Strensall Merchants / BG-Demo – Onboarding
Callcompleted
Strensall Merchants · 14 Mar 2025 12:30
First onboarding call. Neil Craven wants one view of each trade account. Ashok Patel is cautious about mismatched account numbers and will not merge anything unconfirmed. Access emails, a security questionnaire and a first dozen users are outstanding.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026First onboarding call. Neil Craven wants one view of each trade account. Ashok Patel is cautious about mismatched account numbers and will not merge anything unconfirmed. Access emails, a security questionnaire and a first dozen users are outstanding.
What happened: Callie Brennan walked Neil Craven and Ashok Patel through connector order, written access, the overnight refresh and the first users. The Enterprise order form signed on 28 Feb 2025 sets the connectors promised and a live window.
Customer view: Neil wants the counter and the credit controller looking at the same thing. Ashok says the account numbers do not match across the branch, credit and delivery systems, so he will test on York first.
Commercial: Neil wants calls connected because promises made by phone are not written down. Single sign-on and SCIM are included in Enterprise, and the security review is supported. Only about a dozen of the licensed seats are planned at the start.
Watch: a credit ledger upgrade later in the year will move column names. If BG-Demo is not told, a connector can stop loading and the source goes stale. The security questionnaire is still unanswered.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Onboarding, account mapping, access
Importance
neutral
Sentiment
positive
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Neil Craven to get the delivery system access email to Ashok by Wednesday and the first user names to Ashok by Tuesday.
- Callie Brennan to send a one page read-only note for finance and the mapping table template.
- Ashok Patel to test the York load and send totals against the ledger.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Trade account numbers differ across the branch, credit and delivery systems, so the single account view depends on Ashok's mapping table.
- The security questionnaire is still unanswered and could slow the Enterprise set-up.
- A credit ledger upgrade later in the year could silently stop a connector loading if BG-Demo is not told.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Connecting the call recorder lets branches ask what was said to an account next to its delivery record.
- A pilot of about a dozen users could widen across the licensed seats once the data is trusted.
Transcript
Callie BrennanHello, can you both hear me alright? I can see Ashok, Neil, I think you're on mute.
Neil CravenAye, sorry, there we go. Can you hear me now?- Callie BrennanPerfect. Thanks both for making time on a Friday lunchtime. I know it's not the easiest slot.
- Neil CravenIt's the only slot, to be honest. I've had a builder on the phone since seven this morning. One of the big housebuilder accounts, rang me direct because their delivery went to the wrong site. Different branch had booked it from the one that took the order.
- Callie BrennanAh. Well, that's more or less the problem we're here to fix, so you've set the scene nicely.
- Neil CravenThat's what I thought. What's the builder actually seeing? Two different people telling him two different things. Let's sort it, not talk about it.
- Callie BrennanUnderstood. So, the plan for the next hour, or a bit less. First, a quick recap of what was signed on Friday 28 February 2025 and what that means for the sources. Second, I'll go through the connectors one at a time and what I need from your side is access in writing for each. Third, the order we switch things on, and who owns what. Then last, the first refresh, and what the first few weeks look like. Does that sound right?
Ashok PatelYes, that's fine. Can I start with what I've changed since last time? It's short.- Callie BrennanPlease, go on.
- Ashok PatelI've set up a service account in our Snowflake environment for the load, and I've kept it separate from my own login. I've also pulled a list of the trade account tables from the branch system, the credit ledger and the delivery system, with row counts. I'll share that after the call, with screenshots.
- Callie BrennanThat's really helpful, thank you. That maps cleanly onto what I'd have asked for. Keeping the service account separate is exactly right, because then we can see what B-Viz is doing in your account and nothing else.
- Ashok PatelThat was my thinking. I'd rather be able to switch it off without touching anything else.
- Neil CravenCan I ask a daft question before we get into it? When you say B-Viz runs inside our Snowflake, what does that mean for the branches? Do they have to do anything?
- Callie BrennanNot a daft question at all. For the branches, nothing changes in the systems they use today. The tills, the order screens, the delivery planning all stay as they are. B-Viz sits on top, reads from those sources on a schedule, and builds one view of each trade account. The branch people then ask questions or open a page for the account, and they see the orders, the deliveries, the calls and the credit position together.
- Neil CravenSo the lad at the counter and the credit controller are looking at the same thing.
- Callie BrennanThat's the idea, yes. Same account, same facts.
- Ashok PatelWhich brings me to my first worry. Which account number is that? We've got the branch account number, the credit account number, and the delivery system has its own customer code. Some of them match and a lot don't.
- Callie BrennanRight, and that's the most important thing on the whole call, so I'm glad you've said it first. Before we switch on the refresh, we need a mapping table that says these three identifiers are the same trade account. Do you hold anything like that today?
- Ashok PatelPartly. Credit keeps a cross reference in a spreadsheet. It covers the larger accounts and it's reasonably tidy. The smaller accounts, the sole traders, are a mess. Some have been opened twice at different branches.
- Neil CravenThat's true. A plasterer opens an account at one branch, moves to a job near another, and they open him again. Nobody's checking.
- Callie BrennanOkay. So what I'd suggest is we don't try to solve the small accounts on day one. We start with the cross reference that credit holds, load it as a mapping table, and see what share of the orders and deliveries it covers. Then we list what's left over and decide together how to treat it. Ashok, would that be a reasonable first pass?
- Ashok PatelYes. I'll test it on one branch first. Pick a branch with a mix of big and small accounts, load the mapping, and check the totals against the ledger.
- Callie BrennanGood. Reports that match the ledger is the test I'd want to use as well. Do you have a branch in mind?
- Ashok PatelYork. It's close, the manager is helpful, and it has a couple of the housebuilder accounts.
- Neil CravenYork's fine. Just tell the manager before you do owt, so he's not surprised.
- Ashok PatelI'll ring him on Monday.
- Callie BrennanLovely. Let me put the connectors up so we're all looking at the same list. I'll share my screen, bear with me. Can you see it?
- Neil CravenNot yet. Aye, now I can.
- Callie BrennanRight. So Enterprise gives you room for up to twenty connectors, and from the order form we've got the core ones promised first. The branch system, the credit ledger, the delivery system, then your CRM, the call recorder and the helpdesk. After that, email and documents from Microsoft 365. Does that match what you were expecting?
- Ashok PatelMostly. I'd put Microsoft 365 later. Let's get the three trade systems clean before we add noise.
- Callie BrennanI agree, and the order form has the connectors live within a window, so we have time to do it in that order. I'll sequence it as the trade systems first, then CRM and calls, then helpdesk, then Microsoft 365.
- Neil CravenThe calls are the bit I'm keen on. Half of what goes wrong is somebody at a branch promised something on the phone and nobody wrote it down.
- Callie BrennanYes, and once the call recorder is connected, you can ask what was said to a particular account in the last month and get it back with the delivery record next to it. But that depends on the account mapping again, so it all comes back to Ashok's table.
- Ashok PatelWhich is why I'm cautious. The data says otherwise in a few places already. I looked at one housebuilder and the delivery system shows them as three separate customers.
- Neil CravenThree? That'll be the same lot with three site offices.
- Ashok PatelProbably. But I won't merge them until someone confirms, because I can't easily undo it.
- Callie BrennanThat's the right instinct. We don't merge anything silently. What I'd do is keep the original identifiers on every record, put the grouping on top as a separate layer, and that way you can undo a grouping in a minute without touching the source. Is that okay for you, Ashok?
- Ashok PatelYes, that works. Keep the originals, group on top.
- Callie BrennanGood. Now, access. This is the part I'm a bit strict about, sorry. I never start a connector without written access, so for each source I need an email from the system owner saying which tables or objects we may read, and the credentials delivered to you, Ashok, to place in the secure store. Not to me directly.
- Ashok PatelThat's fine, I'd prefer it. Who's the system owner for the delivery system? It's IT, but it's a contractor, isn't it, Neil?
- Neil CravenOur transport team run it day to day, and a colleague in IT looks after the access. I'll get the right person to email you by Wednesday.
- Callie BrennanBrilliant. Let me write that down. Neil to get the delivery system access email to Ashok by Wednesday. Ashok, the branch system and the credit ledger?
- Ashok PatelBranch system is mine, I can confirm in writing today. Credit ledger is the finance team. I'll ask them, but they'll want to know it's read only.
- Callie BrennanIt is read only. B-Viz reads from the sources and writes only into your Snowflake account. I'll send a one page note you can forward to finance that says exactly that, and lists the tables we'd read.
- Ashok PatelThat would help. They like a page.
- Neil CravenEveryone likes a page, until you send them two.
- Callie BrennanHa, one page then. Right, let me talk about the refresh. Once a source is live, it refreshes overnight, and the commitment is that it's complete by 07:00 your time on business days. So when the branches open, the data is fresh.
- Neil CravenBranches open at half six some days. Builders turn up at the crack of dawn.
- Callie BrennanThat's a fair point and worth knowing. The refresh finishes by 07:00, so for the earliest openers there'd be a short window where yesterday's picture is still showing. Is that a problem, or are those early customers mostly collecting rather than asking questions of the data?
- Neil CravenMostly collecting. I'd not worry, but I'll ask a couple of branch managers.
- Ashok PatelFrom a data point of view, I'd rather it finished properly at seven than rushed at half six with a half load.
- Callie BrennanAgreed. A clean refresh matters more than an early one. Next, users. You've got a hundred and sixty seats under the licence. Who do you want in first?
- Neil CravenNot all hundred and sixty at once, that's for certain. I want trade credit, the key account managers, and the branch managers at the pilot branch. Maybe a dozen people to begin with.
- Callie BrennanThat's sensible. A small group that asks real questions in the first fortnight will tell us far more than a big launch. And the plan is to hand over to Ashok as admin, so he can add people himself.
- Ashok PatelI'd like to be able to do that without raising a ticket. And can we do single sign-on? Our IT will insist.
- Callie BrennanYes, Enterprise includes single sign-on and SCIM for provisioning. I'd do that after the first refresh lands, so we're not changing two things at once. I'll need a contact in IT for the identity side. Can you give me a name, Ashok?
- Ashok PatelI'll send you the right contact with the access emails. It's not the same person as the data side.
- Callie BrennanPerfect. Then, security. Your security team will want to review how this is set up. We support that as part of Enterprise, so if they send questions, send them to me and I'll answer in writing, and we'll keep a record.
- Neil CravenThey've already got a questionnaire. It's been sitting in someone's inbox. I'll chase it.
- Callie BrennanThank you. The sooner the better, because it can slow things down if it arrives late.
- Ashok PatelOne more thing on the load. What happens if a source changes its structure? We're upgrading the credit ledger later in the year and the column names will move.
- Callie BrennanGood one to raise now. If a field moves and nobody tells us, the connector can keep running but stop loading new records, and that's how a source quietly goes stale. So the ask is that you tell me or Daniel, our customer success manager, before the upgrade, and we'll re-map it beforehand. Daniel will be your day to day contact after I hand over.
- Ashok PatelUnderstood. I'll put it in my change list.
- Neil CravenDo I need to know any of that? Honestly, Callie, what do you need from me?
- Callie BrennanThree things. The delivery system access email by Wednesday, the security questionnaire chased, and a decision on who the first dozen users are. A list of names is enough.
- Neil CravenI can do that. I'll have names to Ashok by Tuesday.
- Callie BrennanLovely. And from me: the one page note for finance, the mapping table template for Ashok, and a setup note after every step, so nothing lives only in my head. When I hand over, you'll have the full note.
- Ashok PatelGood. I'll test the York load as soon as the branch system access is confirmed, and I'll send you the totals against the ledger.
- Callie BrennanThen we'll look at them together before we go any wider. Anything else before we stop? We're a bit under time.
- Neil CravenNo, that's plenty. Thanks, Callie, good call. Cheers, both.
- Ashok PatelThanks. Speak soon.
- Callie BrennanThanks all. I'll send the notes this afternoon. Bye for now.
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