliant. To see NFER’s full documentation regarding data protection, please read our data privacy statement here. You can also read Arbor’s data protection guidance here.