Overview
Welcome to Orah 👋
This guide is designed to help boarding schools new to Orah understand the key setup steps required to get started confidently.
Setting up Orah is a journey. This guide walks you through the recommended setup steps for boarding schools — from creating staff access and connecting your data, through to configuring boarding workflows, pastoral care, communication, and emergency processes.
You don’t need to complete everything in one sitting. Instead, use this guide to:
Understand what needs to be set up and why
Check that your configuration reflects how your boarding school operates
Prepare for Admin Training 1 and day-to-day use of Orah
Throughout this article, you’ll find links to detailed help guides that walk you step-by-step through each setup area.
1. Create Your Orah Account
Your journey begins when you receive an email invitation from the Orah team to create your staff account.
Start by:
Accepting the invitation
Creating your password
Logging in to Orah for the first time
At this stage, it’s helpful to identify who at your school will act as administrators and lead the setup process.
👉 Link to: Accepting your Orah staff invitation
2. Set Up Your SIS or Data Integration
Next, you’ll connect Orah to your school’s student data.
Depending on your setup, this may involve:
Connecting an SIS integration, or
Importing data manually
During this step, confirm:
Which SIS you’re using (if applicable)
That the integration is connected successfully
How often data will sync and update in Orah
Setup steps vary depending on the SIS, so use the relevant guide for your system.
👉 Link to:
3. Invite Staff, Students & Parents
Once your data is connected, you can invite users into Orah.
Review that:
Staff accounts are active and assigned appropriate roles
Students appear correctly in the system
Parents are invited (if applicable to your school)
This ensures everyone who needs access can begin using Orah.
👉 Link to:
4. Create Tags, Houses & Check Student Assignments
Tags and house assignments are essential for boarding schools and are used across rolls, communication, and reporting.
Review:
Tags used for houses, year groups, or boarding cohorts
Whether tags and house assignments are managed via your SIS
That students are assigned to the correct boarding houses
Correct setup here ensures roll calls, messaging, and reports work as expected.
👉 Link to:
5. Add Locations
Locations represent where students can be during the day and evening.
Common boarding locations include:
Boarding houses or dorms
Classrooms
Common areas
Approved off-campus locations (if applicable)
Locations are used across:
Attendance
Roll calls
Passes
Emergency workflows
👉 Link to:
6. Set Up Passes, Rolls & Event Passes
Passes and rolls are at the heart of boarding operations in Orah.
Review and set up:
Standard passes (e.g. leave, exeats)
Event passes (e.g. trips, sports)
Daily and evening roll calls
Check:
Approval workflows
Submission windows
Notifications and reminders
👉 Link to:
7. Configure Pastoral Notes, Mood Checks & Surveys
If your school uses Orah for pastoral care and wellbeing, review these settings next.
Set up:
Pastoral note categories
Mood checks
Conversational surveys (if enabled)
Ensure these are aligned with:
House structures
Staff responsibilities
Pastoral reporting needs
👉 Link to:
8. Use Connect for Communication
Orah Connect helps you communicate quickly and effectively with staff and students.
Review how to:
Send broadcast messages
Create group chats using tags
Communicate with specific houses or cohorts
👉 Link to:
9. Set Up Emergency Rolls
Emergency rolls are a critical safety feature for boarding schools.
Review:
Emergency roll setup
Which locations are included
Which staff are responsible during an emergency
Make sure staff understand how to:
Start an emergency roll
Account for students
Access emergency reports
👉 Link to:
10. Explore the Activity Feed, Duty Reports & Other Use Cases
Finally, review additional features that support day-to-day boarding operations.
These may include:
Posting updates in the activity feed
Completing duty reports
Any school-specific workflows discussed during onboarding
👉 Link to:
What “Good” Looks Like
You’re ready to move forward when:
All users are invited and active
Students are assigned to the correct houses
Locations, passes, and rolls reflect your real boarding routines
Communication and pastoral tools are configured as expected
Next Steps
Once you’ve completed the setup steps above, the next focus is validating readiness and preparing staff for live usage.
Your next steps are to:
Review your setup and confirm it reflects how your boarding school operates in practice
Check that the right staff have the right access and responsibilities
Ensure core boarding workflows are ready to be used with real students
Continue with the next guide to prepare your school for Go-Live.