Strensall Merchants / BG-Demo – Onboarding
Callcompleted
Strensall Merchants · 16 Apr 2025 16:30
Second onboarding call. Laura set the connector order and a one-branch test on the replica. Ashok flagged weak account mapping, a single admin and the need for proof of value. Neil has told the board this year.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Second onboarding call. Laura set the connector order and a one-branch test on the replica. Ashok flagged weak account mapping, a single admin and the need for proof of value. Neil has told the board this year.
What happened: Laura showed the connector plan, starting with the branch system, then credit, then delivery, with the CRM left until mapping is settled. Ashok will run a one-branch test and send the mapping sheet.
Customer view: Neil wants branch managers to answer a builder before ringing head office. Ashok said a balance that differs from finance would end use.
Commercial: Laura restated the £114k annual figure, which matches what has been invoiced, and the order form runs to 27 Feb 2026. Ashok wants proof of value well before then.
Watch: Neil has told the board the rollout is this year. Branches open earlier than the 07:00 refresh, and Ashok is still the only admin.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Connector order and pilot
Importance
neutral
Sentiment
positive
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Ashok Patel to send the mapping sheet with doubtful rows marked and run the one-branch test on the replica.
- Neil Craven to name the pilot users by the end of the week and ask sales not to merge CRM records yet.
- Laura Penhaligon to send the single sign-on steps, the updated connector plan and a call note.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Ashok is the only admin, so a failed load has no cover until two more are named.
- Neil has told the board the rollout is this year while Laura would not commit to a date for every branch.
- Branches open before the 07:00 refresh, and the mapping sheet is only about ninety percent reliable.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Pilot users are key account managers and trade credit, with branch managers to follow, which widens use towards the licensed user count.
- A thirty minute session for the credit team after the credit connector is live can build early adoption.
Transcript
Laura PenhaligonAfternoon both, can you hear me alright? I can see Ashok but Neil's gone a bit frozen on my side.
Neil CravenAye, I can hear you. Camera's being daft. Hang on. There, better?- Laura PenhaligonMuch better, thanks.
Ashok PatelGood afternoon. Sorry, I'm in a spare office because my usual room's booked. The audio's fine though, I think.- Laura PenhaligonPerfect. Thanks for making time, I know it's the back end of the day. We've got about forty minutes, so I'd like to cover who owns what, the connectors in the order we switch them on, and what the first few weeks look like. Does that suit?
- Neil CravenSuits me. Before we start, I'll tell you what rang me this morning. One of our big housebuilder accounts. Their site manager had an order showing at one branch and nothing at the next one along. Which branch, which account, and nobody could tell him in one go. That's the whole reason we're doing this.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's exactly the sort of thing we want you answering from one place. Ashok, you said you'd changed a few things since we last spoke?
- Ashok PatelYes. Since last time I've created the schema and the service role in our Snowflake account the way you described, and I've given the loads their own warehouse so they don't compete with the reporting team. I haven't switched any source on yet, though. I'll test it on one branch first. I picked one with a mix of cash and account customers, because if the account numbers behave there, they'll behave anywhere.
- Laura PenhaligonSensible, that's how I'd do it. And the role, is it read-only on the source side?
- Ashok PatelRead-only, yes. I don't like anything that can write back into the branch system. I'd never delete something I couldn't restore either, so if we ever need to clear a load, I want to know first what it touches.
- Neil CravenHe's right on that. I once had a branch manager ring me because somebody's report had changed a price list. Not doing that again.
- Laura PenhaligonNo, nothing in B-Viz writes back to your systems. It reads, indexes, and the questions are answered inside your own Snowflake account. The data doesn't leave, which should help with the security side too.
- Ashok PatelThat was our information security team's main question, actually. They're happy in principle. They'd like to see the single sign-on set-up before we open it to anyone beyond the pilot group.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's included with Enterprise, along with automatic user provisioning. I'll send you the steps after this call. You'll need someone who can edit the identity settings. Is that you or a colleague in IT?
- Ashok PatelA colleague in IT. I'll introduce you by email. Probably not this week, they're stuck on a project.
- Laura PenhaligonFine, next week is fine. Right, let me share my screen and I'll show you the connector plan, because I think that's the bit that'll throw up most questions.
- Neil CravenGo on then.
- Laura PenhaligonSorry, it wouldn't let me share. Can you see it now? The plan page.
- Ashok PatelYes, clear.
- Laura PenhaligonSo the order form lists the sources you've contracted for: the branch trading system, trade credit, delivery and routing, your CRM, the call recorder and the helpdesk. I've put them in the order I'd suggest we go live, which isn't the order they're listed. I'd start with the branch system, then credit, then delivery, and leave calls and the helpdesk until the account side is solid.
- Neil CravenWhy credit before delivery? Delivery's what the builders ring us about.
- Laura PenhaligonFair question. Because credit is where the account numbers have to agree. If the branch system and the credit system disagree on who a customer is, every delivery you attach to them will hang off the wrong thing.
- Ashok PatelWhich account number is that, though? Because we have the branch account code, and credit has its own, and in a few cases the same builder has several of each. I've got a mapping sheet. It's about ninety percent right and I wouldn't trust the rest.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's the honest answer I was hoping for. Can you share the mapping sheet with me before we load anything? I'd rather we see the gaps on paper than find them in a chat answer.
- Ashok PatelI can do that tomorrow. I'll mark the ones I'm unsure of so you're not guessing.
- Neil CravenWhat's the builder actually going to see out of this? That's what I keep coming back to. I'm not bothered about schemas.
- Laura PenhaligonNot the builder directly, to be clear. Your people. So a key account manager, or someone at a branch, asks something like what has this customer ordered across every branch this quarter, what's been delivered, and is there anything on hold with credit. And they get one answer with the sources behind it, rather than three phone calls.
- Neil CravenRight. That's it. That's what I want my branch managers to be able to do before they ring head office.
- Ashok PatelAnd it has to match the ledger. If somebody asks about balances and the answer is different to what finance has, it's finished. They'll never use it again.
- Laura PenhaligonAgreed, and I'd build that in as a test. We pick a handful of accounts, you and finance tell me what the ledger says, and we don't call the credit connector done until B-Viz says the same.
- Ashok PatelGood. That I can work with.
- Laura PenhaligonI've just scrolled to the timeline. Bear with me, there's a lot on this page. So, the first connector, the branch system. Ashok, what does the extract look like on your side? Is it a nightly file or can we query it?
- Ashok PatelBoth, annoyingly. There's a nightly extract that finishes late, and there's a read replica that's meant to be current. The replica is better, but I haven't tested it under a full load. That's what I'd do on the one branch first.
- Laura PenhaligonThen let's do that. One branch, replica, a week of data, and look at the record counts against what you expect. If it's clean, we widen it.
- Neil CravenHow long before it's all ninety-odd branches? Because I've told the board it's this year.
- Laura PenhaligonThis year is realistic. I won't give you a date for every branch today, because it depends on how the first test goes. What I can say is that once one branch is clean, the rest tend to go in batches rather than one at a time.
- Neil CravenFair enough. Let's sort it, not talk about it. Which branch are you using, Ashok?
- Ashok PatelOne of the mid-sized ones on the York side. Busy enough to matter, small enough that if I get it wrong nobody notices.
- Neil CravenI'll warn the branch manager. He'll want to know why you're poking about in his numbers.
- Laura PenhaligonOkay, I've updated the plan with that. Next, users. The order form says one hundred and sixty licensed users, and at the moment you've got a small group active. Neil, who do you want in first?
- Neil CravenKey account managers and the trade credit team. Those two groups argue about the same customers every week, so if they see the same thing it'll pay back quickly. Branch managers after that, a few at a time. I don't want a hundred and sixty people poking at it on day one and deciding it's rubbish because the data's half loaded.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's wise. People tend to judge it on the first question they ask. I'd keep the pilot to the people who'll forgive a rough edge and tell us about it.
- Ashok PatelI'd add two from my own team as admins. At the moment it's only me, and if I'm off ill or on leave nobody can fix a failed load.
- Laura PenhaligonYes, please do. One admin is a risk for you and for us. Send me the two names and I'll set them up.
- Ashok PatelWill do. I'll check they're comfortable with the access first.
- Laura PenhaligonRight, refresh times, because this matters for your branches. The nightly refresh is meant to be complete by 07:00 on business days. Branches open early, I assume?
- Neil CravenHalf past six, a lot of them. Builders turn up before the sun. So seven is late for them, but I take the point, it's a start.
- Ashok PatelOur branch extract only finishes around five, so seven is about right. Earlier would mean changing something on our side, and I'm not touching that until the first load is proven.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's a good order to do things in. And if the data's late one morning, tell us, don't just assume it's a one-off. Stale data is the thing I'd least like you to find out by accident.
- Neil CravenAye. A manager quoting yesterday's stock to a builder is worse than quoting nothing.
- Laura PenhaligonSorry, the page was slow. Let me go to the part about support. You're on Enterprise, so the response times for a serious problem are the quickest we offer. If a load fails and it's blocking you, raise it as high priority and say what's affected. You've had a couple of tickets already, I can see.
- Ashok PatelYes, both small. One was a permissions question and one was a how-to on the admin page. Both answered the same day. No complaints.
- Laura PenhaligonGood, that's what I'd hope for at this stage. If you find yourself raising lots of how-to questions, tell me and I'll run a session instead.
- Neil CravenA session would be useful for the credit team. They're not shy, but they're not technical either. Short and practical.
- Laura PenhaligonI can do that. Thirty minutes on the types of question that work well, using your own accounts. I'll book it once the credit connector's live so there's something real to ask.
- Neil CravenGood. Nobody listens to a demo with made-up builders.
- Ashok PatelCan I ask about the CRM connector? Our sales team have notes in there that are, let's say, creative. Some accounts are duplicated under trading names. The data says otherwise when you compare with credit.
- Laura PenhaligonCommon, and not a problem in itself, but it's why I'd leave the CRM until the account mapping is settled. Once credit and branch agree on one trade account, we can match the CRM records to that, and the duplicates become visible rather than hidden.
- Neil CravenThat's my sales lot. I'll have a word. Not today, mind. Let me see what it throws up first.
- Ashok PatelI'd rather list the duplicates myself than have anyone tidy them. If someone merges records in the CRM before we've mapped them, the history goes with it.
- Laura PenhaligonAgreed. Please ask them not to merge anything yet. I'll put that in the notes.
- Laura PenhaligonLast bit on the plan, the contract. The term started when you signed on 28 Feb 2025 and the order form runs to 27 Feb 2026. The annual figure on the order form is £113,500, and that matches what's been invoiced, so nothing's off there.
- Neil CravenRight. I'll leave that side to our finance lead, I don't talk price without them. But good to know it all lines up.
- Ashok PatelFrom a data point of view the only thing I'd flag is that we'll want some proof of value well before February. If the board asks what we're getting for it, I'd like to point at questions answered, not just records loaded.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's a good instinct, and Daniel, your customer success manager, will pick that up with you once people are using it. For now, my job is to get you live and clean.
- Neil CravenFine by me. Get it working first and the value will speak for itself.
- Laura PenhaligonLet me recap actions, then. Ashok, you'll send the mapping sheet tomorrow with the doubtful ones marked, and run the one-branch test on the replica. You'll also introduce me to your colleague in IT for single sign-on, and send me two names for extra admins.
- Ashok PatelYes, and I'll write up what I changed in the warehouse set-up, so you've got it in one place.
- Laura PenhaligonLovely. Neil, you'll warn the branch manager, decide the first group of pilot users, and ask sales not to merge any CRM records yet.
- Neil CravenDone, or will be. Key account managers and trade credit first. I'll get you the names by the end of the week.
- Laura PenhaligonAnd from me: the single sign-on steps, the updated connector plan with the order we've agreed, and a note of this call. Then once the branch test is clean, we speak again to decide when to widen it.
- Ashok PatelShould we pencil in a short call after the test? Fifteen minutes, so I can show you the counts.
- Laura PenhaligonYes, I'll send an invite for early next week. If the test takes longer, tell me and we'll move it, no fuss.
- Neil CravenOne more from me. Is it all right if I ring you directly if a builder kicks off about something? Not for a fix, just so you know what we're trying to answer.
- Laura PenhaligonOf course. Email is quicker for me to action, but a call is fine. Real examples are useful, they tell me what to test.
- Neil CravenGrand. That site manager this morning, I'll send you the gist. Without names, mind.
- Ashok PatelI'd rather have the account number than the gist, to be honest. Then I can check what each system held.
- Neil CravenFair. I'll send you both. Anything else, or can I get back to the phone?
- Laura PenhaligonNothing else from me. Thanks both, that was really helpful, especially the account number point. It's the right thing to be careful about.
- Ashok PatelThanks, Laura. I'll be in touch once the test has run. Ashok.
- Neil CravenCheers, Laura. Cheers, Ashok. Speak soon.
- Laura PenhaligonSpeak soon. Bye both.
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