Mossbrook Data Partners / BG-Demo – Onboarding
Callcompleted
Mossbrook Data Partners · 15 Sep 2025 16:30
Onboarding with Joanna Platt and Ciaran Doherty on Mossbrook's own account. They agreed three connectors, roles and a fourth slot held. Joanna found four business hours for a P1 long if a client is waiting.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Onboarding with Joanna Platt and Ciaran Doherty on Mossbrook's own account. They agreed three connectors, roles and a fourth slot held. Joanna found four business hours for a P1 long if a client is waiting.
What happened: Hamza Akhtar agreed ownership with Mossbrook. Warehouse and roles are Mossbrook's, while connectors and the application are BG-Demo's. Joanna chose CRM, helpdesk and call recorder, with the fourth slot decided after two weeks.
Customer view: Joanna said three clients have already asked what Mossbrook uses internally. She called four business hours long if a client is waiting, and Hamza said a client case should mean a higher tier or support add-on.
Commercial: Joanna restated Starter at £20k a year, with a term to 28 Aug 2026. Hamza pointed terms to Sophie Ling.
Watch: Ciaran wants written confirmation on refresh locking and data removal. Joanna has told two clients it is a quick thing.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Onboarding and client plans
Importance
upsell
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- Hamza Akhtar to send the grants document and connector checklist the next day.
- Ciaran Doherty to create the dedicated warehouse and roles by Wednesday and tell Hamza.
- Joanna Platt to decide the fourth connector after about two weeks.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Four business hours for a P1 on Starter may not suit client-facing use, as Joanna Platt said.
- Joanna has told two clients adoption is quick, which depends on a tidy Snowflake set-up.
- Ciaran Doherty is waiting on written answers on refresh locking and data removal.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Three Mossbrook clients have already asked about B-Viz, which could become new customers.
- Client use may call for a higher tier or Premium support, and a fifth connector would be an add-on.
Transcript
Hamza AkhtarHi both, can you hear me alright? Afternoon.
Ciaran DohertyYep. Afternoon.
Joanna PlattHi Hamza, hi Ciaran. Sorry, I'm sat in a car park outside a client's office, give me a second, I'm going to switch to headphones. Right. Is that better?- Hamza AkhtarMuch better, the echo's gone. Busy day?
- Joanna PlattThree client catch-ups back to back, so yes. Which is actually why I'd like to open with the pipeline, if you don't mind, because it's the whole reason we're doing this properly.
- Hamza AkhtarGo for it. That's useful for me to hear anyway.
- Joanna PlattSo, we look after about sixty clients in the North West, all on Snowflake, all mid-sized, and all of them have the same complaint. Their data is in the warehouse but nobody on the business side can ask it a question without raising a request with us. Three of them have already asked me what we use internally, and when I say B-Viz they say, can we have that. So the plan is we run it ourselves first, we learn it, and then we bring clients in one at a time. Nobody gets introduced until I'd stake my name on it.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's a sensible order. And just so I've got it right, today is about your own set-up, not a client's.
- Joanna PlattCorrect. Our own account, our own team. Clients come later.
- Ciaran DohertyCan I add what I found in the logs before we start? Since it's relevant.
- Hamza AkhtarPlease.
- Ciaran DohertyThe account's provisioned, I can see the application role you created and the first sign-in from the invite. One person has logged in. Me. No queries yet, which is what I'd expect. I checked the role grants and they're narrower than I thought they'd be, so that's fine. What I don't know yet is which warehouse the nightly refresh is meant to be running on.
- Hamza AkhtarGood question, and it's the first thing I wanted to settle. It runs inside your Snowflake account, so it's your compute. The refresh is designed to finish by 07:00 your time on business days, and for a set-up your size a small dedicated warehouse is plenty. I'd rather it didn't share one with your client work.
- Ciaran DohertyAgreed. Separate warehouse, auto-suspend short, resource monitor on it. I'll create that.
- Joanna PlattHang on, who owns that, us or you? I want to write down who's responsible for what, because that's the bit that goes wrong in partnerships.
- Hamza AkhtarFair. Warehouse and roles are yours, since it's your account. Ciaran creates them, Ciaran owns them. The connectors, the indexing and the application itself are ours to configure and to fix when something breaks. If a source stops loading, that's a ticket to us.
- Joanna PlattLet's write that down. Ciaran, can you put it in the shared notes?
- Ciaran DohertyDoing it now. Two lines. Account and compute, Mossbrook. Connectors and application, BG-Demo.
- Hamza AkhtarPerfect. Okay, so for the agenda, I'd like to cover three things. One, the Snowflake side, so roles and warehouse. Two, which connectors you want first, because on Starter there's a hard limit of four. Three, who the users are and what a first week looks like. Does that work?
- Joanna PlattThat works. What does the client need on day one? Sorry, that's me thinking ahead. For us, I mean, what do we need on day one.
- Hamza AkhtarNo, it's the right question for both. On day one you need the data landing and at least a handful of people asking real questions. Everything else is secondary.
- Ciaran DohertyRoles first then. I've got the application role and I want a separate role for the connectors to read from our source schemas. Read only. I'm not giving the application anything that can write outside its own schema.
- Hamza AkhtarThat matches what we'd recommend. The application only needs to write to its own database. Reading from source schemas is a select grant and nothing more.
- Ciaran DohertyGood. That's a schema question really. I'll keep the source schemas separate from the B-Viz database so the boundaries are obvious if anyone audits it.
- Hamza AkhtarDo you want me to send the list of grants, or would you rather work it out yourself?
- Ciaran DohertySend the list. I'll check it against what I've done. I won't apply anything because an email says so.
- Hamza AkhtarHa, understood. I'll put it as a document with the reasoning for each grant, so you can accept or reject line by line.
- Ciaran DohertyBetter.
- Joanna PlattTiming question. When can this go live? Because I'd like to tell the partners something next week.
- Ciaran DohertyI won't change the production account on a Friday. So Monday to Thursday only. That's a rule, not a preference.
- Joanna PlattWhich is why I love working with you.
- Hamza AkhtarThat suits us. Starter implementations run about four weeks, so the plan would be roles and warehouse this week, connectors next, then users, then a review. I'd rather go slowly and have it clean.
- Joanna PlattFour weeks is fine. We signed on 29 Aug 2025, so we're already a couple of weeks in on the commercial side, and I'd rather not be in a rush now.
- Hamza AkhtarNobody's rushing. Right, connectors. You can pick four. What do you want it to read?
- Joanna PlattI've been thinking about this. Our CRM, obviously, because that's where the client pipeline and the delivery status live. Then the helpdesk, because that's where our support questions end up. Then the call recorder, because half of what we know about a client is said on a call and never written down.
- Ciaran DohertyAnd the fourth should be whatever's hardest to get out of someone's head otherwise. Which is probably the accounting system. Utilisation versus invoicing. That's where the awkward answers are.
- Joanna PlattMm. That's a good shout. I wasn't sure about finance data in the first month though.
- Hamza AkhtarCan I suggest holding the fourth slot open for a bit? The limit's hard, so once you've used four, adding a fifth is a conversation with our account team about an add-on. Better to spend the fourth on something you've seen the value of.
- Joanna PlattOkay, so three to start, and we choose the fourth after the first fortnight. Let's write that down.
- Ciaran DohertyNoted. Three connectors, fourth slot reserved, decision after two weeks. Owner of the decision, Joanna.
- Joanna PlattFine, mine.
- Hamza AkhtarWhile we're on it, can I share my screen and show you what the connector set-up looks like? Might help Ciaran see what it needs from you.
- Ciaran DohertyYes.
- Hamza AkhtarOkay, can you see it? It's the admin page. Each connector has a status, a last-loaded time, and a record count. This one's an example, not yours. What matters for you is that for each source we ask for a service account, not a personal login. Personal logins are the number one reason a connector stops working three months later when someone leaves.
- Ciaran DohertyObviously service accounts. I'll create them. Least privilege, one per source, named so nobody deletes them by accident.
- Joanna PlattAnd documented, please. If one of our consultants leaves I don't want to find out what a service account is for by deleting it.
- Ciaran DohertyIt'll be in the repo with an owner against each. That's how I do all of them.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's more than most customers do, honestly. Right, and on this page you'll see the record counts rise as the first load runs. If a count goes flat for weeks, that's the sign it's gone stale, so it's worth looking at once in a while.
- Ciaran DohertyCan I get that as an alert instead of looking at a page?
- Hamza AkhtarNot today as a built-in. What some people do is query the counts in Snowflake and alert from their own tooling. Since it's your warehouse you can see the table sizes directly.
- Ciaran DohertyFine. I'll write a check. A simple one.
- Hamza AkhtarI'm going to stop sharing. Questions on that?
- Joanna PlattNo, it's clear. I'd rather talk about people now.
- Hamza AkhtarSure. Starter is one team, with 15 users as a soft limit. Who are you thinking of?
- Joanna PlattMy delivery leads, the consultants who run client accounts, myself, Ciaran, and a couple of people from the partnership side. I make it about twelve. Does that fit?
- Hamza AkhtarIt fits with room to spare. Fifteen is soft, so if you tip over for a week nothing breaks, but if it becomes permanent we'd talk about it.
- Joanna PlattAnd that's the bit I wanted to ask about. When clients come on, are they on our subscription, or do they have their own?
- Hamza AkhtarTheir own. Each client would be a separate customer with their own order form and their own Snowflake account. Yours is for your own team. I don't want to promise the commercial side of referrals, that's for Sophie Ling, who looks after your account, but I can tell you how the implementation side works.
- Joanna PlattPlease do. Because I've told two of them it's a quick thing.
- Hamza AkhtarIt can be quick when the Snowflake side is tidy. And that's where you come in, Ciaran. If you've built the warehouse, the roles and the schemas properly, our part is much faster. Messy warehouse, slow implementation.
- Ciaran DohertyThen that's a documented standard. A template for the roles and the schemas. I do that for every client anyway, I'd just add the B-Viz pieces.
- Joanna PlattOh, I like that. A checklist we can hand to a client engineer. What do we call it?
- Ciaran DohertyNot naming it today. Let's see how our own goes first. I don't write a standard from one case.
- Hamza AkhtarAgreed. Do yours first and we'll learn what we'd change. I'll keep notes on everything that takes longer than it should.
- Joanna PlattGood. Let's write that down.
- Hamza AkhtarRight, so the first week for users. I'd like to start with two or three people, not all twelve. Ideally one person who asks a lot of questions of the data in their day job, and one who's sceptical.
- Joanna PlattSceptic's easy. Ciaran.
- Ciaran DohertyI'm not a sceptic. I just don't believe anything until I've seen the query.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's exactly the person. If it survives you it'll survive a client.
- Ciaran DohertyDoes it show me the query behind an answer?
- Hamza AkhtarIt shows you the sources an answer came from, so you can go and check them. I'd rather you test that with your own data, because it's more convincing than me telling you.
- Ciaran DohertyFine. I'll ask it something I already know the answer to.
- Joanna PlattAsk it which of our clients has the oldest open delivery issue. I know the answer and I'll be embarrassed.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's a great first question, and it would need the CRM and helpdesk both, so it's a good test of the first two connectors.
- Joanna PlattCan I ask about support? If we hit a problem, what happens? Because if I put a client on this and it falls over, it's my name.
- Hamza AkhtarTickets go to our helpdesk. On Starter, first response for a priority one is within four business hours. It's the standard for your tier and I'm not going to oversell it. Marcus Bell, who's your customer success manager, will also check in with you, and on Starter that's every six months, though I'd expect him to be closer than that while you're settling in.
- Joanna PlattFour business hours is long if a client is waiting.
- Hamza AkhtarIt is, and I'd say that when a client's involved the conversation should be about a higher tier or a support add-on, not about pretending Starter is something it isn't. But for your own use, it's reasonable.
- Joanna PlattFair. I appreciate the candour. Let's note it as something we revisit when we bring the first client.
- Ciaran DohertyNoted.
- Ciaran DohertyHamza, one technical thing. The nightly refresh. When it runs, does it take locks on source tables?
- Hamza AkhtarIt reads through the connectors, so it's reading from the source systems, not locking your warehouse tables. For anything coming from tables in your Snowflake it's a select, so no locking beyond what a normal query does. I'll confirm in writing, because I'd rather not guess on a detail like that.
- Ciaran DohertyGood. Don't guess. I'll wait for the written answer.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's on me, noted.
- Joanna PlattOkay. Can I check the commercial picture, so I say the right thing internally? We're on Starter at £19,500 a year, and the implementation was a separate fixed fee, which finance has already handled.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's how I understand it too. £19,500 a year for the subscription, 15 users, and the order form is the thing that decides it. Beyond that I'd point you at Sophie for anything about terms. I don't want to quote you something from memory.
- Joanna PlattFine. And the term runs to 28 Aug 2026, correct?
- Hamza AkhtarThat's what I have. Renewal falls on 29 Aug 2026. Plenty of time, and Marcus will raise it well ahead.
- Joanna PlattGood. Just want to know where the date is.
- Hamza AkhtarOkay. Let me go through what we've decided and you correct me. One, Ciaran creates a dedicated warehouse and the roles, Monday to Thursday only. Two, I send a document with the grants and the reason for each, and Ciaran reviews it and applies what he agrees with. Three, three connectors to start: CRM, helpdesk, call recorder, with the fourth slot held for Joanna to decide after about two weeks. Four, service accounts for each source, documented. Five, two or three people first, including Ciaran, then the rest.
- Joanna PlattYes. Add, six, written confirmation on the refresh and locking.
- Hamza AkhtarSix, written confirmation on the refresh. Thank you.
- Ciaran DohertySeven. Nothing goes in on a Friday.
- Joanna PlattSeven. Yes. Written in bold.
- Hamza AkhtarDates. I'll send the grants document and the connector checklist tomorrow. Ciaran, can you have the warehouse and roles done by Wednesday, and tell me when they're in?
- Ciaran DohertyWednesday's fine. I'll message when it's done, with the role names, not the credentials.
- Hamza AkhtarNaturally. Joanna, can you send me the names of your first two or three users by the end of the week?
- Joanna PlattI'll have them by Thursday. And I'll put the notes from today into the shared document tonight so nobody has to remember anything.
- Joanna PlattOne more thing, while I think of it. Can we agree to have a short call every week during the four weeks? Fifteen minutes. I never let a referral go without a follow-up, and this is the same.
- Hamza AkhtarHappily. Same slot each week? I'll send an invite for the same time.
- Ciaran DohertyNot Fridays.
- Hamza AkhtarNot Fridays. Got it.
- Joanna PlattMondays then, same as today. Late afternoon is fine for me.
- Hamza AkhtarDone. Anything else before we finish? We've a bit of time.
- Ciaran DohertyOne question I forgot. When the application is removed, say at the end of a contract, what happens to the data in our account?
- Hamza AkhtarIt's your account, so it's your data and your tables. The application's objects are what get removed. I'll write down exactly which objects, so you've got it on file. Again, I'd rather confirm than say it from memory.
- Ciaran DohertyGood. That's the answer I wanted, plus the document.
- Joanna PlattBrilliant. Thanks, Hamza, thanks, Ciaran. Speak on Monday.
- Hamza AkhtarThanks both. I'll send the documents tomorrow. Speak soon, bye.
- Ciaran DohertyBye.
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