Lornefield Pensions Administration / BG-Demo – QBR
Callcompleted
Lornefield Pensions Administration · 5 Feb 2024 12:15
The 5 Feb 2024 QBR found connectors green and no tickets, but around four of fifteen licensed users active and questions concentrated in a few people. Imogen Hartley wants a value note before the 3 Apr 2024 renewal.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026The 5 Feb 2024 QBR found connectors green and no tickets, but around four of fifteen licensed users active and questions concentrated in a few people. Imogen Hartley wants a value note before the 3 Apr 2024 renewal.
What happened: Daniel Okafor, Imogen Hartley and Craig Paterson held the QBR on 5 Feb 2024. Craig reported all connectors green and refreshes complete before 07:00, with record counts still rising.
Customer view: Imogen says the issue is habit, not quality: two daily users would not give it up, others forget it. Craig added that newer starters were never walked through search.
Commercial: The order form is £20k a year, invoices match and nothing is outstanding. Imogen is not worried about the figure but needs a case to show people above her, and Craig stepped back from price.
Watch: A couple of scheme managers account for a good share of the questions, which is a key-person risk. Imogen also has trustee reporting ideas as a design partner and wants a proper hour.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Adoption habit, renewal value case
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Daniel Okafor to send the plain-language usage note and a couple of slots for the new-starter session.
- Daniel Okafor to find a time for Imogen Hartley's trustee reporting conversation after that session.
- Craig Paterson to keep watching the ticketing connector and be told before any refresh timing changes.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Daily use is around four of fifteen licensed users and has come down a little on the previous quarter.
- A couple of scheme managers account for a good share of the questions, so the value rests on few people.
- Imogen needs a clear value case for the people above her before the 3 Apr 2024 renewal.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A short new-starter session on the customer's own scheme data could build the habit within the existing licences.
- Imogen's trustee reporting ideas as a design partner could become a scope conversation with Nell.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforHello, can you hear me all right? I think I've got you both on the screen now.
Imogen HartleyLoud and clear, Daniel. Hello.
Craig PatersonAye, I'm here. Afternoon. Well, just about afternoon, it's quarter past twelve.- Daniel OkaforThank you both for your time, especially at lunchtime. I know Mondays are never quiet. Is it just the three of us today? Nell's not joining, she knows I'm covering usage and she's happy for me to lead.
- Imogen HartleyJust the three of us, yes. The scheme managers are all out at trustee meetings this week, so I'll carry their views as best I can.
- Daniel OkaforThat's perfect. So the plan is to look at how the team is using the brain, how the connectors are behaving, and then just to close the loop on the renewal in April. Does that suit?
- Imogen HartleyIt does. Maybe I can set a bit of context first. The real question for us this quarter is whether the scheme managers reach for the brain by habit, or only when I nudge them. We bought it so that a scheme manager gets one view of trustee calls, member query tickets and fee invoices without opening three systems. That hasn't changed. What I want to know is whether it's become the default.
- Daniel OkaforThat's a fair way to frame it, and I'll try to answer it honestly. Craig, would you start us off with the console? I always find the technical picture is the one that keeps us straight.
- Craig PatersonRight. Reading it out as it sits just now: all of our connectors are showing green. The last nightly refresh completed before 07:00 this morning, and the one before that was the same. Nothing in the failed list, nothing queued.
- Daniel OkaforLovely. And over the last month, has anything timed out, even briefly, that you'd have noticed?
- Craig PatersonNot that I've seen. Just to flag, there was a slow run on the ticketing connector a while back, but that's the connector timing out again on a busy night and it recovered by itself. I'll keep an eye on it.
- Daniel OkaforThat matches what I see on our side. No tickets from you this past month, which I take as a good sign rather than silence. Is that fair?
- Craig PatersonAye, fair. I don't raise anything without a screenshot, and there's been nothing worth screenshotting.
- Imogen HartleyWhich is the highest compliment Craig pays anyone, by the way.
- Craig PatersonI'd not go that far.
- Daniel OkaforHa. Right, so usage. You have fifteen licensed users, and on a typical day it's been around four people actually in the brain. Over the quarter that's come down a little compared with the one before. Not dramatically, but I'd rather say it out loud than skate past it.
- Imogen HartleyYes, I saw that when you sent the pack. Honestly, my first reading is the Christmas and new year weeks. We had a lot of annual leave, and a couple of the managers barely logged in between the holidays. But I don't want to hide behind that.
- Daniel OkaforI think that's likely part of it. What I'd say is that the questions being asked are good ones. They're mostly about trustee call history and member queries on a scheme, and a fair few about fee invoices ahead of the trustee reporting cycle. So the people who use it use it for the thing you bought it for.
- Imogen HartleyThat's encouraging. Is it the same two or three people asking most of them, though? I've seen that pattern before. One enthusiast carries the whole thing and then goes on leave.
- Daniel OkaforYou've got a point, and it's a bit concentrated. A couple of scheme managers account for a good share of the questions, and you yourself ask quite a lot. How is the team finding it, though? That's the bit the numbers don't tell me.
- Imogen HartleyMixed, if I'm candid. The two who use it daily would not give it up. The others say it's useful and then forget it exists when they're busy, which in pensions administration is most of the time. It's a habit problem, not a quality problem.
- Craig PatersonIf I can add from the admin side, a couple of the newer starters were never walked through the search properly. They were given a login and told to have a go. I only know because they asked me where things were.
- Daniel OkaforThat's really useful, Craig, thank you. That's something we can fix cheaply. We could run a short session for the newer people, thirty minutes or so, using your own scheme data so it's not generic. I'd want to do it on their questions, not mine.
- Imogen HartleyI'd welcome that. Let's make it count, though. If we do it, I'd like the scheme managers to bring a real query they'd otherwise have chased across three screens.
- Daniel OkaforAgreed, that's much the best way. I'll come back to you with a couple of slots, and you tell me which suits the managers' diaries.
- Imogen HartleyGood. Can I ask about the records side? I never quite know whether to worry about that. Is the volume of what's been indexed still moving, or has it stopped growing?
- Daniel OkaforStill moving, and steadily. Nothing flat, which is what I'd be wary of. Craig's console would show it first, in fact.
- Craig PatersonAye. The record counts tick up each morning after the refresh. I check them against the source when I do the weekly look. They're not drifting apart.
- Imogen HartleyGood. Then the data side of my worry is a small one.
- Daniel OkaforWhich brings me on to the contract. Just to close the loop on April: your current term runs to 2 Apr 2024, so the renewal date sits on 3 Apr 2024. The order form is at £19,500 a year, and the invoices have matched that, with nothing outstanding on your side.
- Imogen HartleyYes, finance would have told me otherwise. Look, I'll be straight. I'm not worried about the money as a figure. What I need is something I can put in front of the people above me that says what we get for it. Usage that's dipped a touch doesn't help me there.
- Daniel OkaforThat's completely reasonable, and I'd rather we built that case together than leave you to assemble it. I can put together a short note: who uses it, what they ask, what's been indexed, how steady the connectors have been. Plain language, not a dashboard dump.
- Imogen HartleyThat would be ideal. And if it's honest about the dip, so much the better. I'd rather they heard it from me.
- Craig PatersonJust to be clear, anything on price or the order form isn't my call. I'll give you the technical side, Imogen, and that's where I'll stop.
- Daniel OkaforUnderstood, Craig, and that's exactly the right split. The technical side is the part I'd lean on you for anyway.
- Imogen HartleyOne more thing, since we're here. Because we were a design partner, I do have a few ideas about what the brain could do for trustee reporting. I won't go into them today. I'd like a proper hour on it, not five minutes at the end of a review.
- Daniel OkaforI'd like that very much. Let's not squeeze it in now. I'll find a time with you after the new-starter session, and I'll bring Nell in for the commercial side if any of it touches scope.
- Imogen HartleySensible. Right, I think that's everything from me. Craig, anything left on your list?
- Craig PatersonOnly a change window. If there's any refresh timing moving on your side, I'd like to hear before it happens, not after.
- Daniel OkaforNoted, and I'll make sure that goes to the right people. Nothing is planned that I know of, but I'd never guess at a date that isn't mine. If anything changes you'll hear first.
- Craig PatersonThat'll do me.
- Daniel OkaforSo, to recap. I'll send the usage note, a couple of slots for the new-starter session, and a time for Imogen's reporting conversation. Imogen, you'll tell me which managers should come. Craig, you'll keep an eye on the ticketing connector.
- Imogen HartleyPerfect. Thank you, Daniel. Thank you, Craig. Best, Imogen.
- Craig PatersonCheers. Regards, Craig.
- Daniel OkaforThanks both. Speak soon, and enjoy the rest of the day. Best wishes, Daniel.
Callsmade from