Marlcliff Security Services / BG-Demo – Onboarding
Callcompleted
Marlcliff Security Services · 17 Jun 2025 16:15
Onboarding call on 17 Jun 2025 with Kamal Hussein alone. Rostering is live, the client list is the priority, and Kamal learned single sign-on is not on Growth. He was told Lewis Kerr would confirm the order form.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Onboarding call on 17 Jun 2025 with Kamal Hussein alone. Rostering is live, the client list is the priority, and Kamal learned single sign-on is not on Growth. He was told Lewis Kerr would confirm the order form.
What happened: Laura Penhaligon and Kamal reviewed three sources: rostering, the control room system and accounting. Rostering is running, the control room has only part of its history, and accounting waits for a finance sign-off.
Customer view: Kamal's success test is that nobody asks him for a client report. He wants a week late rather than a week wrong, and kept the workspace to himself until the data is right.
Commercial: Kamal assumed single sign-on came with the plan and said he would have liked to know earlier. He said he was not asking for an upgrade, so this is a possible Enterprise conversation for Lewis Kerr, not a request.
Watch: Kamal is the only admin and is short of time. The term Laura quoted ended on 4 Jun 2026; the evidence does not show what happened at renewal.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Onboarding and client list
Importance
neutral
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Laura Penhaligon emails Lewis Kerr that afternoon, copying Kamal, to confirm what the order form says on single sign-on.
- Kamal sends the shift code change note that night and the dated client list by early next week.
- Laura sends the plain-words list of accounting fields by Friday for Kamal's finance lead.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Kamal is the only admin and has not yet agreed a second one with IT.
- Single sign-on was assumed to be included, so there is a mismatch between expectation and the Growth order form.
- Kamal's time is stretched by a rostering patch and an accounting audit, which could slow the connectors and client list.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Single sign-on could prompt a tier conversation if Kamal later wants it, which would be Lewis Kerr's to lead.
- A CRM connector was named as a later addition once the first three sources are solid.
Transcript
Laura PenhaligonHello Kamal, can you hear me all right? I've got you on screen but I'm not sure my audio's come through.
Kamal HusseinYes, loud and clear. Afternoon, Laura. Sorry, I was on mute, someone from the control room was just at my desk.- Laura PenhaligonNo problem at all. How's the week been? Quiet, I hope.
- Kamal HusseinNot really. We had a rostering patch go out on Monday night and it moved a few shift codes around, so I've spent most of today checking nothing downstream broke. It's fine now. Everything lined up in the end.
- Laura PenhaligonAh, that's actually relevant to what we're doing, so good to hear. I'll come back to it when we get to the rostering connector. Shall I say what I'd like to cover and you tell me if it's wrong?
- Kamal HusseinPlease. Normally I'd open with the open tickets, but we haven't got any. So you go first.
- Laura PenhaligonRight, no tickets is a good start. So, the plan for today. First, where we are with the three sources you want connected: rostering, the control room system and the accounting system. Second, the client list, because I know that's the thing you care about most. Third, who at Marlcliff gets access and when. And last, a rough order of work for the next few weeks and who owns what. Does that match what you had in mind?
- Kamal HusseinYes. That's about right. I'd add one thing at the end, which is the hand-over notes. I want everything written down before anyone else touches it.
- Laura PenhaligonGood, we'll put that on the list. I'd like that too, honestly. It makes my life easier later.
- Kamal HusseinIt's in the runbook, or it will be. I've started one. It's rough at the moment.
- Laura PenhaligonPerfect. Let me share my screen so you can see the status page. Can you see it?
- Kamal HusseinYes, I can see it. A bit small, but I can read it.
- Laura PenhaligonI'll make it bigger. There. So this is your workspace inside your Snowflake account. You'll remember we set that up in the first week, after the order form was signed on 5 Jun 2025. At the moment there's one user in it and that's you, which is what I'd expect at this stage.
- Kamal HusseinYes. Just me. I wanted to get the connectors right before I let anyone in. If account managers log in and see half a client list, they'll stop trusting it on day one.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's very sensible, and honestly it's the opposite of what most people do. Usually they invite everybody and then spend a month apologising.
- Kamal HusseinI'd rather apologise less.
- Laura PenhaligonHa, fair. Okay, so the rostering connector first. That's the one that's loaded and running. Can you see the green tick against it?
- Kamal HusseinYes. I'll check the connector after this call, though, because of the patch on Monday. The shift codes changed. I want to be sure your side picked up the new ones and didn't just keep the old mapping.
- Laura PenhaligonGood instinct. What I can see from here is that last night's refresh finished before seven in the morning, which is what we promise on every tier, and the record count moved, so it's pulling something. But whether the new shift codes are mapped properly, I can't say from this screen. Can you send me the old and new code list?
- Kamal HusseinYes, I have both. The supplier gave me a change note. I'll send it over tonight, with a note on which ones are renamed and which are brand new.
- Laura PenhaligonLovely. I'll make a mapping table from it and we can go through it together before you invite anyone. If it's wrong, it's wrong quietly, which is how I'd like it.
- Kamal HusseinMm. And I'd want a backout plan before you change anything in the live mapping. If the new table goes in and something looks off, I need to be able to put the old one back in one step.
- Laura PenhaligonAbsolutely. We keep a versioned copy of the mapping, so reverting is a single action. I'll show you where that lives when we've got the table. I wouldn't touch it without you agreeing first.
- Kamal HusseinGood. Thank you.
- Laura PenhaligonRight, the control room system. This is the one with the incidents and the calls, yes?
- Kamal HusseinYes. Alarm events, patrol check-ins, the incident log and the call notes the operators type. That's where the real picture of a client is, if I'm honest. Rostering tells you who was on site. The control room tells you what happened.
- Laura PenhaligonThat makes sense. At the moment that connector is configured but it's only loaded part of the history. I can see it's pulled the recent incidents and it's stopped at a certain point. Do you know why?
- Kamal HusseinI think so. The older records sit in an archive table, not the live one. The live table only goes back a certain length of time and then it's rolled over. I should have told you. It's in my notes, I just hadn't passed it on.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's really useful, and it explains it. So we need to point a second extraction at the archive. Can you give me read access to that table, or tell me who can?
- Kamal HusseinI can do it myself. It's a read-only account, so no risk. I'll make a separate one for you rather than sharing the existing login. Easier to audit.
- Laura PenhaligonEven better. Send the details through the secure route we agreed, not by email.
- Kamal HusseinYes, of course. Through the portal.
- Laura PenhaligonGreat. Now, what I'd like to ask about is the call notes. Do the operators type them free-form?
- Kamal HusseinMostly. Some of them have a template, but a lot of it is free text. Shorthand, abbreviations, the odd spelling mistake. It's not tidy.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's fine. People ask questions of it in plain English, so untidy notes are usable. What matters is that each note is tied to the right client. Which brings me to the client list.
- Kamal HusseinYes. Here we go.
- Laura PenhaligonTell me how it looks from your side. I know you've got a few systems and they don't all call a client the same thing.
- Kamal HusseinThey don't. The rostering system uses a site code. The control room uses a client code plus a site suffix. The accounting system has its own customer reference, which credit control made up years ago. And the CRM has the trading name. So one client can be four different things.
- Laura PenhaligonAnd is there a master list that joins them up anywhere?
- Kamal HusseinThere's a spreadsheet. I built it. It joins the control room client code to the accounting reference, and the site codes sit underneath. It's mostly right. Which client code is that, is the question I ask myself about twice a week.
- Laura PenhaligonHa. Okay. So the spreadsheet is the thing we should start from. I'd suggest we load it into your workspace as a reference table, and every connector joins to that, instead of each one guessing. Then when someone asks about a client, B-Viz knows the rostering site, the control room code and the invoice account all belong to the same company.
- Kamal HusseinThat's what I was hoping for. One client list. If that works, it's most of the value for us.
- Laura PenhaligonIt does work, but it's only as good as the list. Where is it wrong? Be honest.
- Kamal HusseinMergers, mainly. When two clients merge, or a client changes its name, the old codes stay alive for a while. So you can get two codes for what's really one company. And there are a few sites that moved from one client to another when a managing agent changed.
- Laura PenhaligonRight. So there's a sort of history to it. Could we add two columns, one for a start date and one for an end date against each mapping? Then a site belongs to one client up to a point and another after that.
- Kamal HusseinI can do that, but not for all of them. For the recent changes yes. For the older ones I'd be guessing, and I don't like to guess.
- Laura PenhaligonNo, don't guess. Leave the old ones blank and we'll flag them as unconfirmed. Better to say we don't know than to say something wrong.
- Kamal HusseinAgreed. I'll mark them clearly.
- Laura PenhaligonOkay, how long would it take you to get that sheet to me with the dates?
- Kamal HusseinGive me until early next week. It's not hard, it's just fiddly, and I'm being pulled around by the patch.
- Laura PenhaligonEarly next week is fine. I'll put it in the plan against your name, and I'll check in on Monday just to see whether the patch has let you off the hook.
- Kamal HusseinThank you.
- Laura PenhaligonSo that's rostering, control room and the client list. The third source is the accounting system. How are you feeling about that one?
- Kamal HusseinCautious. Credit control lives in it. Invoices, payments, the ageing report, the chasing notes. If your connector touches anything it shouldn't, I'll hear about it from the finance team within the hour.
- Laura PenhaligonUnderstood. It's read only. We don't write anything back to the accounting system. All we do is copy invoice and payment data into your Snowflake account on the nightly run, and that's all.
- Kamal HusseinI know, you said that in the kick-off and it's in the order form. But I'd still like someone in finance to see it and say yes before I switch it on. I'll ask our finance lead. She'll want to know what fields come across.
- Laura PenhaligonOf course. I'll write a short list of fields, in plain words, not technical ones, so she can read it without needing you to translate. Would that help?
- Kamal HusseinThat would help a lot.
- Laura PenhaligonI'll have it to you by Friday. If she's happy, you or she can give me the credentials, and we'll switch it on after that, not before.
- Kamal HusseinGood. Friday's fine.
- Laura PenhaligonOkay. Let me just take a quick breath. Sorry, I've been talking for a while. Anything you want to raise before I go on to access?
- Kamal HusseinOne thing. The refresh time. You said before seven in the morning. Our account managers start at eight, and credit control are in from half past seven. Is seven reliable?
- Laura PenhaligonIt's the commitment on every business day, for every tier, so yes. If it ever slips, that's something to raise with us straight away, and it goes through support. In practice the run finishes much earlier, but I won't promise a time that isn't in the contract.
- Kamal HusseinFair enough. I'll tell them seven, and if it's earlier, it's a bonus.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's the right way to put it. All right, access. You have forty licensed users on the Growth plan. Who are you thinking of?
- Kamal HusseinForty is plenty at the start. The account managers, that's the biggest group. Then the control room supervisors, not the operators, at least to begin with. Credit control, the whole team. A couple of people in the management group. And me.
- Laura PenhaligonThat sounds like a good spread. Why not the operators at the start?
- Kamal HusseinBecause they're on shifts, they're busy, and I don't want to give them another thing to learn when there's an alarm waiting. The supervisors can ask on their behalf, and later we can see about the rest.
- Laura PenhaligonSensible. And do you want to be the only admin, or have a second one?
- Kamal HusseinHmm. I should have a second, shouldn't I. If I'm off sick or on holiday and something needs doing.
- Laura PenhaligonI'd recommend it, yes. Not for a crisis, just so that you're not the one person who knows how it works. Is there someone technical enough on your team?
- Kamal HusseinThere's one colleague in IT who's good. I'd have to ask him and ask his manager. I'll raise it this week.
- Laura PenhaligonLovely. I'll note it as an open item against you, no pressure on timing. It's just a risk I'd flag. Where it's only one person with admin rights, a holiday can turn into a problem.
- Kamal HusseinUnderstood. And I'd say it's in the runbook, but it's not, so I'll add it.
- Laura PenhaligonHa, honest. Good.
- Laura PenhaligonNow, how do people log in? Do you use single sign-on at Marlcliff, or would they have separate passwords?
- Kamal HusseinWe use Microsoft 365 for everything. I'd like people to sign in with their normal work login. Fewer passwords.
- Laura PenhaligonRight, and here I need to be careful, because single sign-on as a feature sits in a different tier from the one you've bought. On Growth, people have their own credentials for B-Viz. I don't want to promise something that isn't in your order form.
- Kamal HusseinOh. I assumed it would come with it. Okay. That's not a disaster, but I'd have liked to know earlier.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's fair, and I'm sorry if it wasn't clear. I'd suggest I check with Lewis Kerr, your account owner on our side, and ask him to confirm exactly what's in the order form. If you want to talk about moving to something that includes it, that's his conversation, not mine. I'll make sure he gets in touch.
- Kamal HusseinThanks. I'm not asking for an upgrade. I just want to know where we stand.
- Laura PenhaligonUnderstood. Just clarity. I'll email Lewis this afternoon and copy you, so it's all written down.
- Kamal HusseinThank you. In the meantime, I'll set up the accounts with separate logins and sort the passwords with the team. We can live with it.
- Laura PenhaligonOkay. Let's say for the first wave you invite, what, the account managers only? I'd suggest a small group first, so you hear problems from friendly faces.
- Kamal HusseinYes. I'd pick three or four account managers who like trying new things. Two of them are always asking me for a better view of a client. They'll be the champions, I'd say.
- Laura PenhaligonPerfect. And I'd run a short training session for them. Thirty minutes, on a call, with their own clients on screen. Not a generic demo.
- Kamal HusseinTheir own clients, yes. That's what will make them care. Which client is the question, always.
- Laura PenhaligonHa. Yes. So once the client list is joined up, I can show them something like: pick one of your larger clients and ask what's happened there lately. Incidents, calls, whether their invoices are on time. All in one answer.
- Kamal HusseinThat's exactly the scene I've been describing to the directors for months. Account manager walks into a client review, and doesn't have to ring credit control first.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's the thing we're building towards. But it only works if the three sources are in and the list is right, so let's not rush the invitations.
- Kamal HusseinNo. I'd rather be a week late than a week wrong.
- Laura PenhaligonI'm going to quote you on that. Okay, so let me try to draft the order of work, and you correct me. Step one, you send the shift code change note and I build the mapping table, with a backout copy. Step two, you give me read access to the control room archive and I load the older incidents. Step three, you update the client list with the dates and I join everything to it. Step four, finance sees the list of fields, and if they agree we switch on the accounting connector. Step five, small group of account managers, with training. Then the rest. Is that right?
- Kamal HusseinYes. That's right. I'd swap two and three, maybe. The client list is going to take me longer than the archive access, and I'd like the archive loading while I do it.
- Laura PenhaligonYes, good point. They can run side by side. Archive access first, since it's quick, and then the list can catch up.
- Kamal HusseinRight.
- Laura PenhaligonNow, one thing I want to check about expectations. Your contract is Growth, thirty-nine thousand six hundred pounds a year, and this implementation is meant to get you live and useful. You've got a contract term running to 4 Jun 2026, so we've got a good while. But I'd like to know what would make you say, this is working. What does success look like by the end of onboarding?
- Kamal HusseinGood question. For me, it's that nobody asks me for a client report. That's the sign. At the moment I get maybe a few requests a week, 'can you pull everything on this client', and it takes me an afternoon. If that stops, it's working.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's a nice, concrete measure. I'll write it down in the plan. And for the account managers?
- Kamal HusseinThey'll say, I use it before every review. If I hear that, I'll be happy. If they try it twice and go back to the spreadsheets, we've failed.
- Laura PenhaligonOkay. We'll look at how often they ask questions in the first month, and I'll share that with you honestly, even if it's low. Then we can find out why.
- Kamal HusseinI'd appreciate that. I don't want a nice report that hides things.
- Laura PenhaligonNo, I'd rather tell you straight. Daniel Okafor, who's your customer success manager, will pick up after I'm done. He'll be the person who looks at how it's used over time, and he'll set up the quarterly reviews that come with Growth. So I'll introduce you properly before I step back.
- Kamal HusseinGood. I've spoken to him briefly. Seemed straightforward.
- Laura PenhaligonHe is. Now, a practical question about the hand-over. You said you wanted everything written down. What would you want in it?
- Kamal HusseinFor each connector: what system, what account it uses, what it reads, when it runs, who to call if it stops, and how to put it back the way it was. And the client list, how it's maintained, and who owns it after me.
- Laura PenhaligonAfter you? Are you planning to go somewhere?
- Kamal HusseinNo, no. Sorry, just habit. I write everything as if I'm leaving tomorrow. Someone has to be able to pick it up.
- Laura PenhaligonHa, okay, that's a good habit. I'll draft a template with those headings, so we're not starting from nothing, and you can fill in what only you know. Then I'll fill in the B-Viz side.
- Kamal HusseinThat would save me time. Thanks.
- Laura PenhaligonNo problem. Right, let me go back to the control room for a moment, because I want to make sure we don't miss anything. You mentioned patrol check-ins. Are those in the same system?
- Kamal HusseinSome of them. The mobile patrol vehicles report through an app, and that goes into the control room system. But the guards on fixed sites sign in on a separate system, and that one is rostering. So it depends on the type of job.
- Laura PenhaligonOkay, so both of those are covered by the two connectors we already have. Good, nothing extra to add. Is there any other system, something you've been wondering whether to include?
- Kamal HusseinThe CRM, eventually. The account managers keep their notes there, and it'd be useful. But I'd rather finish these three first. One thing at a time.
- Laura PenhaligonAgreed. We have room in the plan for more connectors later, so there's no rush. Let's get these three solid and then talk about the CRM when you're ready.
- Kamal HusseinYes.
- Laura PenhaligonNow, can I show you something quickly, just so you know what you're aiming at? I'll run a question against the rostering data we've got already. It won't be the full picture, but it'll show you how it responds.
- Kamal HusseinGo on.
- Laura PenhaligonI'm typing: which sites had the most shift changes last month. And it's thinking. There. It gives a list of sites with a count and a short note.
- Kamal HusseinHold on. That top site. That's right, that's one we've had trouble with. A hospital contract, lots of sickness cover. That's correct.
- Laura PenhaligonOh good. I didn't know that, I just typed it. So it's picking up something real.
- Kamal HusseinMm. The second one I'm not sure about. Is it a site code or a client?
- Laura PenhaligonThat's a site code. And that's exactly the gap. Once the client list is in, it'll show the client name next to it, and the control room code. Right now it only knows the rostering view.
- Kamal HusseinRight. That's why I asked. Which client code is that. See? Same question.
- Laura PenhaligonHa, exactly the same question. And that's why the list matters so much. Fine. I think that's a useful picture. Let me stop sharing.
- Kamal HusseinThat was helpful. It's one thing to hear about it and another to see it respond.
- Laura PenhaligonGlad it helped. Let me ask about support, so you know where to go. If something stops during onboarding, a connector fails or the refresh doesn't finish, raise a ticket through the helpdesk. Don't email me directly, or at least copy the ticket, because then it's logged and someone can pick it up if I'm in another meeting.
- Kamal HusseinI will. I never leave a ticket without an update, so I'd expect the same from you. Even if the update is, still looking.
- Laura PenhaligonFair, and you'll get that. Even a boring update beats silence. Your plan includes a faster first response than the basic tier, so use it.
- Kamal HusseinGood. Thanks.
- Laura PenhaligonOkay. Anything that worries you about the next few weeks? Not technical, just in general.
- Kamal HusseinTime, mostly. I'm the business systems manager and also the person who gets called when the printer breaks, more or less. The patch has taken up a lot of this month, and I've got a year-end audit coming up for the accounting side.
- Laura PenhaligonThank you for being straight about that. Let's build the plan around it. If you tell me that a week is bad, I'd rather move things than have you squeeze it in at ten at night.
- Kamal HusseinI do tend to squeeze it in at ten at night.
- Laura PenhaligonI thought so. Don't. It's not worth it, and the quality drops. Tell me when it's too much, and I'll rearrange. We have until the end of the implementation window, and I'd rather deliver properly than quickly.
- Kamal HusseinThat's a relief to hear. Thank you.
- Laura PenhaligonRight, let me read back the actions, and tell me if I've missed any. Kamal: send the shift code change note tonight. Set up the read-only account for the control room archive and send it through the portal. Update the client list with dates where you're sure, and mark the rest unconfirmed, by early next week. Ask your finance lead about the accounting connector once you've seen my field list. Think about a second admin and talk to your colleague in IT. And add the hand-over details to the runbook as we go.
- Kamal HusseinYes, that's all of mine. I'd add: check the connector after this call, for the shift codes.
- Laura PenhaligonAdded. Mine: build the mapping table with a backout copy and agree it with you before anything goes live. Write the list of accounting fields in plain words by Friday. Email Lewis about single sign-on and what the order form says, copying you. Draft the hand-over template. Load the archive once I have access. And plan the training for the first account managers.
- Kamal HusseinThat's good. I'll note it all down.
- Laura PenhaligonI'll send a written summary after this call, so you've got it in one place. If I've got something wrong, just reply and tell me.
- Kamal HusseinI will. Probably tonight, with the code list.
- Laura PenhaligonPerfect. Now, we've got a bit of time left. Is there anything we haven't covered?
- Kamal HusseinMaybe one question. The directors will want to see something by a certain date. I haven't promised them anything yet, but they'll ask. What would you say is realistic for a first demo to them, using our own data?
- Laura PenhaligonIf the rostering and control room connectors are solid and the client list is joined up, I'd say a few weeks. The accounting side may come a little later because of the finance sign-off. I'd rather show them two sources working well than three sources half-working.
- Kamal HusseinAgreed. I'll tell them a few weeks, and that it depends on the list. I won't give a date until I've done it.
- Laura PenhaligonThat's wise. And if they want to see something sooner, I can do a small preview on the rostering data only, the kind of thing I just did, to keep them interested.
- Kamal HusseinMaybe. I'll see how they feel. They can be impatient, but they respond to something concrete.
- Laura PenhaligonMost do. Okay. Anything else?
- Kamal HusseinI don't think so. Oh, wait. Documentation on the nightly run. Is there something I can read about what exactly happens, and in what order? For the runbook.
- Laura PenhaligonYes, there's an operations guide. I'll send the link with my summary. It describes the nightly sequence, how failures are handled and how to rerun a single connector. Read it before we change anything, if you can.
- Kamal HusseinI will. Good. That's what I wanted.
- Laura PenhaligonGreat. Then let's book the next one. Same time next week suit you? I'd like to go through the mapping table together and check the archive load.
- Kamal HusseinSame time is fine, a quarter past four. If the patch causes trouble I'll message you in the morning.
- Laura PenhaligonPerfect. I'll send the invitation straight after this. And Kamal, thank you. This was a really useful call. You're very well prepared, which makes my job easier.
- Kamal HusseinThanks. I just want it to be right. Better to do it slowly, once.
- Laura PenhaligonCouldn't agree more. I'll let you get back to your patch. Speak next week, and shout if anything looks odd before then.
- Kamal HusseinI will. Thanks, Laura. Speak soon.
- Laura PenhaligonCheers, Kamal. Bye for now.
- Kamal HusseinBye.
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