Export your data

Data export gives you a zip of CSV files you can open in Excel or load into Power BI, so you do not have to copy figures out of ARC by hand. Only company admins can use it.

Getting there

Sidebar, Company Admin, Data export. If the Prepare export button is greyed out, exports are not switched on for your account yet. Contact ARC.

Making an export

1. Choose the dates. One export can cover up to 24 months.
2. Choose all homes, or tick the homes you want.
3. Tick the datasets you want. Each becomes one CSV file in the zip.
4. Tick Include written notes only if you need the narrative text, such as what happened in an incident. It is off by default.
5. Tick the safeguarding or HR pack only if you need them. Each asks you to say why.
6. Confirm that you understand the export is a copy of your records outside ARC, then choose Prepare export.

It is built in the background. When it is ready you get a notice in ARC and an email. The email does not contain the file or a link to it: sign in and download it from this page. The file is kept for 7 days and then deleted. You can ask for 5 exports a day, one at a time.

What is in it

• Always available: homes, children, incidents, missing from care, physical interventions, complaints, medication errors, daily logs, staff list, training records, supervisions and hours worked.
• Children appear as initials, year of birth and placement dates, with ARC's own reference number for each child. There are no names, addresses or full dates of birth.
• Staff appear by name and job. There is no date of birth, address, National Insurance number or pay.
• Safeguarding pack: standard concerns only, with category, risk level and dates.
• HR pack: DBS check dates, appraisals, disciplinary outcomes and leave.
• Written notes add the narrative columns to the datasets that have them.

Lists of homes, children and staff are not cut by the dates. Everything else is filtered by the date of the record.

What is never in it

Private safeguarding records that only a designated safeguarding lead can see, allegations against staff, restricted log entries, uploaded files and documents, and anything about another company. If you need a complete copy of everything, for example to move to another system, ask ARC for a full export.

Looking after the file

The export is a copy of your records that ARC cannot protect once it is downloaded. You are responsible for where it is kept and who sees it. Store it somewhere your organisation controls, share it only with people who need it, and delete it when you are done. Every request and download is recorded in your audit log.

Opening it

• Excel: unzip the file and open any CSV. Dates are year-month-day.
• Power BI: unzip the file into a folder, choose Get data, Folder, and point it at that folder. Join the files on home_id, child_id and user_id.